How Verisign's SiteFinder service breaks Windows networking utilities

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>]

Hi,

Verisign's SiteFinder service also breaks many of the standard Windows
networking utilities by providing misleading error messages, temporary
lockups, and incorrect status information.

For example, referencing a UNC path with a misspelled domain name with
SiteFinder in the picture gives an incorrect error message and hangs a
command prompt window for about 30 seconds:

   C:\work\sitefinder>dir \\sdkfasdlfkasdlfkasdk.com\drivec
   Access is denied.

The correct error message is displayed instantly if SiteFinder is out of
the picture:

   C:\work\sitefinder>dir \\sdkfasdlfkasdlfkasdk.us\drivec
   The network path was not found.

The correct error message for a misspelled domain name in the Windows
FTP utility is:

   C:\work\sitefinder>ftp ftp.asdklsdfjaskdfjasdfjasdjfasdfj.us
   Unknown host ftp.asdklsdfjaskdfjasdfjasdjfasdfj.us.

With SiteFinder, the FTP utility now provides a useless error message:

   C:\work\sitefinder>ftp ftp.asdklsdfjaskdfjasdfjasdjfasdfj.com
   > ftp: connect :Unknown error number

The PING utility gives incorrect results for misspelled domain names:

   [Incorrect]
   C:\work\sitefinder>ping www.sdfjasdfjaskldfjasdfjas.com

   Pinging www.sdfjasdfjaskldfjasdfjas.com [64.94.110.11] 
   with 32 bytes of data:
   Ping statistics for 64.94.110.11:
   Packets: Sent = 1, Received = 0, Lost = 1 (100% loss),

   [Correct]
   C:\work\sitefinder>ping www.sdfjasdfjaskldfjasdfjas.us
   Ping request could not find host www.sdfjasdfjaskldfjasdfjas.us. 
   Please check the name and try again. 

Ditto for tracert:

   [Incorrect]
   C:\work\sitefinder>tracert www.asdfjasdkfjasfjasdj.com

   Tracing route to www.asdfjasdkfjasfjasdj.com [64.94.110.11]
   over a maximum of 30 hops:

   1    11 ms    14 ms    15 ms  10.222.0.1
   2    14 ms    12 ms    11 ms  bar01-p0-2.orlnhe1.ma.attbb.net
[24.128.190.129]
   3    17 ms    14 ms    16 ms  bar01-s2-1-0.nbfrhe1.ma.attbb.net
[24.91.0.141]
   ...

   [Correct]
   C:\work\sitefinder>tracert www.asdfjasdkfjasfjasdj.us
   Unable to resolve target system name www.asdfjasdkfjasfjasdj.us.

Richard M. Smith
http://www.ComputerBytesMan.com