This post originated from an RSS feed registered with .NET Buzz by Doug Thews. Original Post: Microsoft Background Internet Connections Feed Title: IlluminatiLand Feed URL: http://apps5.oingo.com/apps/domainpark/domainpark.cgi?client=netw8744&s=JETBRAINS.COM Feed Description: A technology blog for people enlightened enough to think for themselves Latest .NET Buzz Posts Latest .NET Buzz Posts by Doug Thews Latest Posts From IlluminatiLand

Anyone who's used a network listener under Windows XP while running IE will probably notice random connections to the site sa.windows.com.

Turns out this is Windows XP making background connections on behalf of the IE Search Assistant. The Search Assistant connects to sa.windows.com to keep the Search feature
up to date, tips, etc for your XP PC. You can stop it from connecting by reverting to the Classic Search. Just click Search in IE and change the Preference to Classic Search (and select a desired search engine).

Simon Fell blogged about this same topic earlier.