MS Windows XP: Snooping Your Software?

They've been accused of trying to strong-arm the Internet browsing market, but is Microsoft now trying to snoop your software overall? Microsoft's Windows XP platform can and does send lists of your computer's software to Microsoft itself when users run their updates, a German tech Website says.

The information is said to include details of all the software installed on the computer, according to tecChannel, which notes Microsoft itself advises Windows XP Update users that the update "must collect a certain amount of configuration information from your computer."

The London Register said Feb. 28 that tecChannel's tecDUMP utility used an undocumented WinInet operation to let them see the collected software information before it became encrypted - and discovered Microsoft can get the information on all of a computer's software, not just Microsoft applications.

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