Connection Manager malfunctioning?

[Dr Seven]

My connection manager seems to be malfunctioning. It comes up at start up and it comes up at odd times when I don't want to be on the internet.

It used to only come up when I clicked on the icon on my desktop for my ISP.

The only place I can see where this setting may be located is in the control panel under internet options. There I see a box that says: Dial when there is no internet connection.

I assume this means for the connection manager to launch automatically. But I don't have that box checked.

Can anyone tell me how to stop the connection manager from coming up unless I want it to?

I even tried uninstalling and reinstalling it. That didn't help.

Please help!

[Renovator]

Another program may be trying to dial out.

It's probably some auto update feature or check for new version feature.

You may notice it happens shortly after you open certain software.

If that is the case...then the entry is probably listed on the Start-up tab if msconfig.

You can get there by going to the Start button > Run > and typing msconfig, and hitting enter. The last tab is the one youwant to take a look at.

Look throught the entries for something that hints at being an "Agent". uncheck the box in ftont of it and see if that takes care of it.

[Dr Seven]

What do you mean auto update feature or check for new version feature and what do I do about that?

It does happen when I open some software, but it also opens on the desktop when I am doing nothing.

I looked through msconfig and I saw something that said something about being an angent, but the box in front wasn't checked.

Does anyone know of a place at msn or Windows where I can go to for a fix to this? Or what else I might try.

Thanks for trying to help!

[snarkie]

The easiest way to run this down, is to download and install Zone Alarm. Then every time a program tries to access the internet, it should ask you for permission. Go ahead and click on the dial up, and when zone alarm prompts you to allow "xxx" to enter the internet, this will give you the tip off as to which program(s) is doing this.

May me old school low tech, but it works for me.



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Your Neighborhood Schlepper

[Dr Seven]

I am pretty sure I have solved this. I just wish the engineers who design the software would learn to write English.
In the control panel under internet options under start up is a series of boxes. One of them says never dial a connection and one of them says always dial a connection.
What it should says is: dial manually or let your computer dial automatically when programs are alerting for updates.

When I saw never dial a connection I was afraid to click that box for fear that I would then be unable to get on the internet.

All my confusion could have been avoided had the engineers learned how to write correctly.
Thanks everyone!

[snarkie]

Originally posted by Dr Seven:
I am pretty sure I have solved this. I just wish the engineers who design the software would learn to write English.
In the control panel under internet options under start up is a series of boxes. One of them says never dial a connection and one of them says always dial a connection.
What it should says is: dial manually or let your computer dial automatically when programs are alerting for updates.

When I saw never dial a connection I was afraid to click that box for fear that I would then be unable to get on the internet.

All my confusion could have been avoided had the engineers learned how to write correctly.
Thanks everyone!

HuH?





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Your Neighborhood Schlepper

[Dr Seven]

Click on "Start". Go to "Control Panel". Click on "Internet Options". Open the tab that says "Connections", you will see three boxes. By the top box you will see, "Never dial a connection." By the next box you will see, "Dial whenever a network connection is not present." By the last box you will see, "Always dial my default connection". The last one means to dial up automatically, even though it does not say that in that many words. The first one means only dial manually.

Unless you were just kidding?

[snarkie]

The little emoticons, designate confusion. would mean kidding. means I am confused, or don't understand what the problem is.

I read and re-read the items in question, and cant for the life of me see any problem.

[ ] Never dial a connection

[ ] Dial whenever a network connection is not present.

[ ] Always dial my default connection.

Which English word did the writers use which is Inappropriate? This is why I am confused. Is English not your primary language? Perhaps that might have a bearing on why you had a problem?

I have seen many things which appear to be written in technalize, and these can indeed be confuseing. However these items are very straightforward, and simple English is used here.

Always
Maybe (if not present)
Never

Those are three English words which allow very little intrepretation, if any, that is why I am (confused).

