ECN Forum Forums Technical Discussion Re: Computers and the Internet It just keeps getting wierder!.

Guys,
I've had a few instances today that make me wonder about this whole IE thing.
I have MSN Messenger as a way to talk with friends and family around NZ, when we are on-line.
I tried to open MSN-M, this morning and I was met with a message that I would need to remove my Firewall, to access it.
And later on, I disconnected from the Dial-Up connection that I have, no problems, I tried to re-connect and I was told that my phone line was busy and I could not connect, I have 1 phone here and that had a dial tone, but still the modem would not dial out.
Are these things related?.

Just want to keep this as the top version

if the modem won't hang up, pull the phone plug. then you should hear it click.

Sounds about typical for IE and Windows.

Most of the new PC modems have absolutely minimal hardware, and just about everything is done in software. Some models seem to have drivers which get "confused" rather easily and this leads to all sorts of problems.

I had a devil of a job trying to get a friend's computer to even recognize the modem the other day.

Sometimes uninstalling the modem drivers and then re-installing them helps. (Then again, sometimes uninstalling them gets Windows so confused that you have to reinstall everything from scratch. Don't say I didn't warn you! )

Hey Guys,
I've got a thing here that should interest you all.
Here's a bit of background to what I have to say:
I opened my phone bill last week from Telecom NZ (which is normally NZ$35 per month and 90% lines and Maintenance charges).
I noticed a charge for an International Toll Call to the Cook Islands, made at 1221 HRs, which was when I was on the Net replying to a topic in the Non-US Area, on the day in question, during my lunch break, at home here.
This call cost me NZ$10.50, even though I had no idea that I had even made it.
Now I don't know anyone in the Cook Islands, and even if I did, I'm pretty darned sure that I would not be ringing them during Peak Call Charge hours!.
It seems like some idiot has broken into my computer or some such thing.
What REALLY annoys me is the fact that I rang Xtra (my ISP, which is a subsidiary of Telecom) and they told me that I have to pay the bill regardless, this really rubbed me up the wrong way and I had a very terse time on the end of the telephone!.
But, that night on Fair Go (a national TV Consumer Rights programme), I saw complaints from 30-40 other people who had the same thing happen to them, mainly elderly people.
(only the Elderly have the energy to complain these days, everyone else has all but given up here!).
This really smells of a scam to me, what do you guys think?, sounds pretty dodgy.
Oh and BTW, I'm NOT paying that bill, no way!!!.
{Message edited to add an important word! }

[This message has been edited by Trumpy (edited 11-01-2003).]

You might have had a "spyware dialer" installed on your system:
http://forums.spywareinfo.com/index...;showtopic=3079&st=0&#entry23613

Guys,
Thanks so much for all of your advice.
It's great to have people like you around when something does go wrong.
ThinkGood,
I reckon youre right too about that Spyware dialler, what a cheek, eh?, don't know how that got into my system, I thought that a Firewall was supposed to keep things like that out, where they belong.
BTW,
I've just changed my email address at ECN to my Xtra address, but when I went into Outlook Express, it bumped off my Internet connection, and told me that I was working Offline, is there any way that I can stop this from happening?.
It's really annoying to have to re-dial, after I've opened OE.
Could someone please help?.
Sorry about all the computer fault questions, I just have no idea, eh!!.