Spurious "Network Connections" Dialog Box

[Guest]

I have a user with a Thinkpad running WinXP SP2. They are connected to our
LAN with an ethernet cable. Periodically, when they are browsing the
Internet, they will get a "Network Connections" Dialog Box prompting them to
"Choose a network connection" which shows them the Dial-Up and VPN
connections that have been defined. If they simply close this Dialog Box
without selecting anything, they can continue to access the Internet just
fine. There is no other evidence of any Internet
connectivity problems.

I have tried to stop this behaviour by going into Internet Options ->
Connections, and specify "Never dial a connection".' I went a step further
and "locked" this setting into place by using the Group Policy editor to
manage that computer's Local Computer Policy and enabling the setting for
"Disable changing connection settings" (found in Console Root\Local Computer
Policy\User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows
Components\Internet Explorer).

Whenever I go to troubleshoot this and examine Internet Options ->
Connections - I see that "never dial a connection" is still checked off, and
in fact this whole screen is grayed out, as would be expected by
applying the Group Policy setting described above.

How do I stop these annoying and spurious "Choose a network connection"
prompts?

 

[Scott]

I have a user with a Thinkpad running WinXP SP2. They are connected to our
LAN with an ethernet cable. Periodically, when they are browsing the
Internet, they will get a "Network Connections" Dialog Box prompting them
to
"Choose a network connection" which shows them the Dial-Up and VPN
connections that have been defined. If they simply close this Dialog Box
without selecting anything, they can continue to access the Internet just
fine. There is no other evidence of any Internet
connectivity problems.

I have tried to stop this behaviour by going into Internet Options ->
Connections, and specify "Never dial a connection".' I went a step further
and "locked" this setting into place by using the Group Policy editor to
manage that computer's Local Computer Policy and enabling the setting for
"Disable changing connection settings" (found in Console Root\Local
Computer
Policy\User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows
Components\Internet Explorer).

Whenever I go to troubleshoot this and examine Internet Options ->
Connections - I see that "never dial a connection" is still checked off,
and
in fact this whole screen is grayed out, as would be expected by
applying the Group Policy setting described above.

How do I stop these annoying and spurious "Choose a network connection"
prompts?

Maybe try a new cable and network card.
Good luck. Scott

 

[Guest]

This is a brand new Thinkpad laptop with an integrated ethernet NIC. There is
NO other evidence of loss of network connectivity. This user never has a
problem accessing the network or the file shares on it. Whenever they dismiss
the spurious "Network Connections" dialog, they can continue just fine.

However, it wouldn't hurt to try another cable connection. I would welcome
any other ideas on troubleshooting this.