Possibly a bit off topic, but could someone help please?

For a few weeks now I've been having a problem with my computer
connecting to the Internet all by itself without me asking it to do
anything in particular. If the computer is turned on, it seems to
randomly connect by itself.

I'm using WinXP with SP2 and have AVG anti virus, Windows Defender,
Zone Alarm firewall and regularly scan the machine with Ad Aware SE
and Spybot Search & Destroy.

All of the above programs are updated daily and report that my
computer is "clean" save for a few tracking cookies which I remove
daily

I've tried searching the Windows help file for assistance but without
success. If someone could point me in the direction of a solution, I'd
be very grateful indeed.

Thanks in anticipation.

Regards,

Mike K

--

If you really want to Email me, then use stardancer69 at gmail dot com

On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 00:36:42 +0100, Mike K <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>For a few weeks now I've been having a problem with my computer
>connecting to the Internet all by itself without me asking it to do
>anything in particular. If the computer is turned on, it seems to
>randomly connect by itself.
>
>I'm using WinXP with SP2 and have AVG anti virus, Windows Defender,
>Zone Alarm firewall and regularly scan the machine with Ad Aware SE
>and Spybot Search & Destroy.

Check that ZA, AVG and Windows Update aren't set to auto check for
updates.



--
Regards, Paul Herber, Sandrila Ltd
http://www.electronic_chip_packages.sandrila.co.uk/

On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 00:36:42 +0100, Mike K <(E-Mail Removed)> mused:

>For a few weeks now I've been having a problem with my computer
>connecting to the Internet all by itself without me asking it to do
>anything in particular. If the computer is turned on, it seems to
>randomly connect by itself.
>
Something is probably auto-updating.

Are you on dial-up? If not just let it connect and leave it to do it's
stuff.
--
Regards,
Stuart.

On 24-Apr-2007, Lurch <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> >For a few weeks now I've been having a problem with my computer
> >connecting to the Internet all by itself without me asking it to do
> >anything in particular. If the computer is turned on, it seems to
> >randomly connect by itself.

You don't say if it's trying to make a broadband ADSL connection,
or a PSTN dialup connection.

What does Start, then Connect To show?
Does it list one or more possible connections?

On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 22:51:47 GMT, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

>
>On 24-Apr-2007, Lurch <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> >For a few weeks now I've been having a problem with my computer
>> >connecting to the Internet all by itself without me asking it to do
>> >anything in particular. If the computer is turned on, it seems to
>> >randomly connect by itself.
>
>You don't say if it's trying to make a broadband ADSL connection,
>or a PSTN dialup connection.
Broadband, and it doesn't just try, it succeeds in connecting.
>
>What does Start, then Connect To show?
Just connect to my ISP
>Does it list one or more possible connections?

Thanks to all who replied. I've stopped all programs auto updating,
but the problem still persists. {:-(

This is really bugging me and I'd like to resolve the issue if I can.

Regards,

Mike K

--

If you really want to Email me, then use stardancer69 at gmail dot com

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> On 24-Apr-2007, Lurch <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>
>>>For a few weeks now I've been having a problem with my computer
>>>connecting to the Internet all by itself without me asking it to do
>>>anything in particular. If the computer is turned on, it seems to
>>>randomly connect by itself.
>>
>
> You don't say if it's trying to make a broadband ADSL connection,
> or a PSTN dialup connection.
>
> What does Start, then Connect To show?
> Does it list one or more possible connections?

Quite a few programmes will try to connect to get latest updates before
doing regular scheduled scans - AVG for example.
Also if you are working on stored web pages off line and they contain
links, the PC may try to connect to these links.
You may have the PC set to 'dial up when required'
If you are on Dial-up this is obvious.
If you are on Broadband using a USB modem, you will still see the
message as they use the dial-up connections settings to initialise the
USB modem.

