15 Problems That Your Plague Your PC
And How to Solve Them


--by Karen Kenworthy, Contributing Editor, Fred Langa, Senior 
Consulting Editor, John Woram, Consulting Editor, Serdar 
Yegulalp, Technology Editor


** Problem No 13: 
Every time I open Windows, it tries to dial out. **

Solution:
Any number of things can cause this. First, make sure your 
Startup folder doesn't contain a shortcut to an app that 
automatically dials your ISP for you, as will happen if the app 
is configured to check for updates each time it's used. In case 
of doubt, remove faxing and other modem-related apps from the 
Startup group until you find the culprit, especially those with 
names like Windows Update, Live Update or similar.

If this doesn't help, open the Registry's 

HKEY_CURRENT_USER and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE 

keys one at a time. Drill down to the 

\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run subkey in both, 
and the\RunServices subkey in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.

If you see an Internet-related app in the Name column, export 
the key, then delete that line. Keep an eye out for EXE files 
whose names you don't recognize; they may indicate a virus.

If this resolves the problem, you can probably reconfigure the 
app so that it stays away from the modem until you instruct it 
to make a connection. If so, make the appropriate configuration 
change and import the exported subkey to restore the 
former configuration.

It's possible an app listed on the run= line in WIN.INI is 
causing the problem, in which case the same general procedures 
should help to resolve it.


 1998 Windows Magazine, April 1999, Page 112.