Unknown download activity in background - how to determine what it is?

[Doc]

I'm using WinXP Media Center, the last few days I've noticed that
there's some kind of d/l actitivity showing even when I'm doing
nothing online even with the Windows firewall up as well as
ZoneAlarm. I'm on 56k dialup. How do I determine what this is? I
don't have Windows update on automatic. I ran AdAware with the latest
definitions but it's still doing it.

Thanks.

 

[Vanguard]

Re: Unknown download activity in background - how to determine what it is?

"Doc" wrote in message
news:1185609109.150631.111220@w3g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
> I'm using WinXP Media Center, the last few days I've noticed that
> there's some kind of d/l actitivity showing even when I'm doing
> nothing online even with the Windows firewall up as well as
> ZoneAlarm. I'm on 56k dialup. How do I determine what this is? I
> don't have Windows update on automatic. I ran AdAware with the latest
> definitions but it's still doing it.

Use a software firewall that shows you the current connections and level
of traffic. Comodo has a good firewall for free.

 

[John]

Re: Unknown download activity in background - how to determine whatit is?

Re: Unknown download activity in background - how to determine whatit is?

Vanguard wrote:

> Use a software firewall that shows you the current connections and level
> of traffic. Comodo has a good firewall for free.
>
>

I'm not sure that will show the poster what they want to know. It will
only confirm what they already know surely.

John.

 

[Vanguard]

Re: Unknown download activity in background - how to determine what it is?

"John" wrote in message news:46aaffc3$0$31730$db0fefd9@news.zen.co.uk...
>
> Vanguard wrote:
>
>> Use a software firewall that shows you the current connections and
>> level of traffic. Comodo has a good firewall for free.
>
> I'm not sure that will show the poster what they want to know. It will
> only confirm what they already know surely.

Mine shows which which process (by applications) is using what port and
to where it connects and on what port along with how many bytes came in
or went out. Seems what the OP wants to know.

I'm using the Comodo firewall (free) right now. As I recall when using
the Sygate Pro firewall, it also had decent logging.

 

[John]

Re: Unknown download activity in background - how to determine whatit is?

Re: Unknown download activity in background - how to determine whatit is?

Vanguard wrote:

> Mine shows which which process (by applications) is using what port and
> to where it connects and on what port along with how many bytes came in
> or went out. Seems what the OP wants to know.
>
> I'm using the Comodo firewall (free) right now. As I recall when using
> the Sygate Pro firewall, it also had decent logging.
>
>

That's nice to know, thanks.

John.

 

[John John]

Re: Unknown download activity in background - how to determine whatit is?

Re: Unknown download activity in background - how to determine whatit is?

Surely Zone Alarm should tell you that, doesn't it? Reset all your ZA
rules to allow nothing and start reapplying the rules as asked when
applications want to establish connections.

John

Doc wrote:

> I'm using WinXP Media Center, the last few days I've noticed that
> there's some kind of d/l actitivity showing even when I'm doing
> nothing online even with the Windows firewall up as well as
> ZoneAlarm. I'm on 56k dialup. How do I determine what this is? I
> don't have Windows update on automatic. I ran AdAware with the latest
> definitions but it's still doing it.
>
> Thanks.
>

 

[BoaterDave]

Re: Unknown download activity in background - how to determine what it is?

Hi Doc

I've been led to believe that, just like one should only ever have a single
active antivirus programme, one should only have a single software firewall
operative. In other words, disable MS Windows firewall if you are using Zone
Alarm.

HTH

David

______________________________________________________________________________________________
"Doc" <docsavage20@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1185609109.150631.111220@w3g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
> I'm using WinXP Media Center, the last few days I've noticed that
> there's some kind of d/l actitivity showing even when I'm doing
> nothing online even with the Windows firewall up as well as
> ZoneAlarm. I'm on 56k dialup. How do I determine what this is? I
> don't have Windows update on automatic. I ran AdAware with the latest
> definitions but it's still doing it.
>
> Thanks.
>

 

[JW]

Re: Unknown download activity in background - how to determine what it is?

Could it be Media Center updating your EPG?
If you go to task manager you should be able to see what programs are
consuming CPU power when the downloading occurs.
"BoaterDave" <BoaterDave@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
news:O4neV7R0HHA.5644@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> Hi Doc
>
> I've been led to believe that, just like one should only ever have a
> single active antivirus programme, one should only have a single software
> firewall operative. In other words, disable MS Windows firewall if you are
> using Zone Alarm.
>
> HTH
>
> David
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________________________
> "Doc" <docsavage20@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1185609109.150631.111220@w3g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
>> I'm using WinXP Media Center, the last few days I've noticed that
>> there's some kind of d/l actitivity showing even when I'm doing
>> nothing online even with the Windows firewall up as well as
>> ZoneAlarm. I'm on 56k dialup. How do I determine what this is? I
>> don't have Windows update on automatic. I ran AdAware with the latest
>> definitions but it's still doing it.
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>
>

 

[Cyberiade.it Anonymous Remailer]

Re: Unknown download activity in background - how to determine what it is?


On Sat, 28 Jul 2007, "Vanguard" <vanguard.x@comcast.net> wrote:
>"John" wrote in message news:46aaffc3$0$31730$db0fefd9@news.zen.co.uk...
>>
>> Vanguard wrote:
>>
>>> Use a software firewall that shows you the current connections and
>>> level of traffic. Comodo has a good firewall for free.
>>
>> I'm not sure that will show the poster what they want to know. It will
>> only confirm what they already know surely.
>
>Mine shows which which process (by applications) is using what port and
>to where it connects and on what port along with how many bytes came in
>or went out. Seems what the OP wants to know.
>
>I'm using the Comodo firewall (free) right now. As I recall when using
>the Sygate Pro firewall, it also had decent logging.

That is good to know. It seems to be a good firewall, especially for
freeware. I just installed it and it's working great, AFAICT.

Here is the manufacturer's link:

http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/

Ckyp

 

[Andy Walker]

Re: Unknown download activity in background - how to determine what it is?

Cyberiade.it Anonymous Remailer wrote:

>>>> Use a software firewall that shows you the current connections and
>>>> level of traffic. Comodo has a good firewall for free.

Or, you could simply run some simple DOS commands to determine what
program(s) are using external connections.

c:\netstat -nab > netstat.txt
c:\more netstat.txt

Look for established connections using foreign addresses other than
127.x.x.x. You should be able to determine what port and what process
is communicating, as well as the external IP address.

To check the external IP address go to http://www.dnsstuff.com and
enter it into the "IP Information" box.

 

[WaIIy]

Re: Unknown download activity in background - how to determine what it is?

On Sat, 28 Jul 2007 00:51:49 -0700, Doc <docsavage20@yahoo.com> wrote:

>I'm using WinXP Media Center, the last few days I've noticed that
>there's some kind of d/l actitivity showing even when I'm doing
>nothing online even with the Windows firewall up as well as
>ZoneAlarm. I'm on 56k dialup. How do I determine what this is? I
>don't have Windows update on automatic. I ran AdAware with the latest
>definitions but it's still doing it.
>
>Thanks.

This might help. It's a very handy program.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/ProcessExplorer.mspx

 

[Vanguard]

Re: Unknown download activity in background - how to determine what it is?

"Andy Walker" wrote in message news:46ab6529.6936765@news.webtv.com...
>
> Or, you could simply run some simple DOS commands to determine what
> program(s) are using external connections.
>
> c:\netstat -nab > netstat.txt
> c:\more netstat.txt
>
> Look for established connections using foreign addresses other than
> 127.x.x.x. You should be able to determine what port and what process
> is communicating, as well as the external IP address.
>
> To check the external IP address go to http://www.dnsstuff.com and
> enter it into the "IP Information" box.


I couldn't remember the 'netstat' command. I kept thinking 'net' but
that doesn't list the current port usage. Thanks for the reminder. One
of these, it'll find some better brain cells to stick to.

 

[Vanguard]

Re: Unknown download activity in background - how to determine what it is?

"WaIIy" wrote in message
news:7mvma3p34og81q98nm23ga35mqui1uvhce@4ax.com...
>
> Doc wrote:
>>
>> I'm using WinXP Media Center, the last few days I've noticed that
>> there's some kind of d/l actitivity showing even when I'm doing
>> nothing online even with the Windows firewall up as well as
>> ZoneAlarm. I'm on 56k dialup. How do I determine what this is? I
>> don't have Windows update on automatic. I ran AdAware with the latest
>> definitions but it's still doing it.
>
> This might help. It's a very handy program.
> http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/ProcessExplorer.mspx


More appropriate would be their TCPview.

 

[Kayman]

Re: Unknown download activity in background - how to determine what it is?

"BoaterDave" <BoaterDave@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
news:O4neV7R0HHA.5644@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> Hi Doc
>
> I've been led to believe that, just like one should only ever have a
> single active antivirus programme,
One should only ever have a single *real- time* AV program, if you wish you
can have several *on-demand* AV apps.
> one should only have a single software firewall operative. In other
> words, disable MS Windows firewall if you are using Zone Alarm.
>
Uninstalling ZA would be an even better solution. It's Phoney-Baloney ware;
It gives you a false sense of security.
Go to:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/technetmag/issues/2006/05/SecurityMyths/default.aspx
and scroll down to:
Myth: Host-Based Firewalls Must Filter Outbound Traffic to be Safe.

