What the heck is causing this?

Question

Okay, I just reformatted my computer last weekend. Now sometimes whenever I connect to the internet, my modem just goes bonkers. It's sending a lot of info but I can't receive anything and it's not allowing me to go a website or do anything internet related yet my connection is still going and sending lots of info. My dad thinks that I have a virus and that it's sending lots of info to clog a website or whatever up. Is that true? If it is, how do i stop it or prevent it? What else can it be? Cuz after a restart it does go away but sometimes it comes back...BTW i have DSL with AT&T and i'm located in the Southern California area. Thanks!

Answer 1

if you don't have a firewall, internet security or anti spyware

you may have a problem, you haven't stated what OS you are using so i assume it is XP which has it's own firewall(for what it's worth) i suggest you install if you haven't, an antivirus program and firewall program at least. Avast or AVG Free are both decent free antivirus programs.  And you may want to look at the like of Zone alarm PRO firewall software. All of which you can find on google.

If all that doesn't sort your problem and you maybe have a wireless router make sure you are not having your router hijacked and that security measures are correct.

i.e.

1. Set up MAC filtering

2. Set up WPA security

3. Don't Broadcast SSID from router

4. Change router password as most are "PASSWORD" by default and possibly also "ADMIN" as default Username.

at the very least

Answer 2

Your dad might be right.  That's called a Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attack.  Something might have planted 'bots on your machine and is using it to attack somebody.

Not sure if this will help, but ...

If you have an anti-virus, I suggest you make sure it has the latest virus definitions and run a scan with it in Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Networking.  Both often prevent malware from protecting itself.  If you don’t have one, many people here swear by AVG (it’s free).

I suggest you also download Ad-Aware 2008 and Spybot S&D (they’re free), install them, update them and run them. If any of the above (or any anti-malware, for that matter) doesn’t seem to be able to run properly or get rid of everything it reports finding, try running it again in Safe Mode.

Also, turn off System Restore to evict any copies of bad stuff that might be lurking there.  

To get into Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Networking:

1. Log out and reboot your machine.

2. When the machine starts the reboot sequence, press the F8 key repeatedly.

3. Select Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Networking from the resulting menu.

4. When the login screen comes up, log in as Administrator.  By default, Administrator has no password.

5. The machine will continue booting, but the Windows desktop will look different.  You won't be able to see the Internet, for instance.

6. When you're finished, log out and reboot back into normal mode.

Note that even if the anti-malware programs get rid of the malware, they may not be able to reverse the effects.  Search the Web for possible fixes.

Update and run everything regularly.

Good luck.