Computer Dials up on its own???

[chiky1959]

Hi There

My parents are on dial up in the boonies of canada. Recently removed AOL and now use Sympatico Dial up. The problem is that it connects of is own free will, even after we have disconnected. They are running Windows XP. Never had this problem before. Does anyone know how to fix this as it does interfere with regular phone line of course, other than shutting the whole system down.

Any help greatly appreciated

Txs
Wendy

 

[Fardringle]

Open Internet Explorer.
Click on the Tools menu then select Internet Options.
Click on the Connections tab.
Select the option labeled "Never dial a connection".
Click OK to save the change.

This will tell Internet Explorer (and Microsoft programs such as Outlook Express) that it can't use the dial-up connection unless your parents manual open the connection. If another program not related to IE is doing the "spontaneous" dialing, you'll need to configure that program separately.

 

[chiky1959]

Txs for the reply, however this box is checked off and always has been, not sure what other programs you are referring to that may need configuring. They dont have much on there really. Other than the usual chat stuff like MSN. They did not have this problem with AOL?????

Txs again

 

[bruceb]

You may have picked up a Dialer type of Virus or Trojan .. I suggest a run of a good antivirus such as AVG Free or Avast .. Also run Malwarebytes (malwarebytes.org) and see what it finds ... seems to me something got infected

 

[MadAmos]

Originally posted by: bruceb
You may have picked up a Dialer type of Virus or Trojan .. I suggest a run of a good antivirus such as AVG Free or Avast .. Also run Malwarebytes (malwarebytes.org) and see what it finds ... seems to me something got infected

+1 also superantispyware free is a good choice

 

[boomerang]

Originally posted by: chiky1959
Txs for the reply, however this box is checked off and always has been, not sure what other programs you are referring to that may need configuring. They dont have much on there really. Other than the usual chat stuff like MSN. They did not have this problem with AOL?????

Txs again

Try toggling that check box and exiting and then toggle it back. That used to be a bug in W98. I'm not sure if it carried over into XP or not.

 

[Blazer]

Originally posted by: bruceb
You may have picked up a Dialer type of Virus or Trojan .. I suggest a run of a good antivirus such as AVG Free or Avast .. Also run Malwarebytes (malwarebytes.org) and see what it finds ... seems to me something got infected

this is most likely what happened, scan in safe mode as well, you may have to use an anti dialer to stop it, when i was stuck with dial-up i got infected with a dialer and it nearly cost me $400 bucks, dial up service is very risky imo.