Cable Modem Problem..

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  • Start date Start date
YW, JD - BTW I just remembered, in my experience, 4.2.2.3 is a bit faster
than 4.2.2.2 when tested, so you might want to make it the Primary and
4.2.2.2 the Alternate. :)

--
Regards, Jim Byrd,
My Blog, Defending Your Machine,
http://defendingyourmachine2.blogspot.com/



In JD <[email protected]> typed:
|| Jim Byrd wrote:
||| Hi JD - Sorry I didn't get back sooner - Labor Day stuff.
|||
||| I'm wondering if perhaps you're not seeing DNS server failures.
||| Leave the DNS Client on Disabled (not Manual) and then try the
||| following:
|||
||| 1. Start|Control Panel|Network Connections then right click on
||| Local Area Connection and select Properties.
|||
||| 2. Select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) then click on
||| Properties
|||
||| 3. Click on Use the following DNS Server addresses (this will
||| uncheck Obtain DNS server address automatically) and then
||| enter 4.2.2.2 and 4.2.2.3 in the Preferred and
||| Alternate DNS server windows.
|||
||| 3. Now re-boot your machine.
|||
|||
||| Try this for awhile and see if that solves the problem. (If so,
||| you can safely just leave them like that permanently without any
||| problem.) Please post back with your followup again if you will.
|||
|||
|| Welcome back, Jim.
||
|| I'll make those changes and let you know what happens. I can go two
|| or three days or up to two weeks without losing modem speed but I'll
|| let you know what happens. Thanks for your continuing help!
||
|| --
|| JD..
 
Jim said:
Hi JD - Sorry I didn't get back sooner - Labor Day stuff.

I'm wondering if perhaps you're not seeing DNS server failures. Leave the
DNS Client on Disabled (not Manual) and then try the following:

1. Start|Control Panel|Network Connections then right click on Local
Area Connection and select Properties.

2. Select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) then click on Properties

3. Click on Use the following DNS Server addresses (this will uncheck
Obtain DNS server address automatically) and then enter 4.2.2.2
and 4.2.2.3 in the Preferred and Alternate DNS server
windows.

3. Now re-boot your machine.


Try this for awhile and see if that solves the problem. (If so, you can
safely just leave them like that permanently without any problem.) Please
post back with your followup again if you will.
Click to expand...
Welcome back, Jim.

I'll make those changes and let you know what happens. I can go two or
three days or up to two weeks without losing modem speed but I'll let
you know what happens. Thanks for your continuing help!
 
Jim said:
YW, JD - BTW I just remembered, in my experience, 4.2.2.3 is a bit faster
than 4.2.2.2 when tested, so you might want to make it the Primary and
4.2.2.2 the Alternate. :)
Click to expand...
OK. Thanks!
 
Jim said:
YW, JD - BTW I just remembered, in my experience, 4.2.2.3 is a bit faster
than 4.2.2.2 when tested, so you might want to make it the Primary and
4.2.2.2 the Alternate. :)
Click to expand...
Changes didn't help. Modem slowed to a crawl. I have found that I do not
need to reboot the modem. As a test this time, I only rebooted XP and
the speed came right back.
 
OK then, JD - I think it's time to review the bidding. Please post back
with the following info. (Where an alternative or time is implied, I mean
for a long enough period for the slowdown to have likely recurred.):

1. I assume since you're posting in this group that your OS is XP. Is that
correct?

Is SP2 installed?
Are you fully up-to-date with all critical updates?

2. Which Internet browser are you using?

If IE, which version, IE6 or IE7? Or some third party overlay such as
Maxthon or Sleirnir?
If IE7, have you tried uninstalling it and dropping back to IE6? (In the
interest of full disclosure, I'm very definitely not a fan of IE7 :) )
If Firefox, which release?

3. If running with IE, have you tried disabling third party extensions and
running this way?

4. If running with IE, have you tried regularly clearing out your TIF
(Temporary Internet Files) including off-line content?

5. Have you run Disk Cleanup or otherwise cleared out the Temp file
(normally at C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\Local Settings\Temp)?

6. If running with IE, have your tried using just Firefox and/or vice
versa?

7. Do you regularly run updated malware cleaners such as Ad-Aware and
SpybotS&D, and anti-virus scans with an up-to-date anti-virus? (See my
Blog, Defending Your Machine, addy below in my Signature for more info on
this.)

8. Have you noticed _any_ pattern associated with the slowdown's occurance
such as:

a particular site or type of site,
a particular kind of site page (htm, html, php, asp,etc.),
a particular kind of site activity (playing streaming media, for example or
doing some type of site search), a large number of browser windows opened,
etc.?


Let's start with those and see if we can find out what's up. (If you decide
to work your way through this list, I'd advise doing only one thing at a
time and keeping good records of the conditions and timing involved in each
trial, but see the following first.)



If you wish, you may try the following "general purpose" fix first before
getting into the longer investigation outlined (or at least implied) above:


1. Go to http://wiki.djlizard.net/Dial-a-fix and download Dial-a-fix
v0.60.0.24 (2006-10-27) Here's a direct download link:
http://djlizard.net.nyud.net:8080/software/Dial-a-fix-v0.60.0.24.zip and a
secondary: http://djlizard.net/software/Dial-a-fix-v0.60.0.24.zip from
that page's download section, here:
http://wiki.djlizard.net/Dial-a-fix#Mirrors.2Fdownload_locations.2C_and_articles .

2. Unzip it to a new folder at root with any name, e.g.
c:\Dial-a-fix-v0.60.0.24

3. Restart the computer in Safe Mode. Now double click on Dial-a-fix.exe
in that folder.

4. Click on the following:

- Options/tooltips (just to get an idea of what it does in each
section.
:) )
- Both boxes under Prep
- The 'all' (top) box for Sections 2, 3 and 4 (which will automatically
be set when you check 3)
- In Section 3 do NOT click on 'Flush Software Distribution'
- In Section 5, check all boxes
- Click 'Go' . (Some of the re-registrations may take what seems like
a
long time for some .dll's - Don't be impatient.)

5. Reboot. Now Reboot Again. (Yes, twice.)






--
Regards, Jim Byrd,
My Blog, Defending Your Machine, http://defendingyourmachine2.blogspot.com/




--
Regards, Jim Byrd,
My Blog, Defending Your Machine,
http://defendingyourmachine2.blogspot.com/



In JD <[email protected]> typed:
|| Jim Byrd wrote:
||| YW, JD - BTW I just remembered, in my experience, 4.2.2.3 is a bit
||| faster than 4.2.2.2 when tested, so you might want to make it the
||| Primary and
||| 4.2.2.2 the Alternate. :)
|||
|| Changes didn't help. Modem slowed to a crawl. I have found that I do
|| not need to reboot the modem. As a test this time, I only rebooted
|| XP and the speed came right back.
||
|| --
|| JD..
 
YW, JD - Please keep us informed as to your findings, if you will - it can
help others.

--
Regards, Jim Byrd,
My Blog, Defending Your Machine,
http://defendingyourmachine2.blogspot.com/



In JD <[email protected]> typed:
|| Jim Byrd wrote:
||| OK then, JD - I think it's time to review the bidding. Please post
||| back
||| with the following info. (Where an alternative or time is implied,
||| I mean
||| for a long enough period for the slowdown to have likely recurred.):
|||
||| 1. I assume since you're posting in this group that your OS is XP.
||| Is that correct?
|||
||| Is SP2 installed?
||| Are you fully up-to-date with all critical updates?
|||
||| 2. Which Internet browser are you using?
|||
||| If IE, which version, IE6 or IE7? Or some third party overlay
||| such as
||| Maxthon or Sleirnir?
||| If IE7, have you tried uninstalling it and dropping back to IE6?
||| (In the interest of full disclosure, I'm very definitely not a fan
||| of IE7 :) )
||| If Firefox, which release?
|||
||| 3. If running with IE, have you tried disabling third party
||| extensions and running this way?
|||
||| 4. If running with IE, have you tried regularly clearing out your
||| TIF (Temporary Internet Files) including off-line content?
|||
||| 5. Have you run Disk Cleanup or otherwise cleared out the Temp file
||| (normally at C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\Local
||| Settings\Temp)?
|||
||| 6. If running with IE, have your tried using just Firefox and/or
||| vice
||| versa?
|||
||| 7. Do you regularly run updated malware cleaners such as Ad-Aware
||| and
||| SpybotS&D, and anti-virus scans with an up-to-date anti-virus?
||| (See my
||| Blog, Defending Your Machine, addy below in my Signature for more
||| info on
||| this.)
|||
||| 8. Have you noticed _any_ pattern associated with the slowdown's
||| occurance
||| such as:
|||
||| a particular site or type of site,
||| a particular kind of site page (htm, html, php, asp,etc.),
||| a particular kind of site activity (playing streaming media, for
||| example or
||| doing some type of site search), a large number of browser windows
||| opened,
||| etc.?
|||
|||
||| Let's start with those and see if we can find out what's up. (If
||| you decide
||| to work your way through this list, I'd advise doing only one thing
||| at a
||| time and keeping good records of the conditions and timing involved
||| in each trial, but see the following first.)
|||
|||
|||
||| If you wish, you may try the following "general purpose" fix first
||| before
||| getting into the longer investigation outlined (or at least
||| implied) above:
|||
|||
||| 1. Go to http://wiki.djlizard.net/Dial-a-fix and download
||| Dial-a-fix
||| v0.60.0.24 (2006-10-27) Here's a direct download link:
||| http://djlizard.net.nyud.net:8080/software/Dial-a-fix-v0.60.0.24.zip
||| and a secondary:
||| http://djlizard.net/software/Dial-a-fix-v0.60.0.24.zip from
||| that page's download section, here:
|||
http://wiki.djlizard.net/Dial-a-fix#Mirrors.2Fdownload_locations.2C_and_articles
||| .
|||
||| 2. Unzip it to a new folder at root with any name, e.g.
||| c:\Dial-a-fix-v0.60.0.24
|||
||| 3. Restart the computer in Safe Mode. Now double click on
||| Dial-a-fix.exe
||| in that folder.
|||
||| 4. Click on the following:
|||
||| - Options/tooltips (just to get an idea of what it does in each
||| section.
||| :) )
||| - Both boxes under Prep
||| - The 'all' (top) box for Sections 2, 3 and 4 (which will
||| automatically
||| be set when you check 3)
||| - In Section 3 do NOT click on 'Flush Software Distribution'
||| - In Section 5, check all boxes
||| - Click 'Go' . (Some of the re-registrations may take what
||| seems like
||| a
||| long time for some .dll's - Don't be impatient.)
|||
||| 5. Reboot. Now Reboot Again. (Yes, twice.)
|||
|||
||
|| Jim..
||
|| I appreciate your help to this point but now it's getting a little
|| too complicated for me.
||
|| What I have learned today is that a reboot of XP fixes the problem.
|| In the past I have rebooted both the computer and the modem but I
|| didn't reboot the modem this time and the speed returned.
||
|| My computer has all the critical updates. My install disk contained
|| SP2.
||
|| I run A-squared Free, Ad-Aware SE Personal, Avast Antivirus, Spybot
|| Search and Destroy, SpywareBlaster and Super Antispyware Free
|| Edition. I just updated all of their signature files and ran a full
|| system scan.
||
|| I use SeaMonkey for my web browser and newsgroups, OE for e-mail.
||
|| I run disk cleanup every two weeks.
||
|| There appears to be no single factor to cause the modem slowdown.
|| Usually it slows down when I'm not doing anything. I start the
|| computer in the morning, check my e-mail and read a few newsgroups.
|| I check my e-mail and read the newsgroups a couple of times a day.
|| Everything is running along fine and then I recheck my e-mail or go
|| to a random web page and I notice that it has slowed to a crawl.
||
|| I don't think it's the modem at all. Rebooting XP fixed it this time
|| so I'm looking at the HOSTS file and SpywareBlaster. I plan to take
|| them out one at a time and see if the problem continues.
||
|| Thanks again for your help. I'm not ready to go the dial-a-fix route.
||
||
|| --
|| JD..
 
Jim said:
OK then, JD - I think it's time to review the bidding. Please post back
with the following info. (Where an alternative or time is implied, I mean
for a long enough period for the slowdown to have likely recurred.):

1. I assume since you're posting in this group that your OS is XP. Is that
correct?

Is SP2 installed?
Are you fully up-to-date with all critical updates?

2. Which Internet browser are you using?

If IE, which version, IE6 or IE7? Or some third party overlay such as
Maxthon or Sleirnir?
If IE7, have you tried uninstalling it and dropping back to IE6? (In the
interest of full disclosure, I'm very definitely not a fan of IE7 :) )
If Firefox, which release?

