Can anybody recommend a monitoring program? how about CS FireMonitor?

[ahhaa]

Every time I go online, I have a wait state while stuff updates in the background. Being stuck with dialup, this can amount to 20 minutes or so of 'can't find' webpages & 'can't connect' email. According to the little dialup monitor in the toolbar, I'm receiving between 500K & 1.5 megs, and sending up to 300K into limbo. The machine can also spend 5 minutes 'Saving my Settings' when shutting down. Mighty annoying!

My IS stuff is up to date, and prob'ly a large part of this background traffic. Adaware, Norton, Spybot etc never find anything really bad. I guess most people with broadband never even notice this kinda thing...

I just found a program called CS FireMonitor, which among a great number of other things, claims to track internet traffic and tell which programs are actively using the net. I found it here:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads11.html

Does anybody know anything about this freeware before I install it?

Anybody recommend something better for this purpose?

[GKar]

I'm a dialup sufferer too, don't know that piece of software but I use Kerio Firewall 2.1.5 (behind NAT router) and it has what you need and it's freeware.

Shown on Firewall Status screen:

[redwudz]

I use NetLimiter to see what applications are using my connection and limit their bandwidth if needed. There is a freeware version called NetLimiter 2 Monitor that just monitors, identifies and lists how much each data each application is DL'ng and UL'ng: http://www.netlimiter.com/download.php It's a simple program and works very well.

If you are using Norton, that would be one suspect. When I used Netzero dialup, it spent the first five minutes downloading adware, even though I used the paid version. Very irritating when on a slow dialup. Netzero called it 'updating' but it wasn't updating the program, just other stuff.

[GKar]

ahhaa, I like to disable all automatic updates on all programs and do them manually, especially Microsoft automatic updates. This stuff is transparent to most broadbanders but to us dialuper's it's a pain and it usually happens when you first dial in.

[JerryB]

hi,
maybe i can be of some here... the issue of your surfing being slow!!... now there various factors you need to look at and address that can speed up your surfing....weather just surfing or donwloading files...

1. you don't mention what your connections speed is... you want to be above at least a 40k connections speed.... that will give you the possiblity of getting at least 4-6kps data transfer rate!! ... example connecting at 28.8 (max xfer rate of 3. kps) it will take a good 8-10 miniute to download a 1 meg file.... connecting at 45k (a max avg of 5kps) that 1 meg file takes only 3-5 minutes to download!! that a huge difference..!! so the very least make sure your above 40k connection....
2. now there a lot of things that can effect your transfer rate.... ie: the website and it server.. time of day, how busy the internet in general... AND!!!! what programs you have running in the background!!!!!! for most of them there not much you can do other than pick at time when there not busy... HOWEVER!!!!! those programs running int the background.... disabling those programs will help a LOT!!!!! so I suggest go to your msconfig>startup tab and disable alll needless programs that running... yo can always callig them up if yo need them.... but there a lot of advantages is disabling these needless startup programs,,,,
a. your system overall will be faster!!!!
b. your surfing will be faster!!!!!!!!!
3. now of course you do want certain programs running all or most of the time when you bootup... but if your downloading from site that your your pretty safe about... you may want to disable the virus scanner! for the duration of the download...... doing this can get you anywhere from 20-50% faster download rate!!!!!!!!!
4. when your downloading a LARGE file... don't do anything on the computer ie: typing aletter, or playing a game or anything.... the moment you start doing other things on the pc while your downloading... will tremedously slow the download time of the file..!!!!!!
5. of course always do your antispyware and antivirus scans to make sure your system isn't infected with maleware!!!
6. it also helps if you purge your internet cache and clear histor files and DEFRAG once in awhile....!!!

note: keep in mind your upload time will only equate to a 28.8k !! hense it will always be significantly slower compared your downloads....

/////////////////

Every time I go online, I have a wait state while stuff updates in the background. Being stuck with dialup, this can amount to 20 minutes or so of 'can't find' webpages & 'can't connect' email. According to the little dialup monitor in the toolbar, I'm receiving between 500K & 1.5 megs, and sending up to 300K into limbo. The machine can also spend 5 minutes 'Saving my Settings' when shutting down. Mighty annoying!

