For some reason my puter has started dailing up onto the
internet once XP has started.
How can I turn this auto dial-up off?
Thanks
If it's dialing up before you open any programs like your browser, I'd suspect a
modem hijack.
How current is your virus protection? Try one or more of these free online
virus scans, which should complement your current protection:
<
http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/license.php>
<
http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan>
<
http://www.ravantivirus.com/scan/>
<
http://security.symantec.com/ssc/home.asp>
<
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp>
Now check for, and learn to defend against, additional problems.
Start by downloading each of the following free tools:
CWShredder <
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4086.html>
CoolWWWSearch.SmartSearch (v1/v2) MiniRemoval
<
http://www.safer-networking.org/minifiles.html>
HijackThis <
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=3155>
LSP-Fix and WinsockLSPFix <
http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.htm>
Spybot S&D <
http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=download>
Stinger <
http://us.mcafee.com/virusInfo/default.asp?id=stinger>
Create a separate folder for HijackThis, such as C:\HijackThis - copy the
downloaded file there. Spybot S&D has an install routine - run it. The other
downloaded programs can be copied into, and run from, any convenient folder.
Install and run Stinger:
<
http://us.mcafee.com/virusInfo/default.asp?id=stinger>
Close all Internet Explorer and Outlook windows, and run
CoolWebSearchSmartKiller, then CWShredder. Have the latter fix all.
Next, run Spybot S&D. First update it ("Search for updates"), then run a scan
("Check for problems"). Trust Spybot, and delete everything ("Fix Problems")
that is displayed in Red.
Then, run HijackThis ("Scan"). Do NOT make any changes immediately. Save the
HJT Log.
<
http://forums.spywareinfo.com/index.php?showtopic=227>
Finally, have your HJT log interpreted by experts at one or more of the
following forums (and post it, or a link to your forum post, here):
<
http://forums.net-integration.net/>
<
http://forums.spywareinfo.com/>
<
http://spywarewarrior.com/index.php>
<
http://forums.tomcoyote.org/>
<
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/>
If removal of any spyware affects your ability to access the internet (some
spyware builds itself into the network software, and its removal may damage your
network), run LSP-Fix and / or WinsockXPFIx.
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.