For my own education, If I am missing something, I am concerned about it. However If I cant really see anything wrong with the item itself, then I have to ask where the problem is, so that I may be better prepared to answer questions on this item on the future.

Thank you for your response.

Incidently, out of curiousity, just what is your Native Language. I do speak some German if that would help.





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Your Neighborhood Schlepper

[Dr Seven]

English is my only language. You see, these instructions are asumming prior knowledge that the novice might not have.

When I saw NEVER dial a connection I took the word NEVER literally. I thought that if I clicked that that I would be unable to dial up to the internet. If the person who wrote this had said, "Never allow your computer to dial a connection. Do it yourself manually", that would have made more sense and put my mind at ease.

"Always dial my default connection" could easily sound like "well, duh, that's what I want to do anyway, so what's the problem"?

Had it said instead, "Allow your computer to dail ANY time it wants or needs to, automatically," that would have been clear to any idiot, myself included.

[snarkie]

Thank you Dr. for the Enlightment. Quite often we are dealing with an individual who speaks another language other than English, Being as these forumns are International in nature, we can never be sure. We have a Flemish gentleman on the board currently, and even though his english is very good, sometimes there are words in their language which do not freely translate into English.

OK, now to your problem, and the reason for it, and how to try to prevent it from happening again.

For the most part, whenever you read instructions on a computer, these instructions are for what YOU, want the COMPUTER, to do, not what you yourself are expected to do. You will notice when we answer questions on this board, we will give specific instructions as to what you, yourself have to do, just as you did when you described how to open control panel.

As a general rule, (and there will be some exceptions), any instructions you are given by software, are asking what you want the software to do, not necessarily what action you are required to perform yourself to accomplish this. Yes, I suppose, this assumes you know that the questions in general relates to what the "Program" is required to do.

This is why some of us, will suggest, that if you are a novice, then you get some help from someone with a bit of experience, so at least they can explain some of the basics to you.

Some things will assume that you have some computer literacy. Right or Wrong, that is life in the big city as they say.

I don't mean to hurt anyone's feelings, however, I would rather explain the facts up front, so we are at least on a level playing field.

So in summation, most of the time, when you are asked a question by the software you are using, it refers to what action you wish the software to perform. This will be true probably 85% of the time. One big exception is when you are dealing direct with someone who is answering questions. There they may get very basic and seem like they are treating you like a child, this is because they have no idea at the time, what your skill level is.

If you ever served in the Military, then you will remember, how ridiculously childishly simple and detailed some of the instructions in the manuals were.

A good example:

"In order to activate the radio, rotate the round knob at the lower left hand quadrant of the power supply, in a clockwise direction, until a soft click is felt and heard. At this point, continue to rotate the knob clockwise, untill the desired listening level is comfortable and legible."

Sound like they are insulting my intelligence, telling me how to turn on a radio. However this really happened to me back when I was training to be an RTT Chief.

So that is the other extreme, and if we did that here, we would have all kinds of insults being hurled at us for talking down to someone.

So those who write these things, have to try to cover all bases, and that isn't easy I assure you.

At least have I given you an explanation you can live with, for the next time this sort of question arises. If so, then at least we have partially solved the problem.

]"


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Your Neighborhood Schlepper

[This message has been edited by snarkie (edited 06-16-2001).]

[Dr Seven]

Yes, I ws in the military and I know exactly what you mean about that.

As far as the software is concerned I see what you mean, too. After I thought about it and had someone explain it to me then I realized that they would not put in a command that would have a person cut themself off from the internet since what would be the point of that in something called "connections"?

And if I ever ask a question here again and you answer, you may explain it as simply as you want to. In fact I would prefer that. The simpler the better. Less chance for a misunderstanding.

I was wondering about your asking about my language. I didn't know if you were being sarcastic or were in earnest. Thanks for explaining that too.

As far as I can tell the situation is resolved. If it is not, I will post again.

Again, thanks!