My IS stuff is up to date, and prob'ly a large part of this background traffic. Adaware, Norton, Spybot etc never find anything really bad. I guess most people with broadband never even notice this kinda thing...

I just found a program called CS FireMonitor, which among a great number of other things, claims to track internet traffic and tell which programs are actively using the net. I found it here:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads11.html

Does anybody know anything about this freeware before I install it?

Anybody recommend something better for this purpose?

[ahhaa]

thanks guys!

why doesn't Norton do what that Kerio does?:]

my connect speed usually shows as 44K or better (rural phone lines)
mostly concerned with why I'd be sending 200-300K on every connect...

have a bunch of those shchosts showing in processes too- why so many?

thought a monitoring program would give me a better handle on whats doing what. I save a lot of webpages (ebay, even VH), and then theres all the email... Norton shows a huge list of net capable programs when the list is updated (why would Solitare need it?)
all quite bemusing...

[GKar]

Svchost handles all sorts of stuff, read here:

http://www.ss64.com/ntsyntax/services.html

[JerryB]

hi,
First are yo sure the spelling is correct... I think you mean svchost if the spelling is correct then it needs to be investigated for possible virus....

Now it's not unusal to have 4-6 svchost file on the system...
the main one, svchost.exe will be located in the system 32 folder.... and then you will have a couple svchost.bin file and maybe a couple of svchost.exe files in backupfolder...

However.... if you see many svchost scatter in other folders and or you see a variation of the name like svhost or some other very similar spelling variations..... then be concerned...

this link..... they have section on host... the valid ones and some of the bad ones...
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist_s.htm
just scroll down to the svchost section.......

thanks guys!

why doesn't Norton do what that Kerio does?:]

my connect speed usually shows as 44K or better (rural phone lines)
mostly concerned with why I'd be sending 200-300K on every connect...

have a bunch of those shchosts showing in processes too- why so many?

thought a monitoring program would give me a better handle on whats doing what. I save a lot of webpages (ebay, even VH), and then theres all the email... Norton shows a huge list of net capable programs when the list is updated (why would Solitare need it?)
all quite bemusing...

[CrayonEater]

Kerio's a great firewall. I still use the old 2.1.5 even though it's been 3-4 years since it's been discontinued. It's not suitable as a front-line firewall anymore but it rocks and can be used in combination with Zonealarm, maybe even Windows' firewall. Been a while since I've done that.

Norton's is a resource hog. I too agree that Norton's is probably responsible for a large chunk if not most of the slowness you've been experiencing. I also agree that disablign automatic updates for both Windows and other stuff like anti-spyware is also a good idea.

But I'd take it one step further because it sounds like your machine is running slow in general.

I'd shut down all non-essential background processes including resident anti-spyware software and maybe anti-virus as well. Basically, just your core Windows services and firewall. The truth is, you really don't need resident anti-spyware or maybe AV unless you run Internet Explorer or download stuff from filesharing, emails, or dodgy sites. Running Firefox or Opera - preferably with Java disabled - will render you immune to nearly all malware, and is the single biggest security step you can take. The 'being careful what you download' falls into the "safe hex" category and as long as you do that you can run safely.

[GKar]

On the subject of services, spyware etc.... there are some nice freebie programs that disable many unneeded and potentially harmful windows services:

xpy
xp-antispy
safexp

They tend to overlap each other as far as functionality but anyone of them or all 3 work together well. I prefer SafeXP.

[fLYtRap]

Do this first: turn off all the automatic updates and update them manually!

[ahhaa]

I found Kerio, but it seems all server products:
http://www.kerio.com/

paranoidically, after posting about this, I couldn't connect for a six hour stretch...!:]

[GKar]

Get Kerio 2.1.5 here:

Click on download not homepage.

http://www.321download.com/LastFreeware/page7.html

[ahhaa]

GKar- thanks! I d/l'd the Kerio, but now I'm wondering what you meant by saying you ran it behind a NAT router. Does that have a firewall too?

[GKar]

I prefer a basic NAT router for handling the incoming traffic and the software firewall for handling outgoing application traffic monitoring. It's hard to find many routers that have a serial port for an external modem these days. The router sort of protects the software firewall from the outside world so it can monitor outgoing traffic without getting hacked (except from inside your computer). The magic of a NAT router is in how it assigns a computer an IP address outside of the internet's IP routing tables.