constant data transfer activity

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Guest

I have a new Dell PC running Windows XP and I am surprised to see that data
is constantly being sent to, and received from, the internet even when I am
not knowingly doing anything.

What is going on?
 
broglet said:
I have a new Dell PC running Windows XP and I am surprised to see that data
is constantly being sent to, and received from, the internet even when I am
not knowingly doing anything.

What is going on?
Click to expand...

broglet, I have cable modem and I just noticed that the "activity"
light on the box, instead of flickering, is staying on constantly. I
have shut down everything that
could possibly use an internet connection and it still is on.

I do believe that some OEMs have "polling" software that checks for
updates and
such, but it shouldn't be doing all of this.

Anxious to see what is posted in response.
The FlipSide
 
broglet said:
I have a new Dell PC running Windows XP and I am surprised to see that data
is constantly being sent to, and received from, the internet even when I am
not knowingly doing anything.

What is going on?
Click to expand...
With a new Dell, you undoubtedly have a large number of applications
that you don't need pre-loaded by Dell. Chances are that several of
them are "checking for updates" or otherwise phoning home. Open the
Task Manager (<ctrl><alt><del>) and click on the "processes" tab to see
what's running. Google or see the links below to determine what the
processes are. You probably can uninstall a number of them ...

See these links for lists of startup tasks:
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm
http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_index.htm
 
broglet said:
I have a new Dell PC running Windows XP and I am surprised to see
that data is constantly being sent to, and received from, the
internet even when I am not knowingly doing anything.

What is going on?
Click to expand...

Quite likely your machine has been borked by a trojan that is now using your
high-speed connection to send a quater-million spams per day.
 
Thanks Lem - that is interesting and helpful

Lem said:
With a new Dell, you undoubtedly have a large number of applications
that you don't need pre-loaded by Dell. Chances are that several of
them are "checking for updates" or otherwise phoning home. Open the
Task Manager (<ctrl><alt><del>) and click on the "processes" tab to see
what's running. Google or see the links below to determine what the
processes are. You probably can uninstall a number of them ...

See these links for lists of startup tasks:
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm
http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_index.htm
Click to expand...
 
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