Mystery software

[ddsinokc]

I have two pc's networked and using the same dial-up internet connection. There are 20-25 programs loaded on each machine and frequently one or more of these programs initiates an internet connection and I have no clue as to which program it is. No window opens and Ctrl+Alt+Delete does not show me anything I can identify as being the culprit. Outlook Express, Quick Books Pro and Music Match have all been told to not dial connections for updates etc. Anyone have ideas? Thanks

[mjc]

Are you running any kind of firewall on them?

ZoneAlarm (http://www.zonelabs.com/) can be configured to prevent such programs from connecting. Also AdAware (http://www.lavasoft.de/eintro12.html) will find any "spyware" applications that will try to connect.

Some other programs may be trying to connect for "auto-update" features, if you are running WinME it may try to make a connection, IE can try to automatically connect, also some keyboards will try to connect (internet keyboards).

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mjc
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Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

[psabi]

welcome dd!

try going into internet options in the control panel (or under the tools menu in an IE5.x window) and go to the connections tab. Check out which radio button is checked and try "never dial a connection". Also, you can unsave your password which might give you an added sense of sucurity as well.

Definitely try adaware - good stuff. Just out of curiosity, did you run msconfig and see what is being run at start-up? You might be able to nip the little basta*d program without affecting other programs that you don't mind dialing out (you will affect those by using my suggestion above)

lastly, have you ruled out any type of virus possibility?

[This message has been edited by psabi (edited 05-30-2001).]