Mike

"Mike K" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)
> On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 22:51:47 GMT, (E-Mail Removed)
> wrote:
>
> >
> > On 24-Apr-2007, Lurch <(E-Mail Removed)>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > > For a few weeks now I've been having a problem with
> > > > my computer connecting to the Internet all by
> > > > itself without me asking it to do anything in
> > > > particular. If the computer is turned on, it seems
> > > > to randomly connect by itself.
> >
> > You don't say if it's trying to make a broadband ADSL
> > connection, or a PSTN dialup connection.
> Broadband, and it doesn't just try, it succeeds in
> connecting.
> >
> > What does Start, then Connect To show?
> Just connect to my ISP
> > Does it list one or more possible connections?
>
> Thanks to all who replied. I've stopped all programs auto
> updating, but the problem still persists. {:-(
>
> This is really bugging me and I'd like to resolve the
> issue if I can.

If it's broadband, why are you trying to stop it connecting..? My system
is connected 24/7, saves a lot of time when you want to do a quick lookup
on a website or send a quick email.

Ivor

On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 01:08:49 +0100, Paul Herber
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 00:36:42 +0100, Mike K <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>For a few weeks now I've been having a problem with my computer
>>connecting to the Internet all by itself without me asking it to do
>>anything in particular. If the computer is turned on, it seems to
>>randomly connect by itself.
>>
>>I'm using WinXP with SP2 and have AVG anti virus, Windows Defender,
>>Zone Alarm firewall and regularly scan the machine with Ad Aware SE
>>and Spybot Search & Destroy.
>
>Check that ZA, AVG and Windows Update aren't set to auto check for
>updates.

Also, assuming you have ZA to alert and ask you to confirm any new
program accessing your connection, you could remove all programs from
its list and see what asks for access.


--
Regards, Paul Herber, Sandrila Ltd.
DFD for Visio http://www.gane-sarson.sandrila.co.uk/

"Ivor Jones" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>
> "Mike K" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)
>> On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 22:51:47 GMT, (E-Mail Removed)
>> wrote:
>>
>> >
>> > On 24-Apr-2007, Lurch <(E-Mail Removed)>
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> > > > For a few weeks now I've been having a problem with
>> > > > my computer connecting to the Internet all by
>> > > > itself without me asking it to do anything in
>> > > > particular. If the computer is turned on, it seems
>> > > > to randomly connect by itself.
>> >
>> > You don't say if it's trying to make a broadband ADSL
>> > connection, or a PSTN dialup connection.
>> Broadband, and it doesn't just try, it succeeds in
>> connecting.
>> >
>> > What does Start, then Connect To show?
>> Just connect to my ISP
>> > Does it list one or more possible connections?
>>
>> Thanks to all who replied. I've stopped all programs auto
>> updating, but the problem still persists. {:-(
>>
>> This is really bugging me and I'd like to resolve the
>> issue if I can.
>
> If it's broadband, why are you trying to stop it connecting..? My system
> is connected 24/7, saves a lot of time when you want to do a quick lookup
> on a website or send a quick email.

The whole point of Broadband is that it is an "always on" technology.

If your question is "What programs generate internet traffic without
explicit actions by me?" then you need a network monitoring tool ...

--
Graham J

Mike K <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote on Wed, 25 Apr 2007 at 17:27:44:
>On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 22:51:47 GMT, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:
>
>>
>>On 24-Apr-2007, Lurch <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>
>>> >For a few weeks now I've been having a problem with my computer
>>> >connecting to the Internet all by itself without me asking it to do
>>> >anything in particular. If the computer is turned on, it seems to
>>> >randomly connect by itself.
>>
>>You don't say if it's trying to make a broadband ADSL connection,
>>or a PSTN dialup connection.
>Broadband, and it doesn't just try, it succeeds in connecting.
>>
>>What does Start, then Connect To show?
>Just connect to my ISP
>>Does it list one or more possible connections?
>
>Thanks to all who replied. I've stopped all programs auto updating,
>but the problem still persists. {:-(
>
>This is really bugging me and I'd like to resolve the issue if I can.

Windows includes a time synchronisation service. Under Date & Time
Properties > Internet Time, if you have Automatically synchronize
ticked, then there will be intermittent traffic at varying intervals.

If you want to scare yourself, try "netstat -a -n" at a command prompt.
It lists any active connections. An entry like "UDP 0.0.0.0:123" will be
the time synchronisation service. Without the "-n", the command will
list IP addresses after a DNS lookup (for which it will connect!).

--
Tony