Phoning Home??

[juststarting]

How can you tell if and when a program is connecting on line in the background? Will Kaspersky, etc. block this? Is the firewall the blocking device?

Thanks

[poisondeathray]

yes some software firewalls , if configured properly , will notify you that a program is attempting to connect . Not sure about kaspersky, but zone alarm for example does this. You can set permissions and rules (e.g. if you use firefox , you may want to leave that on ignore list) . Some are very complex with multiple levels and custom parameters. Some even have OS firewalls - e.g. if an unknown program (like a virus) is trying to execute, it will stop it and ask you for permission first (it doesn't have to do a virus scan, it just doesn't have the program on it's "allowed" list)