From: jj4public@gmail.com   
      
   On Wed, 12 May 2021 12:13:03 -0400, Mayayana wrote:   
   >   
   >   It shouldn't. I've never allowed it and I'm not sure what   
   > it may try to go out for.   
      
   It's very likely that the one which initiate the network request, would be a   
   Shell Extension. Even more so if it's a third party one, which has its own   
   built in auto-update feature.   
      
   > But Explorer is closely tied to IE, so it gets complicated.   
      
   Not really. Explorer (i.e. explorer.exe) does not use any MSIE's embedded   
   web browser component. Only third party shell extensions would do that. And   
   mind you that, XP isn't as nosy as Windows Vista+, or as sneaky as Windows   
   8+.   
      
   > Iexplore.exe might be called by other software if it's set   
   > to be the default browser.   
      
   The firewall would show a confirmation for iexplore.exe, instead of   
   explorer.exe.   
      
   > There could even be a sleazy context menu   
   > extension, installed without asking, that's trying to call   
   > home. For instance, crap installed by Adobe to "Open   
   > with Acrobat". A lot of programs will install that kind of   
   > thing without asking.   
      
   Very true. Users should at least expect that for any software. Otherwise,   
   they might end up getting something worse.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)