port -1?
brunoredneck
system checker. She's getting this exception I don't understand:
Java version: 1.6.0_01
HTTP Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (Windows XP 5.1)
http://techsupport.esylvan.com/pccheck
next selected
java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: port out of range:-1
at java.net.InetSocketAddress.createUnresolved(Unknown Source)
at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.<init>(Unknown Source)
at
com.esylvan.pccheck.download.FileDownloadManager.downloadFiles(FileDownloadManager.java:
62)
at
com.esylvan.pccheck.wizard.pages.DownloadWizardPage.download(DownloadWizardPage.java:
96)
at com.esylvan.pccheck.wizard.pages.DownloadWizardPage.access
$200(DownloadWizardPage.java:22)
at com.esylvan.pccheck.wizard.pages.DownloadWizardPage
$4.run(DownloadWizardPage.java:113)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Exception: port out of range:-1
The folks at E-Sylvan seem less then anxious to help... not a good
sign. It sounds like their system checker wizard is trying to open
port -1 to downlod a file. Does that make any sense to anyone?? I
don't remember port -1 having any significance.
I'm suggesting that my friend uninstall the JRE she has and try it
with an older version like 1.4.2. I'm grasping at straws but I wonder
if earlier JREs attached some significance to port -1??
Eric Sosman
Another straw: Is it possible that the port number is
really 65535 but was stored in a short? Maybe all that's
needed is a `port & 0xFFFF' somewhere.
(Having taken a brief look at the site, though, I find
that all my mental alarm bells are clanging and every hair
on the nape of my neck is standing on end. There is NO way
I would cough up all the information these people demand,
and NO way I would allow their software to have elevated
privileges on my computer. Not until I learned a whole lot
more about them, anyhow. The site has the appearance of a
marketing dragnet, if not an outright phishing firm or worse.
If you have reason to believe they're on the up-and-up, then
fine -- but I'll just stay here in my hole and pull it in
after me.)
--
Eric Sosman
eso...@acm-dot-org.invalid
brunoredneck
> Another straw: Is it possible that the port number is
> really 65535 but was stored in a short? Maybe all that's
> needed is a `port & 0xFFFF' somewhere.
>
> (Having taken a brief look at the site, though, I find
> that all my mental alarm bells are clanging and every hair
> on the nape of my neck is standing on end. There is NO way
> I would cough up all the information these people demand,
> and NO way I would allow their software to have elevated
> privileges on my computer. Not until I learned a whole lot
> more about them, anyhow. The site has the appearance of a
> marketing dragnet, if not an outright phishing firm or worse.
> If you have reason to believe they're on the up-and-up, then
> fine -- but I'll just stay here in my hole and pull it in
> after me.)
Thanks for your take on it, Eric. I'll keep your thoughts in mind.
So you were able to run the checker? What JRE do you have?
Twisted
> that all my mental alarm bells are clanging and every hair
> on the nape of my neck is standing on end. There is NO way
> I would cough up all the information these people demand,
> and NO way I would allow their software to have elevated
> privileges on my computer. Not until I learned a whole lot
> more about them, anyhow. The site has the appearance of a
> marketing dragnet, if not an outright phishing firm or worse.
> If you have reason to believe they're on the up-and-up, then
> fine -- but I'll just stay here in my hole and pull it in
> after me.)
It's THIS that really alarms me:
> > at com.esylvan.pccheck.wizard.pages.DownloadWizardPage.access
> > $200(DownloadWizardPage.java:22)
One of their classes has 200 nested and inner classes? I don't want to
contemplate what it must be like to try to maintain their codebase.
*shudder*
Eric Sosman
No, I did not try to run the checker. Which part of
"NO way" is unclear to you? *You* may choose to let this
code escape your security sandbox, but I'm a suspicious
sonuvabitch and a wearisome worrywart. "Why," I asked,
"does an `Info Check' of my machine's hardware and software
start by asking whether its principal user is a Student, a
Teacher, or a Job Applicant?" I stopped right there and
don't know what other prying and irrelevant questions might
have been asked on succeeding pages.
The intro page had already instructed me to answer "Yes"
to a security dialog, comforting me with the intelligence
that "eSylvan certifies that this program is secure." Thanks,
but no thanks -- eSylvan and I aren't that well acquainted yet.
As I wrote before, they may be an entirely legitimate and
blameless enterprise; I might grow to love them dearly if only
I knew them better. But I don't know them yet, and nothing
about their site inspires trust in me.
--
Eric Sosman
eso...@acm-dot-org.invalid
Philipp Leitner
>
> > > at com.esylvan.pccheck.wizard.pages.DownloadWizardPage.access
> > > $200(DownloadWizardPage.java:22)
>
> One of their classes has 200 nested and inner classes? I don't want to
> contemplate what it must be like to try to maintain their codebase.
> *shudder*
I wouldn't deduce from this $200 that there are actually 200 inner
classes :) I have seen things like that quite often, for instance with
thread pools etc ... this is just a random generated name ...
/philipp