Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

internet

Feb 20, 2004 12:20AM PST

i'm running xp pro and using aol to connect to the internet. however when i'm not on the internet there is a program which keeps connecting me. is there any way of finding out which program it is or any way of stopping it connecting or bring up aol. many thanks.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Re:internet
Feb 20, 2004 12:33AM PST

Could be adware. Download and run Ad-aware and Spybot. These are freeware. Just do a Google search.
If you are asking for help to troubleshoot a computer-related problem, please be sure to include all the necessary information (ie: operating system, model number, hardware, software, etc) that will help others identify your problem for a speedy resolution.

- Collapse -
Re:internet
Feb 20, 2004 1:40AM PST

go to RUN, type MSCONFIG and look in the STARTUP tab for any dialer type programs that have a checkmark in them and uncheck them. Click Apply and OK...but don't reboot the computer yet.

Now go to Start\Programs\Startup and see if there are any dialer type programs listed there and if so, right click and choose DELETE.

Run Ad-Aware (free from www.lavasoftusa.com ) after you download the program along with the newest REF file and get it installed. It should remove most spyware programs for you then. SpyBot is just as good and if you get that one, too, you can run both of them because what one doesn't find, the other one will.

TONI