I use Window XP, Netscape, and dialup. Something is keeping the active connection icon lit the whole time I’m logged on. Updates? Spyware? How do I trace this?
You can try a firewall software and see which programs request internet access. Something like Zone Alarm.
You can also go to SpeedTest to see if your transfer speeds are close to your connect speeds. This will give you some indication as to whether something is siphoning your bandwidth.
I second Harmonious Discord, but recommend Comodo instead. I have a Mac now, but I used it when I had a PC and it had a nicely detailed screen which showed what things were sucking what resources.
If you call up netstat in your command prompt, you should be able to at least see where all your open connections are going, and make some judgments from there.
Can you send greetings from 2009 me to my friends when you return to 1997?
Believe it or not but there are people have the patience (and/or lack of funds) to still use dial up
Seconding TCPView. Close all your other apps and run it. You’ll see everything using the network interface.
Also note that windows update might be the culprit here. A large update like service pack 3 or just a couple months of updates may take several hours to download. If you kill the connection it will just retry later. Programs with their own autoupdaters may be causing this too like firefox, acrobat, etc.
True. But my local phone company offers a “DSL Lite” 768kbs for 19.95 per month. Dial up is I assume 9.95 per month. I’d pay 10 bucks for 15 times faster.
Yeah. Disable any auto updating application if you are on dialup. They almost all assume you have broadband. And, really, the lack of a fast, always on connection is often enough of a deterrent to balance out the security risk.
That assumes someone can even get DSL. It craps out around 18,000 feet from the DSLAM, and that’s as the wires go, not as the crow flies.
People in rural areas often only have access to dial-up. My dad, for instance, who lives within 15 miles of a city with over 100,000 people, was stuck with dial-up until a nearby township started offering microwave-beamed internet. Funny thing is that not even a half mile down the road is the cutoff point for cable.
People that think dial up is a wanted choice don’t live in the many areas where it’s the only affordable choice. (As opposed to a satellite feed.) I lived half a mile from a telephone co-op that had laid optical line for it’s customers. They would have hooked up our neighborhood if they could, but Verizon had the rights for that. Verizon wasn’t interested in providing highspeed connections in the country between cities. I had dialup for 4 years while half a mile away they had DSL. I moved so that’s why I have DSL, not because of Verizon offering it at the old location. Some people on this board are worse off being stuck with a 28k dial up connection, because the phone companies don’t even have to guarantee a 56k dial up connection when they have a monopoly on the line system.