August 09, 2004

• Are you using an unsecured wireless access point? Is it possible that someone else is connecting through your wireless connection and sucking up bandwidth?
• No, it's a dial-up account.
• Zone alarm is a firewall that is free to download and use. It will allow you to see what programs on your computer are accessing the internet and stop the ones that you don't want to access the internet
• Is it possible someone else is using your ID and password? This happened to me when I had dial-up and used it at my mom's house. I logged in as myself so she could avoid paying my charges, but forgot to change the settings back to her account. Of course, that was the month she spent doing an online research project. Needless to say, it was an expensive lesson.
• Zone Alarm is PC only (I think). Nobody has my password, although these things can be generated.
• I've also had luck with Panda Scan. You may also want to download AVG anti-virus, just make sure you update the virus definition before you scan. Stay away from Purity Scan, it installs adware. Spybot and Ad Aware may also find something, update them first as well. If those still don't stop it, you can try the old fashioned way. Hit crt+alt+del and compare the list of running tasks to this database and kill anything that shouldn't be there.
• Sorry I just caught the mac OS.
• Mac OS X includes a handy-dandy firewall - hit System Preferences, and it's in the Sharing pref pane. (This is on 10.3, BTW. I believe it's there in 10.2 but I haven't used it since 10.3 came out.) Also, check your Software Update settings - maybe it's downloading updates. It can be set to only check, and I think that's the default option but it may have been fiddled with. Check the Software Update pref pane. Apple's software updates do tend to be huge.. Also, you might want to pull up a Terminal and type "w" or "who" - someone may have gotten access to your machine (it is a Unix, so it comes with SSH and all that). If they have, turn Remote Login off in Sharing and that should fix it. Also, change your passwords ASAP. If you're still running OS 9, try IPNetSentry or IPNetRouter from Sustainable Softworks. They will do firewalling type dealies. There are others for classic Mac OS I'm sure, but I've used IPNR and trust it more (though IPNR itself isn't really for firewalling). You might also try asking your ISP to tell you where the data is coming from.. they should be able to at least tell you if it's coming from your Mac, or going to it. Might help you figure out where the problem lays. HTH :-)
• If you really want to see what's going in/out of your net connection (including ALL ports, not just through the Web or E-mail) a port sniffer app is another tool to have in your arsenal.
• MacOS X? Does it come with the netstat command? netstat shows active IP connections. On linux I would also be exploring with tcpdump. And does your ISP report WHEN this is happening? Like, if you don't dialup all day, do they report usage?
• Um, I never don't dial up all day. I'm on OS9, too. Sticking on ISP sentry now, just for a look. Thanks all, keep 'em coming!
• ISP (sorry, wrote ISP instead of IP in last entry) says uploads are low, downloads are OTP. I'm still not getting it.
• Um, I never don't dial up all day. You never don't dial up all day? Me neither too!
• I am not sure I understand the question, but I'd love to help. There is a pretty strict limit on how much bandwidth you can get through a dial-up per minute, 56kps X 60 to be exact. So there is really no way you are draining resources by stuff going on while you are online. Unlike if you were on a broadband line and running 20 torrents simultaneously. So it seems to me that the problem could only be more hours/day than they want. Which would lead me to what has been said before about the account being hijacked. I think a good first step would be to change all asociated passwords and check activity levels after a week or so. Doing the firewall stuff makes sense too, of course, as I feel that a lot more malware is and will be emerging on the mac front. I am not sure that I fully understand the problem and I hope that the above doesn't sound condescending. I know you know your way around a computer, so maybe I am missing a great big boat. but I hope you are able to find the source of the problem.
• I think that's my next step. Change the password on the account. Sorry about all of this, but it's hecka annoying.
• Oh yeah, and sUx to me tha nOOB!
• Wolof -- check for spyware *before* changing that password. I second Testy Cod's recommendation of Ad-Aware.
• I believe it has something to do with the passing of Rick James.
• I believe it has something to do with the passing of Rick James. You mean it rocked the field of my not-very-good spaceship? Had a drink with Victor Wooten not that long ago.
• Unsure whether this might be relevant, Wolof.
• Because you are on a mac, the only possibility that makes any sence is that someone is usuing your account. Either someone is usuing your computer behind your back, or someone has gotten your username and password. Since you are on dial up the only way your usage could go up 4 times is if your username were online 4 times as long. I suppose there is an outside chance that your computer is dialing up itself, but that doesn't seem likely (check and see if there is some sort of automatic update thingy turned on. But I would change my password first).
• i also too vote for password change. password horkage is pretty easy from what i understand. it's the pr0n isn't it.
• Silly monkeys, Macs ain't got spyware. And not many viruses either. My two cents for Wolof: First, change your password pronto. This may solve the problem. Second, tell your ISP that you want full details on your internet usage (how often you log on, how long you're online, the originating IP address, etc.) before you pay any extra charges. Explain that you think someone else is sneaking into your account. Third, interrogate anyone who has regular access to your machine. I suspect your cat. If the problem is not fixed by the password change, and if the ISP's info shows that another person is using your account, you might consider buying Norton Internet Security and/or upgrading to OS X. And what mrg said, yo.
• If changing the password doesn't work, rather than buy some software, take the simple solution and unplug the machine from the wall for a week and call the isp and see if you have still allegedely been connecting. If the machine isn't plugged into the phone, then there isn't anyway it can be your computer!
• You mention that you have a small website with nothing on it. Is that in some way tied to your bandwidth bill? If so, is something hitting it a bazillion times a day? Some of the bots and search engine crawler are extremely poorly behaved.
• your ISP might be doing questionable practices to ensure you pay big moolah. Look to your own setup, but don't rule out them, either.
• Who is fuck says hecka...i mean hella is bad enough but hecka....
• Who is fuck says hecka...i mean hella is bad enough but hecka....
• And who is fuck takes crit from someone called "corkscrew"? I'll find out later today, but what I suspect has happened is that I logged into this account from a computer on the university network which had some malware on it that snarfled my password. Owner of malware then signed this account up for p2p purposes.
• What's wrong with hecka? I say hecka heckaovalot of times when I talk.
• Hella hecka haters in tha house, yo.
• Oy! Es u, oh ah, t' nisr, et, ah ak, cehal, leh! Funny, made sense when I was writing it.
• Then Hecka Pecka, Goosa Poosa, and Trucka Lucka ran down the road to tell the king the sky was falling.
• Trucka Lucka prolly got there first, but I bet Hecka Pecka looked the best.