IDEA: Modem Blocker!

[Long.Knight]

Hello, I would kill (well.... almost) for a program that lets me turn off access to my modem!  Ever had your modem start dialing (when your already using the phone or maybe 3am while your trying to sleep? ) for no reason you can find ?  Or some stray program thinks it's a good Idea with out asking?  Drives me nutz!  I have 2 other friends with the same problem!   The other problem is that sometimes when I'm not on the internet some program tries to access the internet and I get an unwanted browser window popping up with an error message (I unplug my modem when I'm not using it to be sure it doesn't dial without permission, but there are people that either can't do this or get confused/forget to easily) but I see this problem also on computers here in our building that do not have internet access.  (building for the disabled, we all have VERY limited income, so many have no internet at all, we have to "community" computers in our building with high-speed internet for email and such)
features:

#1 blocking all modem access (and logging what program requested it, if possible)
#2 internet connection request blocking (and logging what program requested it, if possible)

I have not seen a firewall that does anything quite like this... they may block the connection, but not the dialing of the modem or the opening up of a browser window with an error message.

Sorry if my message was redundant, but this is my first request and I'm a bit unsure how to properly describe the problem/need.  Anyway thank you much

-Just another Long.Knight

[app103]

I think your problem may be related to your settings.

You could try this:

Go to Control Panel> Internet Options

On the Connections tab, select "never dial a connection" and click apply and ok.

That should stop it from automatically dialing out when a request is made. It won't stop applications from trying to access the internet though, but it will fail if they try when you are not already connected. You will have to connect manually when you want a connection.



This won't stop browser windows from opening, nor will it stop error messages. I am not sure either of those can be prevented effectively without causing a problem somewhere along the line. But at least you can stop the dialing out, which is the really important part of your request.

[skrommel]

How about disabling your serial port?

Download and extract http://www.yeahware.com/download/enable.zip. Place the Enable.exe in the same folder as the script below.

Just change the device= line in the script to match the start of the device to toggle, and schedule the script to run every night and morning.

Skrommel

Code

;ToggleHardware.ahk
; Enables or disables a hardware device
; Download and extract Enable.exe from http://www.yeahware.com/download/enable.zip
;To run this script download AutoHotkey from http://www.autohotkey.com
;Skrommel @ 2008

#NoEnv
#SingleInstance,Force
SendMode,Input

;Change this line so it matches the start of the device to toggle
device=Comm

Run,Enable.exe
WinWait,Enable and Disable Devices
WinActivate,Enable and Disable Devices
WinWaitActive,Enable and Disable Devices
Send,%device%
Sleep,1000
Send,!ce
Sleep,1000
Send,!cd
WinWait,Change Device Status
WinActivate,Change Device Status
WinWaitActive,Change Device Status
Send,{Enter}
Sleep,1000
WinClose,Enable and Disable Devices

[justice]

Why not just pull the phone line out the modem or disable the device in the Device Manager okay you already looked at that.

[Long.Knight]

Well, to tell the truth I'm one that doesn'tt have an internet connection in my apartment... It's actualy 2 friends of mine that are having the dialing problems.  I should have remembered the "Never dial" ( :-[THANKS!) as I was a computer professional for 30+ years before becomming disabled.One is an easily confused novice and both are physicaly disabled making the cord solution problematic... But the "Never Dial" (thanks again) may end that for one of them. (the other is on AOHell... I realy hate how AOL comes in, changes all the rules, then pretends they don't exist...)

Still those Pop-ups are frustrating and I'd still love a way to find out what is trying to access the internet without asking... 

anyway... thanks much!

-just another Long.Knight

--frequent quote from Microsoft Customer support...
"Now I see the problem!  You installed Vista!"