Computer keeps dialling out

chakotha

The uncle's computer keeps automatically dialling the Internet even when there are no obvious programs running.

I downloaded and ran Spybot and AdAware but the problem is still there. He keeps the Internet Explorer Tools>Internet Options>Connections set to

Never dial a connection

to prevent it.

If I go into

Tools>Internet Options>Connections>(eircom)Settings>Properties>Options the settings are:

Redial Attempts: 3
Time between redial attempts: 1 minute
Idle time before hanging up: Never

and in

Tools>Internet Options>Connections>(eircom)Settings>Advanced

Try to connect 10 times
Wait 5 seconds between attempts
Disconnect if idle for 20 minutes

Any ideas how to stop it without telling IE never to dial a connection?

Johnny Versace

It could be a virus, trying to get online to send spam.

Update your anti-virus software and do a full scan.

Rabies

I had a prob like this a few weeks ago. I ran Adaware, but the comp was still dialing out at random times. Finally found out what the prob was, it was QuickBooks looking to do an autoupdate most days. switched it off and prob went away.
Maybe there is some application that is trying to dial out.

parasite

use a firewall prog, which would alert you as to what's trying to establish a connection

or it's that rasauto annoyance

chakotha

Kazaa is on the PC - maybe that's dialling out. Or a virus - The dial up connection dialog box doesn't even wait to be OKed which seems a bit sinister.

I'll try a virus scan and get the Zone Alarm firewall - never thought of that. Thanks.

ToxicPaddy

There is a good little utility from McAfee called Stinger..

You download it and run it on your PC and it will detect any of the latest viruses out.

Have a look here

Tox

vibe666

if you just want to stop windows from being able to dial out without prompting you then in properties > options of the connection under 'dialling options' (in XP at least) there is an option that says 'prompt for phone number' which if ticked will leave the conection box sitting there until you tell it to dial, which stops any program from connecting the PC without your permission. not an ideal solution, but it will keep your phone bill down.

if you have an older version of windows then you'll need to delete the connection and recreate it. I'm assuming you know the password and username which you'll need, but apart from that it's just the phone number you need to take a note of.

if it's a subscription account then it's 1891 150150, free ones are 1892 150150 and the flatrate ones are all 1893 numbers (on the website). the only other thing you might need are the dns numbers which are 159.134.237.6 and 159.134.248.17. make sure there ISN'T a tick in log on to network and the only item ticked in 'networking' is TCP/IP (QoS Packet Scheduler dosen't do much, but you can untick it if you like).

all the info is on the support part of the eircom.net website which you can print for future reference if you need to.

DrChoda

the easiest thing to do when u are not online is to unplug your phone cord.
Quickest way and most effective, until you sort out what is causing the problem.

The Muppet

Install Zone Alarm on the pc and it willl tell you which programme is tring to establish a connection and let you permanetly disbale it from connecting to the net. You can download a free version of Zone alarm from the zonelabs web site.

I would think Kazza or some of the crap it installs by default is the culprit.

DrChoda

Run ad-aware and make sure it is updated.
Run spybot and make sure it is updated.
If you still can't figure it out try the forum at ad-aware, they tend to deal with things like that all the time, and if it is something new, would love to know about it so they can add it in their updates.
See if that helps any, because it should.
I find that anti-virus software doesn't do all that much because the updates seem to be a little slow.
Run a firewall, I use Kerio, its simple and easy to use.