3. If running with IE, have you tried disabling third party extensions and
running this way?

4. If running with IE, have you tried regularly clearing out your TIF
(Temporary Internet Files) including off-line content?

5. Have you run Disk Cleanup or otherwise cleared out the Temp file
(normally at C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\Local Settings\Temp)?

6. If running with IE, have your tried using just Firefox and/or vice
versa?

7. Do you regularly run updated malware cleaners such as Ad-Aware and
SpybotS&D, and anti-virus scans with an up-to-date anti-virus? (See my
Blog, Defending Your Machine, addy below in my Signature for more info on
this.)

8. Have you noticed _any_ pattern associated with the slowdown's occurance
such as:

a particular site or type of site,
a particular kind of site page (htm, html, php, asp,etc.),
a particular kind of site activity (playing streaming media, for example or
doing some type of site search), a large number of browser windows opened,
etc.?


Let's start with those and see if we can find out what's up. (If you decide
to work your way through this list, I'd advise doing only one thing at a
time and keeping good records of the conditions and timing involved in each
trial, but see the following first.)



If you wish, you may try the following "general purpose" fix first before
getting into the longer investigation outlined (or at least implied) above:


1. Go to http://wiki.djlizard.net/Dial-a-fix and download Dial-a-fix
v0.60.0.24 (2006-10-27) Here's a direct download link:
http://djlizard.net.nyud.net:8080/software/Dial-a-fix-v0.60.0.24.zip and a
secondary: http://djlizard.net/software/Dial-a-fix-v0.60.0.24.zip from
that page's download section, here:
http://wiki.djlizard.net/Dial-a-fix#Mirrors.2Fdownload_locations.2C_and_articles .

2. Unzip it to a new folder at root with any name, e.g.
c:\Dial-a-fix-v0.60.0.24

3. Restart the computer in Safe Mode. Now double click on Dial-a-fix.exe
in that folder.

4. Click on the following:

- Options/tooltips (just to get an idea of what it does in each
section.
:) )
- Both boxes under Prep
- The 'all' (top) box for Sections 2, 3 and 4 (which will automatically
be set when you check 3)
- In Section 3 do NOT click on 'Flush Software Distribution'
- In Section 5, check all boxes
- Click 'Go' . (Some of the re-registrations may take what seems like
a
long time for some .dll's - Don't be impatient.)

5. Reboot. Now Reboot Again. (Yes, twice.)
Click to expand...

Jim..

I appreciate your help to this point but now it's getting a little too
complicated for me.

What I have learned today is that a reboot of XP fixes the problem. In
the past I have rebooted both the computer and the modem but I didn't
reboot the modem this time and the speed returned.

My computer has all the critical updates. My install disk contained SP2.

I run A-squared Free, Ad-Aware SE Personal, Avast Antivirus, Spybot
Search and Destroy, SpywareBlaster and Super Antispyware Free Edition. I
just updated all of their signature files and ran a full system scan.

I use SeaMonkey for my web browser and newsgroups, OE for e-mail.

I run disk cleanup every two weeks.

There appears to be no single factor to cause the modem slowdown.
Usually it slows down when I'm not doing anything. I start the computer
in the morning, check my e-mail and read a few newsgroups. I check my
e-mail and read the newsgroups a couple of times a day. Everything is
running along fine and then I recheck my e-mail or go to a random web
page and I notice that it has slowed to a crawl.

I don't think it's the modem at all. Rebooting XP fixed it this time so
I'm looking at the HOSTS file and SpywareBlaster. I plan to take them
out one at a time and see if the problem continues.

Thanks again for your help. I'm not ready to go the dial-a-fix route.
 
Jim said:
YW, JD - Please keep us informed as to your findings, if you will - it can
help others.
Click to expand...
I will. The first thing I've done is disable SpywareBlaster. I'll see
how that goes.
 
JD said:
I will. The first thing I've done is disable SpywareBlaster. I'll see
how that goes.
Click to expand...

Still with me Jim?

It's been over a week since I lost my modem speed. The only thing I did
was disable SpywareBlaster. When I was disabling it, I noticed it was
made for IE and Mozilla/Firefox. I use SeaMonkey which is a variation of
Mozilla so I don't know if this solved my problem or not.

