computer / software question

[Soundguy]

I'm pretty up on win 98 and computer hardware in general.. however I ran into an odd problem last night that i simply didn't have time to work on. I'll have time saturday morning or even tomorrow morning, but would like some input. I know there are some IT people lurking here.

My wife has her own computer in her office that she uses to do some typing, and downloading midi files.. ( she's a music teacher.. etc.. ). I try to stop in once a month at her system, and make sure its norton antivirus files are updated, and that microsoft 'critical' updates are installed.

Dropped in the latest version of the 'intellegent' updater from norton website.. got the virus defs upgraded to 8/25/2004 level.. so I don't think this is a virus.

I also hopped over to winupdate site and started grabbing updates. One was the ie6 sp1 I started it.. noticed it was going to be a little while, and I needed to hit the bed.. so canceled that update, and went ahead with the others also except media player 9. ( currently has ie5 on it now )

Now, at any given point, the computer wants to dial out. I'll just be setting there, and the dialer will pop up and dial out.

Happens right after bootup, and also happens right when you go to shut the computer down.

Dialer is AT&T software.. it is a tad older.. say a year or more. I grabbed the newest copy of AT&T worldnet software.. ver 7 or something like that.

I thought updating the dialer might help.. as it was a couple years old.. etc. I've hit a snag trying to install the dialer software. The install starts.. has to reboot the computer ( of course the old dialer then tries to dial.. I cancel it.. reboot occours.. win reloads.. install continues.. is getting ready to finalize.. then %$$# old dialer pops up again to dial, and the install errors out as "Dialer software in use"... effectively blocking me from installing the new version.

I tried the AT&T fixit tool that is sopposet to reset your accout settings.. etc.. that had no effect.

I was thinking of a couple things to do like deleting the old dialer, but saving my account settings.. then reinstalling the new one... or simply finding the executable for the dialer by following the shortcut, and temp renaming it in hopes that whatever is activating it.. wont.. so that the new dialer can be installed. Problem is.. I'm halfway guessing that if it is some code or system call looking for an internet connection, that it is just going to try to dial out with the new one as well.

Any ideas guys? Computer is a 266 with 64 megs ram, and win982nd ed. Old machine I know.. but is good enough for the wife to print some songs out on.. etc. Connection is standard dialup via an external v.90 compliant modem...

System is a slow reload after reboot.. takes about 1.5 minutes.. I had sat their long enough last night, and it was getting late.. so I just shut it down and will work on it after some sleep.

Any ideas on what could be making this try to dial out?

Thanks

Soundguy

 

[jwstewar]

Not sure, but my XP machine is doing the same thing. I used to have my computer set to automatically connect, can't do that anymore as then my phone line was always tied up. I was trying to blame McAfee for mine, but now that I hear this from you, it makes me wonder if it is something else. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[Glenn9643]

In your MSIE “Tools”, “Connections” tab, which is checked? If the first option, “Never dial a connection” isn’t checked a program will be allowed to automatically dial out. Since you just added the “new intelligent updater” that may be what’s trying to dial out? The dialer is doing its job, but you need to establish the parameters to keep programs from automatically dialing.

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

Sounds like you have a spyware program on your computer thats trying to get to the internet. That will trigger it to dial and Norton will not pick it up. Try downloading a spyware scanner and remove any programs like the weather bug.

 

[BobReeves]

Next time it does it hit <Ctrl> + <Alt> + <Del> and post everything that is running on the computer. This should tell you what is doing it and you can remove, disable or let it happen depending on what piece of software is doing it.

 

[MossRoad]

Just a few thoughts...

Had the update to IE started when you cancelled it? If so, have you tried finishing the update to IE yet? If not, try it and see if the problem goes away. Some of the updates from Microsoft will makes things act goofey if you cancel them before they are finished.

Also, did you install the thing that automatically checks for updates? That could be causing this, as well.

Hope this helps. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[rockinmywaypa]

This past summer an automatic dialer was downloaded by mistake and unknown to us.It would dial out to some country in Africa and pile up the long distance charges on our phone bill. The way we found out was that the phone co. called because the calls were out of character for our habits but we still had to pay 300 bucks worth after just a week or two. This was the first thing I thought of when you said it was dialing on it's own. Check to make sure that you don't have one of these.

 

[Soundguy]

I'll try to group answer some questions here.

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Had the update to IE started when you cancelled it? If so, have you tried finishing the update to IE yet? If not, try it and see if the problem goes away. Some of the updates from Microsoft will makes things act goofey if you cancel them before they are finished. )</font>

No.. I have yet to finish the IE6 update.. it was one of those 45 minute downloads I didn't have time for. I'll try it again tonight.

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Also, did you install the thing that automatically checks for updates? That could be causing this, as well.
)</font>

I had to install a new version of windows update.. but it didn't tell me anything about any auto settings.

The Norton inteligent updater is something you have to manually download and then run on the computer. Norton comes with a program called live update.. but for some reason it never works on that computer. It is sopposed to try to get virus updates when you are online.. never has worked on that machine.. though works on mine.... maybee somethings going weird and it's trying to connect and forcing a dial out? I'll check that.

I don't think I picked up any spy ware.. though can't be certain at this time. The computer was running correctly.. and I went to the norton site.. got hte virus updates.. then went to the microsoft site and got those updates.. then installed them.. then this problem happened.. so I'm guessing it is something to do with them.

I think I reaf that I can run msconfig and it will tell me about any tsr software that is getting started at bootup.. perhaps that will tell me something.

I WILL followup on this as soon as I get off work tonight and get my hands on that %E#@@ computer...

Soundguy

 

[JayC]

I use WeatherBug all the time. It isn't spyware. I really like WeatherBug.

 

[JayC]

I would also recommend downloading and installing Zone Alarm. I would also recommend scanning for spyware. Now-a-days there is too much junk going around. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif You should also switch to something other than IE. That is the most targeted browser for malicious programs or spyware. I am using the Mozilla based Netscape Navigator 7.1. You could also use some of the other Mozilla based browsers like FireFox. Also, try running the Norton again in Safe Mode. Maybe something I keeping it from working properly. Msconfig is a useful tool. I have turned off many programs that I don't want running. It has sped things up quite a bit. Using msconfig is a trial and error process, though. You will have to restart after changes are made. If something doesn't work right after you disable it, renable it and try something else. After a while you will know what you need and what you don't. Good luck. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif