Internet Activity... HELP!

[t.cruise]

This is driving me to distraction. I have a broadband cable connection with an icon for
the connection in the system notification area. The problem began today. The Local Area
Connection icon now blinks every 2 seconds or so, and the Status says that I am sending 2
Packets each time the icon blinks. No packets are being received. I use Zone Alarm for a
Firewall, and am very careful. I did a system restore back to 2 days ago when all was
fine, but that did not fix the problem. I scanned with my antivirus program, with latest
definitions, and nothing was found. I scanned with Ad-Aware, PC Spyware Doctor, Spy
Sweeper, HiJackThis, and the utility Autoruns, and could not find anything. I looked at
MSCONFIG and there were not any new entries in Startup. None of my software or utilities
are set to automatically update (I do it all manually, so it is not something trying to
connect to update). I did not install any new software prior to the problem. I even set
Zone Alarm to ask if Outlook Express wants to connect, just in case it is a Trojan trying
to send out spam. But, no Zone Alarm alerts pop up, except when I use Outlook Express. I
really do not want to have to do a clean install to get rid of this problem. Does anyone
have any ideas?

T.C.

 

[Guest]

I would have thought this was normal Windows behaviour, I remember reading
recently from someone else with this problem that it was actually Windows
itself checking the network for any changes even though nothing may be
happening, I'll try to find the magazine i heard that in and hopefully will
have a better response tomorrow

 

[caver1]

This is driving me to distraction. I have a broadband cable connection with an icon for
the connection in the system notification area. The problem began today. The Local Area
Connection icon now blinks every 2 seconds or so, and the Status says that I am sending 2
Packets each time the icon blinks. No packets are being received. I use Zone Alarm for a
Firewall, and am very careful. I did a system restore back to 2 days ago when all was
fine, but that did not fix the problem. I scanned with my antivirus program, with latest
definitions, and nothing was found. I scanned with Ad-Aware, PC Spyware Doctor, Spy
Sweeper, HiJackThis, and the utility Autoruns, and could not find anything. I looked at
MSCONFIG and there were not any new entries in Startup. None of my software or utilities
are set to automatically update (I do it all manually, so it is not something trying to
connect to update). I did not install any new software prior to the problem. I even set
Zone Alarm to ask if Outlook Express wants to connect, just in case it is a Trojan trying
to send out spam. But, no Zone Alarm alerts pop up, except when I use Outlook Express. I
really do not want to have to do a clean install to get rid of this problem. Does anyone
have any ideas?

T.C.

Are you running Avast as your AV? It can cause this. I had the same
problem and when I got rid of Avast it stopped. This was talked about in
a previous thread by someone who figured out why Avast did this.
Something about a loopback.

 

[Alias]

Are you running Avast as your AV? It can cause this. I had the same
problem and when I got rid of Avast it stopped. This was talked about in
a previous thread by someone who figured out why Avast did this.
Something about a loopback.

It doesn't do it anymore.

Alias

 

[t.cruise]

I have had the system for 2 years, and it has never done this before. I am also the only
person using the system.

T.C.

 

[t.cruise]

I do not use AVAST.

T.C.

Are you running Avast as your AV? It can cause this. I had the same
problem and when I got rid of Avast it stopped. This was talked about in
a previous thread by someone who figured out why Avast did this.
Something about a loopback.

 

[Paul Johnson]

This is driving me to distraction. I have a broadband cable connection
with an icon for
the connection in the system notification area. The problem began today.
The Local Area Connection icon now blinks every 2 seconds or so, and the
Status says that I am sending 2 Packets each time the icon blinks. No
packets are being received. I use Zone Alarm for a Firewall, and am very
careful. I did a system restore back to 2 days ago when all was
fine, but that did not fix the problem.

I'm not convinced that this is actually a problem and not a user-education
issue. Did you install or remove any new hardware or software to that
computer? Any changes to the network?

Sounds like normal background traffic like a DNS request or something
similarly routine. What does wireshark tell you about it?

 

[Paul Johnson]

It doesn't do it anymore.

Are you sure? The world doesn't necessarily upgrade just because a version
number ticked up. Odds are there's still some old installs floating around
that still do that somehwere.