I posted in a cable modem newsgroup and got nowhere. They wanted to
discuss how slow my cable modem was and they suggested my computer has
been "compromised." One person suggested using Linux instead of Windoze.

I have been monitoring my Networking tab in Windows Task Manager and I
see no network activity except when I'm using the web, etc.. I also
looked through the various Processes and see nothing out of the ordinary.

One other change is I now turn off my modem (they call it standby) when
I'm not using the web.

I don't think my computer is "compromised" and I'm not going to Linux
since most of the software I use is not compatible with Linux.
 
Hi JD - Thanks for keeping us up-to-date.

First, I'm somewhat dubious that disabling SpywareBlaster would affect the
issue, at least not the basic functionality of SB. Principally, SB performs
two functions of interest, and both of these are passive in nature once
they've been set - that is SB doesn't run in the background or anything - it
just sets things and exits. First, SB sets a 'kill' bit for 'bad' ActiveX
components which prevents their installation and/or, if already installed,
prevents them from running and also blocks certain 'bad' cookies. Secondly,
It adds a set of known 'malware' related sites to the Restricted Zone in
your computer which in effect severely limits those sites' ability to damage
your machine should you inadvertently wind up there. Lastly, it does have
some optional tools for disabling Flash and restricting (protecting) some of
your IE Settings from hijacking and for backing up your HOSTS file, but
you've given us no indication of what use you may have made of these. None
of these are functions which would appear to me to be very likely related at
all to your problem unless they can be assxociated with visiting specific
sites (as I mentioned last time). Your use of SeaMonkey shouldn't matter
with respect to this, I don't believe.

However, putting your modem into standby raises some interesting
possibilities. In effect, restarting it would invoke many of the same
startup functions which your pervious re-boots and re-logons did, that is
perhaps reinitializing the DHCP process and/or just 'resyncing' things with
your ISP.

I would suggest that to further narrow down the issue, you re-activate your
SpywareBlaster functionality (and keep it updated - it's one of your best
lines of defense against malware) and continue with just the modem
standby/reinitialization procecure you're currently using and see how that
plays out.

While you may well not be compromised, it would be useful to run at least a
couple of the basic malware scaning programs such as AdAware and SpyBotS&D
to increase your assurance of that. (You really ought to be doing that on a
regular basis anyway. :) See my Blog for more info on that.)


--
Regards, Jim Byrd,
My Blog, Defending Your Machine,
http://defendingyourmachine2.blogspot.com/



In JD <[email protected]> typed:
|| JD wrote:
||| Jim Byrd wrote:
|||| YW, JD - Please keep us informed as to your findings, if you will
|||| - it can help others.
||||
||| I will. The first thing I've done is disable SpywareBlaster. I'll
||| see how that goes.
|||
||
|| Still with me Jim?
||
|| It's been over a week since I lost my modem speed. The only thing I
|| did was disable SpywareBlaster. When I was disabling it, I noticed
|| it was made for IE and Mozilla/Firefox. I use SeaMonkey which is a
|| variation of Mozilla so I don't know if this solved my problem or
|| not.
||
|| I posted in a cable modem newsgroup and got nowhere. They wanted to
|| discuss how slow my cable modem was and they suggested my computer
|| has been "compromised." One person suggested using Linux instead of
|| Windoze.
||
|| I have been monitoring my Networking tab in Windows Task Manager and
|| I see no network activity except when I'm using the web, etc.. I also
|| looked through the various Processes and see nothing out of the
|| ordinary.
||
|| One other change is I now turn off my modem (they call it standby)
|| when I'm not using the web.
||
|| I don't think my computer is "compromised" and I'm not going to Linux
|| since most of the software I use is not compatible with Linux.
||
|| --
|| JD..
 
Jim said:
Hi JD - Thanks for keeping us up-to-date.

