Help/advice on usage

[stevie0573]

I recevied a email late last night from idnet about my usage which is going to exceed by some like 40 extra gb's. Now im not saying i havent used it but it seemed a little odd when my usage is normally around the 15 to 16gbs per month and this month im almost over and its only the 15th.

Anyway today i thought i would keep off the internet and make a really effort to cut back but i have just checked my usage for today and so far i have downloaded 1.49gb and uploaded 0.05 which seems odd because i havent been doing anything.

Before i call CS i just wondered if anyone else has had any problems with this

cheers

steve

[Inactive]

Nope Steve, mine is always well under 5GB.

I assume that if you have a Wireless Modem / Router that it is secure?

[stevie0573]

My router is wireless but i have switched it off in the settings

[Rik]

It does sound like someone is piggy-backing your bandwidth, Stevie. Have you checked in your router to see if there are any 'strangers' present?

Or could someone in the family be hitting torrents?

[stevie0573]

Since i checked my usage today ive been constantly looking at the attached devices to see if theres anything else using the router but so far nothing, the router  has the wireless part switched off and ive taken the aerial out (had it connected) but not sure if that will make much difference.

Im not 100% sure the best way to check if some one else is piggy backing so any advice would be welcome

[Rik]

What's your setup? Do you have just one machine hard-wired to the router? What make and model is the router?

[stevie0573]

Yea its just one machine which is hard wired to a netgear DG834G v2 and im using vista 32 so the router is always on.

The machine/router has been running like this for well over a month and no usage problems until this month (sorry if thats irrelevant just having things running through my head at the moment)

[Rik]

Vista shouldn't be part of the equation, Stevie. The router should be secure if you've disabled wireless by unchecking "Enable wireless access point", in which case the 'antenna' symbol light should also be off.

If all this is the case, then I would suggest you give support a call in the morning, they will be able to look at the logs and see when usage occurred, and to take you further. In this sort of situation, beyond establishing the basics, there is little we can do I'm afraid.

[stevie0573]

Cheers rik im going to call them tomorrow and would be great if they can tell me when usage have occured because for the most part of today the pc have been switched off and ive used 1.4gb .


You guys are always helpful here and its good to go over the basic's because sometimes its those things we miss.

Thanks again for the help

[Rik]

Sorry I couldn't come up with something more concrete, Stevie. I know how you must feel, wondering what's going on. Some things we can deal with, but this one really does need IDNet to look at what is going on. You're right, though, it's always good to check your thinking with someone else.

[Simon_idnet]

Hi Steve

If you could PM me your DSL login name then I can check your stats for you.

From what you've said so far I would recommend a thorough Spyware and Virus scan to make sure that something nasty on your PC is not using your connection without your knowledge.

regards
Simon

[Rik]

Why on earth didn't I think to ask about spyware? Asleep on the job. Apologies Stevie & Simon. I'm going off to stand in the corner...

[Lance]

Although he has said that he had all that usage today while the computer was turned off...

Not to say it couldn't be spyware though!

[Rik]

Thanks for spotting that, Lance. That's my excuse for not asking about spyware.

[stevie0573]

Thanks again for the suggestions guys, im running them now just incase.

simon ive sent you a pm with the details

[Rik]

Something else you might want to try, Stevie, is a program like Netmeter so you can see usage as it happens. I'm not sure if it runs with Vista though.

[drummer]

Sky broadband, the BBC and Channel 4's 4oD both use Kontiki to allow users to download content, but none of them are explicit about the fact that Kontiki is P2P software and will nick bandwidth without informing the user.

Maybe the OP is an unwitting victim of Kontiki?  If not, it's worth knowing about this pest as Kontiki are doing their best to take down sites that refer to the removal tool.

http://www.pcdoctor-guide.com/wordpress/?p=2452 is all I could find about how to remove it.

[Rik]

Thanks for pointing that out, Drummer, I stay well clear of them for that very reason, but didn't think to suggest it. You have just demonstrated the beauty of forums, everyone looks at the question slightly differently and, collectively, we cover more ground than we could do individually.