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Safe Surf option

jono
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 303
Thanks: 8
Fixes: 7
Registered: ‎24-01-2008

Safe Surf option

Hi,
      sorry but i have another question, I'm going through My Account area to familiarise my self with it and have come across a Set My Safe Surf option, from what i can gather it seems to be linked to Peer to Peer.
I'm not quite sure what this is but I think its something to do with large file downloads e.g. films and so on.
Am i correct ? and seeing as the only large downloads i do is via the Microsoft update site and so on can I safely disable it or will it be best to leave alone ?
Will it make any difference ?
regards
john
6 REPLIES 6
orbrey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 10,540
Registered: ‎18-07-2007

Re: Safe Surf option

This is mostly aimed at parents with kids - it blocks the p2p apps (emule, bittorrent etc) from running. If you don't use these then you can leave it off or on, it shouldn't make a difference and it won't affect any downloads from microsoft.
Hope that helps,
jono
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 303
Thanks: 8
Fixes: 7
Registered: ‎24-01-2008

Re: Safe Surf option

thanks, Thats what I call quick, I was just looking round the forum before closing down and noticed my question was answered, much appreciated.
regards
jono
VileReynard
Hero
Posts: 12,616
Thanks: 582
Fixes: 20
Registered: ‎01-09-2007

Re: Safe Surf option

Quote from: orbrey
This is mostly aimed at parents with kids - it blocks the p2p apps (emule, bittorrent etc) from running...

But parents shouldn't rely on it - it's trivial to get most P2P apps to use non-standard ports.

"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."

LiamM
Grafter
Posts: 5,636
Registered: ‎12-08-2007

Re: Safe Surf option

Yep.  In fact, really, the Safe Surf option is rather disappointing.  This is what it blocks :-
Quote
TCP 412 DirectConnect
TCP 1214 Kazaa
TCP 4661 - 4662 eDonkey
UDP 4665 -4666 eDonkey
TCP 5498 - 5501 Hotline
UDP 6257 WinMX
TCP 6699 WinMX
TCP 6346-6347 Gnutella
TCP 6881-6889 BitTorrent
TCP Port 119 Usenet

I have safe surf switched on, yet VMBU is still showing a significant amount of P2P traffic.
Peter_Vaughan
Grafter
Posts: 14,469
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Safe Surf option

I thought safe Surf uses the Ellacoya classifications for P2P/Usenet etc, not just port number blocking.
VileReynard
Hero
Posts: 12,616
Thanks: 582
Fixes: 20
Registered: ‎01-09-2007

Re: Safe Surf option

Quote from: Peter
I thought safe Surf uses the Ellacoya classifications for P2P/Usenet etc...

Even if it did it won't pick up on a lot of the encrypted P2P traffic - this seems to be classified as a mixture of P2P and "Other".
So far this month 53% of my traffic is described as "Other"  Roll_eyes

"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."