First, I'm somewhat dubious that disabling SpywareBlaster would affect the
issue, at least not the basic functionality of SB. Principally, SB performs
two functions of interest, and both of these are passive in nature once
they've been set - that is SB doesn't run in the background or anything - it
just sets things and exits. First, SB sets a 'kill' bit for 'bad' ActiveX
components which prevents their installation and/or, if already installed,
prevents them from running and also blocks certain 'bad' cookies. Secondly,
It adds a set of known 'malware' related sites to the Restricted Zone in
your computer which in effect severely limits those sites' ability to damage
your machine should you inadvertently wind up there. Lastly, it does have
some optional tools for disabling Flash and restricting (protecting) some of
your IE Settings from hijacking and for backing up your HOSTS file, but
you've given us no indication of what use you may have made of these. None
of these are functions which would appear to me to be very likely related at
all to your problem unless they can be assxociated with visiting specific
sites (as I mentioned last time). Your use of SeaMonkey shouldn't matter
with respect to this, I don't believe.

However, putting your modem into standby raises some interesting
possibilities. In effect, restarting it would invoke many of the same
startup functions which your pervious re-boots and re-logons did, that is
perhaps reinitializing the DHCP process and/or just 'resyncing' things with
your ISP.

I would suggest that to further narrow down the issue, you re-activate your
SpywareBlaster functionality (and keep it updated - it's one of your best
lines of defense against malware) and continue with just the modem
standby/reinitialization procecure you're currently using and see how that
plays out.

While you may well not be compromised, it would be useful to run at least a
couple of the basic malware scaning programs such as AdAware and SpyBotS&D
to increase your assurance of that. (You really ought to be doing that on a
regular basis anyway. :) See my Blog for more info on that.)
Click to expand...

I didn't say it makes sense but so far it has worked? Like I said, I
noticed spywareblaster had a setting for Mozilla/Firefox but not
SeaMonkey. I should ask in my SeaMonkey newsgroup if anyone is using SB.

Keep in mind that the only thing that got my modem speed back was
rebooting the computer. I used to reboot the modem but found that wasn't
necessary.

I do scan for malware, spyware, trojans, all the nasties using four
different programs.

Isn't troubleshooting fun?
 
Jim said:
Hi JD - Thanks for keeping us up-to-date.

First, I'm somewhat dubious that disabling SpywareBlaster would affect the
issue, at least not the basic functionality of SB. Principally, SB performs
two functions of interest, and both of these are passive in nature once
they've been set - that is SB doesn't run in the background or anything - it
just sets things and exits. First, SB sets a 'kill' bit for 'bad' ActiveX
components which prevents their installation and/or, if already installed,
prevents them from running and also blocks certain 'bad' cookies. Secondly,
It adds a set of known 'malware' related sites to the Restricted Zone in
your computer which in effect severely limits those sites' ability to damage
your machine should you inadvertently wind up there. Lastly, it does have
some optional tools for disabling Flash and restricting (protecting) some of
your IE Settings from hijacking and for backing up your HOSTS file, but
you've given us no indication of what use you may have made of these. None
of these are functions which would appear to me to be very likely related at
all to your problem unless they can be assxociated with visiting specific
sites (as I mentioned last time). Your use of SeaMonkey shouldn't matter
with respect to this, I don't believe.

However, putting your modem into standby raises some interesting
possibilities. In effect, restarting it would invoke many of the same
startup functions which your pervious re-boots and re-logons did, that is
perhaps reinitializing the DHCP process and/or just 'resyncing' things with
your ISP.

I would suggest that to further narrow down the issue, you re-activate your
SpywareBlaster functionality (and keep it updated - it's one of your best
lines of defense against malware) and continue with just the modem
standby/reinitialization procecure you're currently using and see how that
plays out.

While you may well not be compromised, it would be useful to run at least a
couple of the basic malware scaning programs such as AdAware and SpyBotS&D
to increase your assurance of that. (You really ought to be doing that on a
regular basis anyway. :) See my Blog for more info on that.)
Click to expand...

Upon a little closer examination of SpywareBlaster, all it does for
Mozilla/Firefox is knock out some cookies so I've left that turned off
and turned on the remaining protection for IE. I only use IE for Windows
updates.

Still no modem slow down. Can take up to two weeks for the problem to
surface.
 
Jim said:
Hi JD - Thanks for keeping us up-to-date.

First, I'm somewhat dubious that disabling SpywareBlaster would affect the
issue, at least not the basic functionality of SB. Principally, SB performs
two functions of interest, and both of these are passive in nature once
they've been set - that is SB doesn't run in the background or anything - it
just sets things and exits. First, SB sets a 'kill' bit for 'bad' ActiveX
components which prevents their installation and/or, if already installed,
prevents them from running and also blocks certain 'bad' cookies. Secondly,
It adds a set of known 'malware' related sites to the Restricted Zone in
your computer which in effect severely limits those sites' ability to damage
your machine should you inadvertently wind up there. Lastly, it does have
some optional tools for disabling Flash and restricting (protecting) some of
your IE Settings from hijacking and for backing up your HOSTS file, but
you've given us no indication of what use you may have made of these. None
of these are functions which would appear to me to be very likely related at
all to your problem unless they can be assxociated with visiting specific
sites (as I mentioned last time). Your use of SeaMonkey shouldn't matter
with respect to this, I don't believe.

However, putting your modem into standby raises some interesting
possibilities. In effect, restarting it would invoke many of the same
startup functions which your pervious re-boots and re-logons did, that is
perhaps reinitializing the DHCP process and/or just 'resyncing' things with
your ISP.

I would suggest that to further narrow down the issue, you re-activate your
SpywareBlaster functionality (and keep it updated - it's one of your best
lines of defense against malware) and continue with just the modem
standby/reinitialization procecure you're currently using and see how that
plays out.

While you may well not be compromised, it would be useful to run at least a
couple of the basic malware scaning programs such as AdAware and SpyBotS&D
to increase your assurance of that. (You really ought to be doing that on a
regular basis anyway. :) See my Blog for more info on that.)
Click to expand...
Jim..

Are you still with me? It's been over two weeks since I lost my cable
modem speed so I think we've fixed the problem. Turning off the modem
when I'm not doing online tasks may be part of the answer? Or maybe not
letting SpywareBlaster set it's cookie restrictions in SeaMonkey? It's
not important what fixed it. It appears to be a local problem? My
computer only.

Disabling the DNS Client services helped also. That's a good solution
for people using a large HOSTS file and Windows XP.

Thanks for your help!
 
YW, JD - Glad to see you've been able to get things under control. You
might want to try 're-adding' things (Spyware Blaster functions, modem
on/off cycling, etc.) one at a time to see if you continue to work correctly
and further identify the problem in case you don't. Good luck!

--
Regards, Jim Byrd,
My Blog, Defending Your Machine,
http://defendingyourmachine2.blogspot.com/



In JD <[email protected]> typed:
|| Jim Byrd wrote:
||| Hi JD - Thanks for keeping us up-to-date.
|||
||| First, I'm somewhat dubious that disabling SpywareBlaster would
||| affect the issue, at least not the basic functionality of SB.
||| Principally, SB performs two functions of interest, and both of
||| these are passive in nature once they've been set - that is SB
||| doesn't run in the background or anything - it just sets things and
||| exits. First, SB sets a 'kill' bit for 'bad' ActiveX components
||| which prevents their installation and/or, if already installed,
||| prevents them from running and also blocks certain 'bad' cookies.
||| Secondly, It adds a set of known 'malware' related sites to the
||| Restricted Zone in your computer which in effect severely limits
||| those sites' ability to damage your machine should you
||| inadvertently wind up there. Lastly, it does have some optional
||| tools for disabling Flash and restricting (protecting) some of your
||| IE Settings from hijacking and for backing up your HOSTS file, but
||| you've given us no indication of what use you may have made of
||| these. None of these are functions which would appear to me to be
||| very likely related at all to your problem unless they can be
||| assxociated with visiting specific sites (as I mentioned last
||| time). Your use of SeaMonkey shouldn't matter with respect to
||| this, I don't believe.
|||
||| However, putting your modem into standby raises some interesting
||| possibilities. In effect, restarting it would invoke many of the
||| same startup functions which your pervious re-boots and re-logons
||| did, that is perhaps reinitializing the DHCP process and/or just
||| 'resyncing' things with your ISP.
|||
||| I would suggest that to further narrow down the issue, you
||| re-activate your SpywareBlaster functionality (and keep it updated
||| - it's one of your best lines of defense against malware) and
||| continue with just the modem standby/reinitialization procecure
||| you're currently using and see how that plays out.
|||
||| While you may well not be compromised, it would be useful to run at
||| least a couple of the basic malware scaning programs such as
||| AdAware and SpyBotS&D to increase your assurance of that. (You
||| really ought to be doing that on a regular basis anyway. :)
||| See my Blog for more info on that.)
|||
|||
|| Jim..
||
|| Are you still with me? It's been over two weeks since I lost my cable
|| modem speed so I think we've fixed the problem. Turning off the modem
|| when I'm not doing online tasks may be part of the answer? Or maybe
|| not letting SpywareBlaster set it's cookie restrictions in
|| SeaMonkey? It's not important what fixed it. It appears to be a
|| local problem? My computer only.
||
|| Disabling the DNS Client services helped also. That's a good solution
|| for people using a large HOSTS file and Windows XP.
||
|| Thanks for your help!
||
|| --
|| JD..
 
Hi JD - BTW, I didn't mean re-enable the DNS caching service! :)

--
Regards, Jim Byrd,
My Blog, Defending Your Machine,
http://defendingyourmachine2.blogspot.com/



In JD <[email protected]> typed:
|| Jim Byrd wrote:
||| Hi JD - Thanks for keeping us up-to-date.
|||
||| First, I'm somewhat dubious that disabling SpywareBlaster would
||| affect the issue, at least not the basic functionality of SB.
||| Principally, SB performs two functions of interest, and both of
||| these are passive in nature once they've been set - that is SB
||| doesn't run in the background or anything - it just sets things and
||| exits. First, SB sets a 'kill' bit for 'bad' ActiveX components
||| which prevents their installation and/or, if already installed,
||| prevents them from running and also blocks certain 'bad' cookies.
||| Secondly, It adds a set of known 'malware' related sites to the
||| Restricted Zone in your computer which in effect severely limits
||| those sites' ability to damage your machine should you
||| inadvertently wind up there. Lastly, it does have some optional
||| tools for disabling Flash and restricting (protecting) some of your
||| IE Settings from hijacking and for backing up your HOSTS file, but
||| you've given us no indication of what use you may have made of
||| these. None of these are functions which would appear to me to be
||| very likely related at all to your problem unless they can be
||| assxociated with visiting specific sites (as I mentioned last
||| time). Your use of SeaMonkey shouldn't matter with respect to
||| this, I don't believe.
|||
||| However, putting your modem into standby raises some interesting
||| possibilities. In effect, restarting it would invoke many of the
||| same startup functions which your pervious re-boots and re-logons
||| did, that is perhaps reinitializing the DHCP process and/or just
||| 'resyncing' things with your ISP.
|||
||| I would suggest that to further narrow down the issue, you
||| re-activate your SpywareBlaster functionality (and keep it updated
||| - it's one of your best lines of defense against malware) and
||| continue with just the modem standby/reinitialization procecure
||| you're currently using and see how that plays out.
|||
||| While you may well not be compromised, it would be useful to run at
||| least a couple of the basic malware scaning programs such as
||| AdAware and SpyBotS&D to increase your assurance of that. (You
||| really ought to be doing that on a regular basis anyway. :)
||| See my Blog for more info on that.)
|||
|||
|| Jim..
||
|| Are you still with me? It's been over two weeks since I lost my cable
|| modem speed so I think we've fixed the problem. Turning off the modem
|| when I'm not doing online tasks may be part of the answer? Or maybe
|| not letting SpywareBlaster set it's cookie restrictions in
|| SeaMonkey? It's not important what fixed it. It appears to be a
|| local problem? My computer only.
||
|| Disabling the DNS Client services helped also. That's a good solution
|| for people using a large HOSTS file and Windows XP.
||
|| Thanks for your help!
||
|| --
|| JD.
 
Jim said:
YW, JD - Glad to see you've been able to get things under control. You
might want to try 're-adding' things (Spyware Blaster functions, modem
on/off cycling, etc.) one at a time to see if you continue to work correctly
and further identify the problem in case you don't. Good luck!
Click to expand...

Jim..

SpywareBlaster has been re-enabled except for SeaMonkey because all it
does is restrict cookies which I can easily do in SeaMonkey.

What do you mean by "modem on/off cycling"?

I don't mind turning the modem off (actually to 'standby") when I'm not
online, which is most of the day. As I was troubleshooting this problem
I noticed a lot of incoming, blocked hits from a few IP addresses. They
were probing ports and sending packets? With the modem off, they're just
wasting their time although once the modem is back on they're right back
at it.

Is it possible my ISP is doing this to me? Once they see me online but
not doing anything they begin to slow my connection down?
 
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