StarDestroyer.Net BBS

So I was doing some homework on it (offline) when the phone started ringing. I got up from the chair but then it stopped and the modem started beeping instead. Sounded like it tried to connect to the 'net but the number it was dialing was not the regular one. I disconnected the modem from the phone jack and rebooted the computer. That shut it up.

My question is, obviously, why the hell did the computer do this?

Hmm, perhaps it overheard me and my dad talking about bying a new computer and it now wants to show how useful it really is by helping us out with things. Maybe it'll go and get the non-electronic mail from the mailbox if I ask it...

Check immediately for viruses and trojans.

And the Lawnmower Man.

Dooey Jo wrote:

So I was doing some homework on it (offline) when the phone started ringing. I got up from the chair but then it stopped and the modem started beeping instead. Sounded like it tried to connect to the 'net but the number it was dialing was not the regular one. I disconnected the modem from the phone jack and rebooted the computer. That shut it up.

My question is, obviously, why the hell did the computer do this?

Hmm, perhaps it overheard me and my dad talking about bying a new computer and it now wants to show how useful it really is by helping us out with things. Maybe it'll go and get the non-electronic mail from the mailbox if I ask it...

That sounds rather like the call your computer recieved was from a fax machine (beeps followed by connection handshaking.) And, on your computer, there may be some sort of fax program, or service that's active and enabled, which would allow your computer to recieve faxes. Check your open programs and Windows services for any sort of open and active fax client.

And check for patches, too. On my old Compaq, whenever my phone rang my computer froze.

Check for a porndialer....

I don't think it's a virus. Not only did the scan come up negative but why would someone make a virus that does something like this? (Of course, why would anyone make a virus at all...)

The "fax theory" seems likely, only that this wasn't a fax machine calling. It does this when anyone call. I've found a service called "Telephony". Sounds suspicious enough so I'm going to check if inactivating it will make any difference.

Dalton wrote:
And check for patches, too. On my old Compaq, whenever my phone rang my computer froze.

Intresting, because I'm using a Compaq. Pressario or something.

Dooey Jo wrote:I don't think it's a virus. Not only did the scan come up negative but why would someone make a virus that does something like this? (Of course, why would anyone make a virus at all...)

porn dialers to rack up your phone bill perhaps. as vertigo suggested.

Darth_Zod wrote:

Dooey Jo wrote:I don't think it's a virus. Not only did the scan come up negative but why would someone make a virus that does something like this? (Of course, why would anyone make a virus at all...)

porn dialers to rack up your phone bill perhaps. as vertigo suggested.

Um, porn dialers dial out, they don't answer the phone.

hrrm. . .okay, bugger that idea then. . . .

Telephony is a program that handles incoming telephone calls, so that might be it.

Dooey Jo wrote:Intresting, because I'm using a Compaq. Pressario or something.

Definitely check for a patch, especially if you have a 5030.

LadyTevar wrote:Telephony is a program that handles incoming telephone calls, so that might be it.

That's what I thought too. And it did have something to do with it but I couldn't use the modem at all when I deactivated the program. But I was able to tell it how to handle incoming calls by unchecking two checkboxes. Now I only need to figure out how and why they were checked in the first place...