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    What is MS chattering to my computer about?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by jimbob83, Nov 16, 2009.

  1. jimbob83

    jimbob83 Notebook Evangelist

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    It seems I've traded Vista's constant HDD activity for Win 7's constant internet activity. According to the resource monitor, msecn.net is is constantly chattering with my computer at approximately 12 - 13 Kbytes/s downstream, with my computer replying at approx. 250 bytes/s. A whois lookup shows that the site belongs to Microsoft. Anybody know what the communication is about?
     
  2. vinumsv

    vinumsv MobileFreak™

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    hmm do you use MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials) ?? if yes then it might use it check for updates....

    Hint : MSECN is Microsoft Edge Caching Network
     
  3. BrandonSi

    BrandonSi Notebook Savant

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    Yes, ECN = Edge Caching Network.. I agree with vinumsv, it's probably update related, I'm not sure why else MS would use content distribution like that from an OS perspective.

    I'd be interested to see if you turned automatic updates off if the traffic stopped, or decreased.
     
  4. jimbob83

    jimbob83 Notebook Evangelist

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    Is MSE included in Win 7 Home Premium? The computer is a new eMachines E627 with the standard Win 7 preload. All I've done with it so far is to delete the crapware and install MS Office XP and Firefox.

    Automatic Updates is on, but I'll try turning it off and see if it changes anything. The computer is at home so I won't be able to try that until tonight.
     
  5. jimbob83

    jimbob83 Notebook Evangelist

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    Automatic Updates does appear to be the cause. AU reported 22 updates and when I allowed it to proceed the traffic from msecn.net went up to over 60 Kbytes/sec. I've changed AU to notify me but not automatically install updates.

    Thanks!
     
  6. BrandonSi

    BrandonSi Notebook Savant

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    No problem-o.. Good catch man, wasn't aware of this, but it certainly makes sense.
     
  7. shakennstirred

    shakennstirred Notebook Evangelist

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    just checked my win7 64bit laptop and i dont have msecn.net running in my resource monitor and im running microsoft Security Essentials, so its nothing to do with that.
    anyone else have msecn.net running on there machine??
     
  8. jimbob83

    jimbob83 Notebook Evangelist

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    To clarify, I didn't have MSE running on my machine when I posted my question so it definitely had nothing to do with the activity I was seeing. The msecn.net activity shows up under the network activity section of resource monitor.

    After vinumsv's post I looked into MSE and now have it running. Kudos to Microsoft! :eek:
     
  9. Szadzik

    Szadzik Notebook Evangelist

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    I have MSE running and do not have the MSECN service.