Our internet stats are extra high these last few months and we have a claim in to our cable internet provider. They keep trying to tell me it could be a virus but they are full of kerap. We have Norton Antivirus on both computers, as well as ran online scans at trendmicro.com (no viruses detected). We also have used Adaware, Hijack This and Spysweeper in the past. No ad or spyware detected. Installed a dell router last month Reformated both computers and reinstalled windows xp Pro with all updates/service pack 2. Turned windows Firewall on and unclicked mos tof the sharing options in it. Don't have any file sharing programs such as Kazaa lite, Gnutella etc. Told all our friends to not send any photos, jokes etc. Stopped all networking between our two computers and use our MP3 player or CD to transfer files. My question is this: What the hell else can we do???? LOL I feel so restricted and can't download anything anymore. I'd like to find a program that can tell me if someone is trying to hack in to our computer. I hope someone can help me with this. Thanks!

Hi ... I'm not saying it can't happen but its very likely that a hacker would want to hack your computer , Hacker are more into the bigger fish , if you know what i mean < Though I wouldn't use Microsoft windows firewall, I would suggest in getting a third party firewall , like these here below Sygate Personal Firewall (Free and up) http://smb.sygate.com/buy/download_buy.htm ZoneAlarm (Free and up) http://snipurl.com/6ohg Kerio Personal Firewall (KPF) (Free and up) http://www.kerio.com/kpf_download.html Outpost Firewall from Agnitum (Free and up) http://www.agnitum.com/download/ Symantec's Norton Personal Firewall (~$25 and up) http://www.symantec.com/sabu/nis/npf/ BlackICE PC Protection ($39.95 and up) http://blackice.iss.net/

hi proz, the system's a bitch isn't it. no more fun in the (www)Wild Wild West. perhaps if you could find an old program like jammer that not only stopped trojans like back office but also contacted the isp and warned them that someone from their service was hacking. other than that you're doing fine. life is too short find something else you'd like to do. the internet was fun way back when....before the suits got to it. all the best, murve

I guess this: "Our internet stats are extra high these last few months and we have a claim in to our cable internet provider." Means you have more traffic than you can account for. Get a real firewall. Go to grc.com and test it. M2

There is no computer that's 100% protected, 100% of the time. However you can greatly reduce your vulnerability by doing a few basic things. Firewalls are deterents and can be compared at best to a locked door, with enough time at hand, a serious intruder will get around the door, either by picking the lock or tearing it down. Two types of hackers exist, one with a motive and the other without. Obviously most home users need not worry about the former, because of their MO. The are clandestine and don't want to be perceived nor get caught either. It is the casual hacker and script kiddies that you want to thwart. My recommendation is listed below. 0. Tighten your OS (Updates and Patches) 1. Install a firewall (Hardware/Software), and test probe your PC for open ports. 2. Install and update your AV as available. 3. Use secure administrative password(s). 4. Install and update your anti-adware utility. 5. Routinely scan your system. -- Before you criticize a bigger man, you should walk a mile in his shoes. That way, when you do, you're a mile away, and you have his shoes. --

Consider a different ISP who is willing to work with you on such problems, or not ask you to pay extra for their lack of protection. It just may be that they are taking no action to block junk packet traffic coming into their network, because it allows them to charge users more. They are measuring activity at their end of the link, not at your systems on you side of the modem. Much of the traffic they are measuring could be some of the UDP and other non TCP traffic that bounces around the Internet. I can set at night and watch the Receive LED on my cable modem blink and glow with a steady glow, while only some of it gets through to the router and none to the systems as they are not even connected! I have router logs that show over 350 systems trying to do a total of 5000 TCP GET request to my system per day. This has been going on for over six months after my "dynamic" IP address changed to the current one. You may be getting hits from people looking for a P2P system that once had your current IP address. 1) Have you monitored you modem's Receive and Transmit LEDs to see if there is activity late at night? 2) Have you checked your current IP address and then powered off you modem over night trying to force a different dynamic IP address that has less of this garbage traffic?

JaclG, Good one M2