Excessive net access

[Rojo Habe]

Just lately my router and cable modem have been flashing away like Billy-o
from Startup to Shutdown. Are there any tools in Vista Ultimate that will
allow me to examine this net usage and determine:

what apps are accessing the internet, and
what sites they're accessing?

If not, can anybody recommend a good freeware tool that'll help me?

 

[Guest]

http://www.spybot.info/en/index.html

Download Spyware Search & Destroy at the above link, install it, get the
updates for it, then scan your system.

You definitely hace spyware.

 

[Rojo Habe]

Many thanks, but that doesn't really answer the question I asked. I have
Ad-Aware 2007 and all it ever finds are tracking cookies. That's beside the
point; anti-spyware software is never 100% effective because it only ever
looks for malware.

We ALL have spyware on our computers. It's called Windows Genuine
Advantage. Also, more and more games will start talking to ad servers as
soon as you launch them. The latest expansion pack for The Sims 2, for
example, goes straight out to tribalfusion.com to let them know someone's
playing the game (and god only knows what other information they're sending
out). I've already blocked that, but it's trial and error. I'm looking for
something that'll tell me WHAT PROCESSES are contacting WHAT SITES so that I
can make my own decisions as to what I'll allow.

 

[Steven Andrews]

Many thanks, but that doesn't really answer the question I asked. I
have Ad-Aware 2007 and all it ever finds are tracking cookies. That's
beside the point; anti-spyware software is never 100% effective because
it only ever looks for malware.

We ALL have spyware on our computers. It's called Windows Genuine
Advantage. Also, more and more games will start talking to ad servers
as soon as you launch them. The latest expansion pack for The Sims 2,
for example, goes straight out to tribalfusion.com to let them know
someone's playing the game (and god only knows what other information
they're sending out). I've already blocked that, but it's trial and
error. I'm looking for something that'll tell me WHAT PROCESSES are
contacting WHAT SITES so that I can make my own decisions as to what
I'll allow.

Start -> Control Panel -> Performance Information and Tools -> Advanced
Tools -> Open Reliability and Performance Monitor -> Network

It is an inbuild network monitor. It doesn't provide the most
information, but it is a good starting point.

Steve