PC keeps dialling out....dialling out....dialling out

[Steve Campbell]

My daughter's PC keeps dialling out every few seconds but if left to
itself just connects to the internet without doing anything
noticeable.

She upgraded her Zone Alarm (Free edition) the other day and it is
only since then that this behaviour has appeared. We've tried
uninstalling and reinstalling an older version but there's been no
change.

She runs WinXP/HE on an Athlon set-up. The PC has been virus checked.

I know that I've read about this somewhere before but can't remember
where or when...

Any help gratefully received.

Thanks.

Steve

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Steve,

See if this helps:

Modem Automatically Attempts a Dial-Up Connection [Q316530]
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=316530

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone

 

[purplehaz]

Could be spyware or a home page hijacker.
Run these tools:
spybot -- http://www.safer-networking.org/
ad-aware -- http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

 

[Steve Campbell]

Rick,

Thanks but I got her to check the never dial a connection option in IE
tools and checked the Registry autodialler feature for the default
connection as per the MS kb article. Unfortunately nothing worked.

I learn that a couple of days ago that there was a Windows popup box
which asked her to get a security update from ZA rather than a new
version download - she was redirected to a ZA page (ostensibly). To
my knowledge ZA never do this and that updates are always contained in
new versions. I wonder if this is anything to do with teh DoS attack
in the last day or two on ZA's servers. Or is there anything else I
could try as her AV scanner shows that all is ok.

Thanks.

Steve

Purplehaz

Will try spybot. Thanks.
Steve

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Steve,

Is the AV program's definitions fully up to date?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone

Rick,

Thanks but I got her to check the never dial a connection option in IE
tools and checked the Registry autodialler feature for the default
connection as per the MS kb article. Unfortunately nothing worked.

I learn that a couple of days ago that there was a Windows popup box
which asked her to get a security update from ZA rather than a new
version download - she was redirected to a ZA page (ostensibly). To
my knowledge ZA never do this and that updates are always contained in
new versions. I wonder if this is anything to do with teh DoS attack
in the last day or two on ZA's servers. Or is there anything else I
could try as her AV scanner shows that all is ok.

Thanks.

Steve

Purplehaz

Will try spybot. Thanks.
Steve

Hi Steve,

See if this helps:

Modem Automatically Attempts a Dial-Up Connection [Q316530]
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=316530

 

[Frank Y]

Hi Steve:

I believe the latest version of ZoneAlarm has a "feature" of
automatically checking on line for any updates and there is no quick way to
disable it. My understanding is that they are getting a lot of flack on
this and may soon issue another update that allows the user to control this
"feature". Suggest you visit grc.news.latestversions at news.grc.com for a
discussion of this problem.

Cheers,

Frank

 

[Steve Campbell]

Rick,

Yes, fully updated...

Steve

 

[Steve Campbell]

Frank,

Ah. The download has done something somewhere so that even
uninstalling and reinstalling earlier versions have no effect.

Steve

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Steve,

It certainly sounds suspicious. I would uninstall it, and see if the
behavior continues. If so, I would use a different firewall, like Kerio, to
block/detect it. Link to Kerio:

http://www.kerio.com/kpf_home.html

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone