Windows XP Auto-connect

[Fraun]

Hi, my computer used to use a Connect To dialup connection to the
internet, but now it uses broadband wireless,
and everything works fine except for the last couple weeks, two
different kinds of auto-connect boxes have been
popping up to initiate a dial-up.

This seems to happen constantly every 18 seconds, but sometimes very
frequently and it impedes usability.
Sometimes, it doesn't happen for quite a while, for example, it hasn't
happened during the last hour, but I won't
say the problem just fixed itself. I've been searching for answers on
the internet, but my searches are too general, and really, I'm
wondering if this box is infected with a virus.

The problem is that I'm already connected (via broadband link), and
for a while this worked fine without any auto-
dialup popup interference. Now it's happening all the time and it's a
b*tch. It usually just pops up the regular
connect-to box ('Connect <ISP Name>' -> Dial button) but sometimes
this other, less-detailed box pops under
that one...

I know a little about auto-dial options for certain Locations,
however, no Locations are defined on this computer,
so I can't affect any settings via Network Connections/Advanced/Dial-
up Preferences because there are no
Locations to affect!

The other thing I did was modify this registry value:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet
Settings\EnableAutodial

It was a True value, I changed it to False (zero).

Any ideas, folks?

 

[JS]

Do some of your application have the ability to Auto Connect usually for the
purpose of getting updates. Is it possible that this could be part of the
problem?

JS

 

[The Marker]

Have you looked at:

Internet explorer - Tools - Internet Options - tab Connections - mark 'Never
dial a connection'

 

[Fraun]

I don't have many programs running, but I DO have azureus and what
not. However, I have tried shutting down as
many programs as I can because there's no way of knowing directly what
programs are trying to connect...

Still have the problem... virus..?

Are there any programs/tools for seeing what programs are trying to
connect? (The connection box itself is contained
in another process, because the task list doesn't change when the box
is opened or closed -- probably an explorer
component.) I guess I'm looking for any robust trouble-shooting/
monitoring tools or an, "Oh yeah! that's exactly this!"
answer. (I bet it's a virus.)

I tried using a registry monitor (windows regmon?) to see when it's
reading that 'EnableAutodial' option, but never saw
it... All of this seems like a very indirect way of actually finding
that check box that officially and cleanly turns off
whatever freakish activity it's trying to do.

Oh yeah, I'm also using Firefox, but I'll rev up IE just to see if
that's not a solution.
Thanks for thinking about this problem,
-Clint