While some sort of spyware is a possible explanation, I think this might
be more likely.  I notice that if I leave several IE windows open when I
hang up my dial-up connection, sometimes after a while I'll get a little pop-
up asking if I want to dial up again, or "work offline".  I believe there is
something in the HTML or scripting on one of the pages that is timing out
and wants to contact the server again.
  I expect that if I had "always dial" selected, I would not get the pop-up
and it would just go ahead and dial.  (It seems to me that this used to
sometimes happen, which is where I got the habit of turning off the
(external) modem when I get off line.  As long as I make sure it's switched
on when I reboot, this works fine....)

David Gillett


On 17 Jul 2003, at 2:59, Sue Clark wrote:

> Hi Debbie
>
> First thing to do is check your Internet Options.
> Go to Start | Settings | Control Panel | Internet Options and choose
> the Connections tab.
> See if "Always Dial My Default Connection" is checked. If it is,
> switch to "Never Dial a Connection."
> If that wasn't the problem, I'd see if some program you'd installed
> either contained spyware, or checks for an update, etc.
> When did this behavior start, and what had you done to your
> computer just before it began? If it is a program doing its "Call
> Home," you might want to use Zone Alarm to prevent it from
> connecting. But first you might want to see if there's a way to turn it
> off in the program's options.
> Ad Aware or Spybot do will do the trick if you suspect spyware. But
> be aware it might also make the original program (the one that
> installed the spyware) unusable.
> Hope this helps.
>
> Sue Clark
> Bristol, Maine
>
> On 16 Jul 2003 at 0:29, Debbie wrote:
>
> > Windows 98
> >
> > What would make my PC dial into my ISP even if no applications are open? =
> >  I
> > have checked everything I know to check with my modem and can't see =
> > anything that would cause this.
> >
> > Can you help me?
> >
> > Thanks in advance,
> > Debbie Grabb
>
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