What programs are running in the background?
Category: Windows
by Dennis Faas, infopackets editor
http://www.infopackets.com
Dear Dennis,
A few days ago, I was using my computer when all the sudden,
I noticed that some program decided that it wanted to access the Internet.
I tried to cancel the request to connect to the Internet, but the bugger
kept coming back asking for a connection. I then decided to try the "3
finger salute" by pressing CTRL + ALT + DEL at the same time to bring
up Task Manager, but no programs were listed here that seemed to be "out of
the ordinary" that might have been attempting to access the Internet. Is there a program which
can run in the background, keeping track of who is making calls to other
programs like the dialer? Or, does it already exist in W98SE? - Stan L.
Jr. My Response: I don't know of any programs that specifically
watch for an Internet connection -- incase of a similar situation to yours
-- but I *do* know that there are some programs which will tell you what is
running in the background. In fact, this was discussed in a previous
newsletter (NTFS
Alternate Data Streams). A quick recap:
- Go to
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/procexp.shtml, and get
Process Explorer.
Snippet from the web site: "Ever wondered which program has a
particular file or directory open? Now you can find out. Process Explorer
shows you information about which handles and DLLs processes have opened
or loaded."
- Go to
www.dependencywalker.com, and get Dependency Walker.
Snippet from the web site: "Dependency Walker is a free utility that
scans any 32-bit or 64-bit Windows module / program (exe, dll, ocx, sys,
etc.) and builds a hierarchical tree diagram of all dependent modules. For
each module found, it lists all the functions that are exported by that
module ... Dependency Walker is also very useful for troubleshooting
system errors related to loading and executing modules."
If anyone knows of a sleuthing program that specifically watches the
Internet for "naughty" programs which are attempting to "call home",
please feel free to email me.  |