Then read this:
("...the typical form of outbound protection in client firewalls is just
security theater.)
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/technetmag/issues/2007/06/VistaFirewall/default.aspx

And this:
http://www.samspade.org/d/firewalls.html

Read and impelement this:
http://www.ntsvcfg.de/ntsvcfg_eng.html
http://www.dingens.org/index.html.en

And consider implemening Hardening your OS:
http://www.5starsupport.com/tutorial/hardening-windows.htm

Good luck

 

[John John]

Re: Unknown download activity in background - how to determine whatit is?

Re: Unknown download activity in background - how to determine whatit is?

Kayman wrote:


> and scroll down to:
> Myth: Host-Based Firewalls Must Filter Outbound Traffic to be Safe.

That article itself is baloney. It is true that any malware can
circumvent a firewall's outbound protection but it is also true that a
lot of malware is detected by firewall outbound monitoring. The
outbound monitoring also alerts you when otherwise legitimate software
is trying to call home. Perhaps you like it better when things like
Media player call home without your knowledge, a pesky annoyance that
you should be aware of things like that.

The article states:

"Speaking of host firewalls, why is there so much noise about outbound
filtering? Think for a moment about how ordinary users would interact
with a piece of software that bugged them every time a program on their
computer wanted to communicate with the Internet..." What a pile of
baloney!"

Firewall have rules, it appears no one at Microsoft knows this, which
isn't really surprising to tell you the truth. Microsoft's logic is
that "you don't need seat belts if you have airbags". And you don't
need to know what it is that things like Media Player doing. Baloney
indeed!

John

 

[Kerry Brown]

Re: Unknown download activity in background - how to determine what it is?

"John John" <audetweld@nbnet.nb.ca> wrote in message
news:%23mmjLjX0HHA.4568@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Kayman wrote:
>
>
>> and scroll down to:
>> Myth: Host-Based Firewalls Must Filter Outbound Traffic to be Safe.
>
> That article itself is baloney. It is true that any malware can
> circumvent a firewall's outbound protection but it is also true that a lot
> of malware is detected by firewall outbound monitoring. The outbound
> monitoring also alerts you when otherwise legitimate software is trying to
> call home. Perhaps you like it better when things like Media player call
> home without your knowledge, a pesky annoyance that you should be aware of
> things like that.
>
> The article states:
>
> "Speaking of host firewalls, why is there so much noise about outbound
> filtering? Think for a moment about how ordinary users would interact with
> a piece of software that bugged them every time a program on their
> computer wanted to communicate with the Internet..." What a pile of
> baloney!"
>
> Firewall have rules, it appears no one at Microsoft knows this, which
> isn't really surprising to tell you the truth. Microsoft's logic is that
> "you don't need seat belts if you have airbags". And you don't need to
> know what it is that things like Media Player doing. Baloney indeed!
>


There is no way a software firewall can guarantee it will stop outbound
traffic on the computer it is running on regardless of the OS. Software
firewalls can be useful for stopping programs communicating outbound through
normal channels. That's it, period. The fact that some firewalls notify you
about malware communicating out is a function of how poorly the malware is
programmed not the firewall. Intel motherboards can communicate though the
onboard NICs at the BIOS level with no OS present. Rootkits can easily
modify all traffic going through any NIC in the computer. Malware running in
Windows can easily corrupt traffic from legitimate programs. Malware can
even create it's own TCP/IP stack and bypass Windows (or other OS')
networking stack altogether. Virtual server software is capable of spoofing
a MAC and getting multiple IP addresses for one NIC from a DHCP server. What
makes you think malware can't do the same type of thing?

--
Kerry Brown
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
http://www.vistahelp.ca

 

[John John]

Re: Unknown download activity in background - how to determine whatit is?

Re: Unknown download activity in background - how to determine whatit is?

Kerry Brown wrote:

