Unaccounted Network Activity After Installing XP SP2

[Jeff R.]

After installing SP2 for WinXP I noticed short bursts of activity
(every 10-20 seconds) on my dial-up connection. This persists even after
I close Internet Explorer (but maintain connection). What I've tried...

* Scanned for viruses and spyware - OK.
* Windows Firewall turned on with no exceptions and unchecked all
ICMP items.
* Windows Update turned off.
* Internet Time synchronization turned off.
* No applications running.

Has anyone experienced this or have any idea of what might be responsible
for this "stealth" activity?

Thanks in advance, Jeff R.

 

[george]

After installing SP2 for WinXP I noticed short bursts of activity
(every 10-20 seconds) on my dial-up connection. This persists even after
I close Internet Explorer (but maintain connection). What I've tried...

* Scanned for viruses and spyware - OK.
* Windows Firewall turned on with no exceptions and unchecked all
ICMP items.
* Windows Update turned off.
* Internet Time synchronization turned off.
* No applications running.

Has anyone experienced this or have any idea of what might be responsible
for this "stealth" activity?

Thanks in advance, Jeff R.

Could be (unwanted) outside traffic that gets blocked by the firewall
In order for the firewall software to be able to even 'look' at it, there
will be activity on the connection, because the traffic has to pass the
connection in order for the firewall to block it getting any further into
the system.
Just an idea.

 

[Jeff R.]

More info:
* "File and Printer Sharing" disabled on dial-up connection.
* "File and Printer Sharing" enabled on NIC (disabling has no effect).
* Windows Firewall is enabled only for dial-up connection.
* Have tried endless combinations of settings both within Windows Firewall
and Network Connections to no effect.

I believe this to be a registry problem and was hoping that someone from
Microsoft would recognize it and post a response (if pigs had wings). Have
found some registry items under ...GloballyOpenPorts\List and tried changing
them from Enabled to Disabled but like Windows Firewall they revert back to
Enabled on reboot.

 

[CWatters]

More info:
* "File and Printer Sharing" disabled on dial-up connection.
* "File and Printer Sharing" enabled on NIC (disabling has no effect).
* Windows Firewall is enabled only for dial-up connection.
* Have tried endless combinations of settings both within Windows Firewall
and Network Connections to no effect.

I believe this to be a registry problem and was hoping that someone from
Microsoft would recognize it and post a response (if pigs had wings). Have
found some registry items under ...GloballyOpenPorts\List and tried changing
them from Enabled to Disabled but like Windows Firewall they revert back to
Enabled on reboot.

If you open the task manage- can you see a process that appears to increase
it's CPU % when these bursts occur?