Constant dialup

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I run an XP machine that is as patched and clean and up to date as possible but yesterday my dial up connection was constantly starting.

The setting in IE6 was changed to Always dial a connection, so I changed it back to Never dial. This setting would not ‘stick’ until I rebooted the machine. The machine behaved itself for a few hours, and then the dialling started again.

I ran scans on my anti virus (AVG), Spybot, Adaware and MS Anti spyware. I ran CWShredder (yes. I’m paranoid) but nothing has shown up. All these programs are up to date.

The IE setting has remained on Never dial. I have been watching the task manager while this behaviour has been ocurring, but havenot been able to see what may be invoking the dial.

Any suggestions?

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Try using Sysinternals Freeware – Autoruns to examine what is being started when you boot the PC.

Joe

--Joe

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Thanks Joe for your suggestion.

I ran Autoruns, but found nothing. That’s the bad news.

I found that I was having a lot of trouble with my cordless mouse and keyboard as well. So I replaced them with ‘corded’ varieties. Now I have no problem with keyboard nor mouse, and surprise! no constant redialing.

I guess I am OK to be suspicious of ‘different’ behaviour of my machine, but it sure is a relief to know that it was not infected with anything.

Thanks
Johanna

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Glad it appears to be resolved. Did you try new batteries in the cordless devices? Some cordless mice used to devour batteries like a kid does candy.

Joe

--Joe

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Interesting that you should write ‘appears to be resolved’. Because its not. The new devices looked as if they were the go, but the dialup is still happening.

I decided to do a system restore to a date before the behaviour started, and that looked good for a little while as well. But not for long. The constant dialling has started again.

The only changes to my system, recently is the installation of AVG as a replacement for PC-cillan. I did it the right way – uninstall, reboot, install and update. The system restore has made a mess of that and I have to sort it out, but it worries me that the dial up keeps happening.

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It could be AVG trying to automatically update. Once you get things sorted out and have AVG installed try disabling the autoupdate and see what happens. Just be sure to regularly manually update.

Joe

--Joe

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Thanks, again Joe.

I sorted our the installation of AVG and the dial up has stopped. But when I start my machine, I get a message from AVG saying that my email scanner is not configured properly and I cannot see where I go to fix that. Any clues?

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Open the AVG control center, right click on the e-mail scanner section, select properties, and configure it.

Joe

--Joe

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Just an update.

The constant dial up has stopped. The problem was not related to spyware.

I have a new laptop and it decided that it was going to be the Master Browser for my home network. The desktop machine is the one that I use to connect to the internet. The laptop connects through LANs at various sites. The laptop was the one configured to dial.

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YEAH!!! Glad you found it. Thanks for posting back.

Joe

--Joe

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