Why is my PC always accessing the intenet?

[Mark42]

I'm a fairly PC savy guy. Built a few, always messing around with improvements, etc.

But one thing has me stumped. My Dell PC continually sends and receives packets from the internet and I don't know why. I know the first thing you will think is a trojen virus. That could be true, but I am sure the machine is cleaned of virus and it has done this as long as I can remember (a few years). My recient brush with the AntiVirus Gold malware virus has me watching things closely and that is why I am wondering about this (same old) internet access.

What it does is (by watching the lights on the switch) is sends and recieves a few packets every few seconds. The PC has Mcafee, and I thought it was always monitoring the local area network, but the Internet Connection window shows those packets going to the internet. The broadband router seems to agree based on its flashing LED's.

It does this the entire time its running. It never stops.

The led's flash in a pattern 5 to 7 quick flashes, then a pause for half a second, then repeat.

So, I am looking for a tool that I can use to identify what application is sending/receiving packets.

Any suggestions?

 

[rwise]

Re: Why is my PC always accessing the intenet?

sounds to me like XP, which has tattle tells, and also time syncs to servers on the net, or adware/spyware.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Why is my PC always accessing the intenet?

Rwise, Thanks for the response.

I am really such a Dufus sometimes....

It dawned upon me to go to the firewall and see why something is sending/receiving without permission. And guess what I saw? Every fricking internet service was turned on for the local area connection!!!!! GRRRRR. Talk about standing at the front door with a shotgun while leaving the back door wide open....

Anyway, I closed everything except remote desktop and the DNS server option (and I'm not even sure I need that) and the PC no longer "pings" the internet.

I remember having a problem a while ago when different PC's were not able to talk to each other through the router. So to eliminate any firewall blockage, I opened every service. Guess I forgot to close them all.

 

[i386]

Re: Why is my PC always accessing the intenet?

Lots of reasons and not all of them bad.

When Quicktime, Acrobat Reader, Java, Install Shield, Antivirus Spftware, Automatic Windows Updates, etc... tell you it's time to update, it's because they check in regularly.

If you can monitor this traffic in real time you can see some interesting stuff. If you can monitor the traffic on your router's outside interface you will see some REALLY interesting stuff.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Why is my PC always accessing the intenet?

Get zone alarm...... then you will be unplugging the router when you are not on-line...... it is amazing to see all the "intrusion attempts" just as i386 said the other side of the router is busy!

I guess the least harmful is windows xp making sure you are still plugged in or it will display "unplugged"

 

[waterinthefuel]

Re: Why is my PC always accessing the intenet?

Ever told anything on your computer to auto-update? Well it's trying to. I have a few programs on my computer but with zonealarm (free) I can let it go through once, every time, not this time, or never. When I saw what was trying to access the internet I calmed down alot.

Unless you have a virus of some sort and its slamming your machine constantly, your computer will seek out an internet connection for updates regularly. Its no big deal, really.

 

[v1_0]

Re: Why is my PC always accessing the intenet?

Here's a list of the services that ship with XP and a discussion of what should be disabled/manual/automatic.

I wouldn't just run through and set them - read the info to see if you do anything that needs the service.

"http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm"

-V