> "John John" <audetweld@nbnet.nb.ca> wrote in message
> news:%23mmjLjX0HHA.4568@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>
>> Kayman wrote:
>>
>>
>>> and scroll down to:
>>> Myth: Host-Based Firewalls Must Filter Outbound Traffic to be Safe.
>>
>>
>> That article itself is baloney. It is true that any malware can
>> circumvent a firewall's outbound protection but it is also true that a
>> lot of malware is detected by firewall outbound monitoring. The
>> outbound monitoring also alerts you when otherwise legitimate software
>> is trying to call home. Perhaps you like it better when things like
>> Media player call home without your knowledge, a pesky annoyance that
>> you should be aware of things like that.
>>
>> The article states:
>>
>> "Speaking of host firewalls, why is there so much noise about outbound
>> filtering? Think for a moment about how ordinary users would interact
>> with a piece of software that bugged them every time a program on
>> their computer wanted to communicate with the Internet..." What a
>> pile of baloney!"
>>
>> Firewall have rules, it appears no one at Microsoft knows this, which
>> isn't really surprising to tell you the truth. Microsoft's logic is
>> that "you don't need seat belts if you have airbags". And you don't
>> need to know what it is that things like Media Player doing. Baloney
>> indeed!
>>
>
>
> There is no way a software firewall can guarantee it will stop outbound
> traffic on the computer it is running on regardless of the OS. Software
> firewalls can be useful for stopping programs communicating outbound
> through normal channels. That's it, period. The fact that some firewalls
> notify you about malware communicating out is a function of how poorly
> the malware is programmed not the firewall. Intel motherboards can
> communicate though the onboard NICs at the BIOS level with no OS
> present. Rootkits can easily modify all traffic going through any NIC in
> the computer. Malware running in Windows can easily corrupt traffic from
> legitimate programs. Malware can even create it's own TCP/IP stack and
> bypass Windows (or other OS') networking stack altogether. Virtual
> server software is capable of spoofing a MAC and getting multiple IP
> addresses for one NIC from a DHCP server. What makes you think malware
> can't do the same type of thing?

All that you say is true and I never said or argued otherwise. But
software firewalls that monitor outbound connections can be useful and
can help to keep some applications in check, just because the Microsoft
firewall can't do it doesn't mean that all others are not good.

John

 

[dobey]

Re: Unknown download activity in background - how to determine what it is?


"WaIIy" <eIvez@ChangeThisPart.com> wrote in message
news:7mvma3p34og81q98nm23ga35mqui1uvhce@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 28 Jul 2007 00:51:49 -0700, Doc <docsavage20@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>I'm using WinXP Media Center, the last few days I've noticed that
>>there's some kind of d/l actitivity showing even when I'm doing
>>nothing online even with the Windows firewall up as well as
>>ZoneAlarm. I'm on 56k dialup. How do I determine what this is? I
>>don't have Windows update on automatic. I ran AdAware with the latest
>>definitions but it's still doing it.
>>
>>Thanks.
>
> This might help. It's a very handy program.
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/ProcessExplorer.mspx

Any chance it is just Windows update working in the background? I imagine
some of the updates might take a while on 56 kb.

 

[Vanguard]

Re: Unknown download activity in background - how to determine what it is?

"dobey" <a@v.nox> wrote in message
news:e9lJRDZ0HHA.4568@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>
> Any chance it is just Windows update working in the background? I
> imagine some of the updates might take a while on 56 kb.


Check the configuration of Automatic Updates. Right-click on the My
Computer desktop icon, select Properties, and look at the Automatic
Updates tab. You should NEVER let Microsoft automatically update your
host. At worst, allow the updates to be download but prompt to actually
install them. Better is to only get prompted when there is an update
and then you do the download and install when you want. Best is to
disable Automatic Updates and only update when you find there is an
update that you want or need. Unfortunately, Microsoft is bent of
forcing their updates on their customers so, for example, the malware
signature updates for Windows Defender are delivered via Windows Updates
rather than having the program check for only its own updates, so you
might want to set Automatic Updates to prompt you but you shouldn't
download until you are ready to then follow with the install. If you
let blindly allow Microsoft change your host's configuration, you will
be yet another user proclaiming that they did not change a thing but now
something suddenly fails to work anymore.

 

[dobey]

Re: Unknown download activity in background - how to determine what it is?


"Vanguard" <no@mail.invalid> wrote in message
news:ODBpkGZ0HHA.3400@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> "dobey" <a@v.nox> wrote in message
> news:e9lJRDZ0HHA.4568@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>>
>> Any chance it is just Windows update working in the background? I imagine
>> some of the updates might take a while on 56 kb.
>
>
> Check the configuration of Automatic Updates. Right-click on the My
> Computer desktop icon, select Properties, and look at the Automatic
> Updates tab. You should NEVER let Microsoft automatically update your
> host. At worst, allow the updates to be download but prompt to actually
> install them. Better is to only get prompted when there is an update and
> then you do the download and install when you want. Best is to disable
> Automatic Updates and only update when you find there is an update that
> you want or need. Unfortunately, Microsoft is bent of forcing their
> updates on their customers so, for example, the malware signature updates
> for Windows Defender are delivered via Windows Updates rather than having
> the program check for only its own updates, so you might want to set
> Automatic Updates to prompt you but you shouldn't download until you are
> ready to then follow with the install. If you let blindly allow Microsoft
> change your host's configuration, you will be yet another user proclaiming
> that they did not change a thing but now something suddenly fails to work
> anymore.

This is to the OP of couse...