It's been known about since 2002, but is still relevant:
Quote...[W]hen I performed an Internet search, the Assistant sent my search terms to the Microsoft site, and also dropped a session cookie on my machine.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/04/11/winxp_search_assistant_silently_downloads/
I'm glad that I use command prompt to find!
I'm glad I've never used the search feature. :)
why would you even use windows search to search the internet?
Beats me!
It also connects to the Internet to fetch files if you use it to search your harddrive, but it's not sending anything critical in that case. I still don't know why it would be connecting, though.
Did anyone ever think MS somehow records usage stats on every one of their products? I know for a fact even things like Solitaire and Minesweeper connect to the internet i just never understood why.
Quote from: Nate on January 27, 2006, 08:39:07 PM
Did anyone ever think MS somehow records usage stats on every one of their products? I know for a fact even things like Solitaire and Minesweeper connect to the internet i just never understood why.
Duh, to check for an update, you know, just incase somebody found an overflow somewhere. ;)
Solitaire and Minesweeper don't update automatically. If there was an update, it would be through Windows Update.
It was a joke, since there is no good reason they would need to connect. :)