help with downloads please...

majicmountain

Hi, hopefully someone out there can put my mind at rest....My icon at the bottom of the screen for my adsl conncetion shows data constantly being sent and received even though I am not connected to any sites and my web browser is not open. How do I check where this data is coming from or if there is a virus or something else being downloaded to my pc?

Thanks.

hendersonb

if you go to the command prompt and type in "netstat -a" without the quotes it will show you all network connections

albertross_2

Or run this..

http://www.sysinternals.com/Files/TcpView.zip

Do you have a firewall installed and enabled, is your pc patched with windows update, do you scan for viruses and spyware?

If the answer is no to any of those, try this:

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/update/windows_live_safety_center.mspx

majicmountain

albertross wrote:

Or run this..

http://www.sysinternals.com/Files/TcpView.zip

Do you have a firewall installed and enabled, is your pc patched with windows update, do you scan for viruses and spyware?

If the answer is no to any of those, try this:

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/update/windows_live_safety_center.mspx

Thanks for this.I've downloaded and run the .exe file...now what does all this mean?

majicmountain

albertross wrote:

Or run this..

http://www.sysinternals.com/Files/TcpView.zip

Do you have a firewall installed and enabled, is your pc patched with windows update, do you scan for viruses and spyware?

If the answer is no to any of those, try this:

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/update/windows_live_safety_center.mspx

I'm running the latest free version of AVG and spybot. I also have a dsl modem but am unsure if the firewall in it is enabled. I have windows update running but haven't yet downloaded SP2. I've been holding off from doing this due to the problems people have been having with it.

albertross_2

It tells you what communications to what sites are being made on your PC.

When it goes green, then something is talking on that port, to the web address at the side. If you are not browsing the web, there should be no, or minimal activity.

You can save the output to a text file and post it if you want us to have a look.

--

It's your choice, but I'd run windowsupdate now.. you are potentially opening up your PC to a whole heap of trouble if you don't patch it properly. You could also try Microsoft anti-spyware beta as an additional precaution, and lavasoft ad-aware.

If you install SP2, it enables the firewall by default, also make sure you select automatic updates in control panel/security center.

If you still don't want to install SP2, the firewall can be turned on in control panel.

Rex_Mundi

albertross wrote:

When it goes red, then something is talking on that port, to the web address at the side. If you are not browsing the web, there should be no, or minimal activity.

Is there a new version that has changed?

I've used this program for a few years now. It has always shown my open connections in green, and once I've closed them they go red before disappearing.

albertross_2

Hehe, yes you're right, I was getting the colours mixed up.

jackbremer

are you sure it's showing traffic over your ADSL and not just the network connection?

majicmountain

it's the icon at the bottom right (system tray?), two monitors light up blue when traffic flowing on the adsl conenction. hope this helps.

tigermatt

Is the USB/ADSL light flashing/flickering on your DSL Modem? If so then something is being transferred to/from the net.

Make sure you have a firewall and see if that calms down. Try ZoneAlarm: http://www.zonelabs.com