New Laptop

[Char Jackson]

I spent the first day of the new
laptop loading up my programs and just a general setup. Well, the next
morning upon bootup the first thing I noticed was that my Security
Essentials icon was all RED. Further, I was locked out! So, I tried to
download a fresh copy and my browser was hijacked. Everything was
redirected. Then I noticed my modem sending out data. That's bad!

I wonder how a person would notice something like that. ARP traffic is
enough to make a modem's activity LED blink constantly.

In my case, I could log into my router, and since it's running dd-wrt
firmware I could navigate to the page that shows traffic throughput in
real time, but routers running stock firmware don't have that
capability, nor do modems.

Since the laptop was on Wi-Fi I turned off the modem to stop the data
going out. I had a copy of Malware Bytes and ran it. It detected a
Hijack file. Got it deleted. Laptop still had a problem. Found a
restore point from early the first day and restored. That fixed the
problem. So far all is OK now.

I shudder at the thought of using System Restore to 'fix' a malware
issue.

During the first day I was trying to get my Vista desktop to talk to my
laptop. There was a period of time that the laptop was vulnerable and I
can only imagine that is when the bad guy got in. Now I have everything
set up as a Public Network. I'm totally GREEN on networks and I'm sure I
somehow caused the problem.

I agree with that last part. ;-)

 

[Mellowed]

I wonder how a person would notice something like that. ARP traffic is
enough to make a modem's activity LED blink constantly.

Well I don't know what ARP traffic is, but what I observed on my modem
was the lights blinking back and forth. That occurs only when data is
going either in or out. Normally my modem lights are steady state.

 

[Char Jackson]

Well I don't know what ARP traffic is, but what I observed on my modem
was the lights blinking back and forth. That occurs only when data is
going either in or out. Normally my modem lights are steady state.

That's what I thought. Blinking modem lights won't tell you much.

 

[Mellowed]

That's what I thought. Blinking modem lights won't tell you much.

Right. Only that something is going on and I didn't initiate itl

 

[SC Tom]

Right. Only that something is going on and I didn't initiate itl

One fault with that is I can turn my PC off, and the S/R lights still flash
on the modem. It may not be anything you initiated, but it may not be bad,
either ;-)

 

[Char Jackson]

Right. Only that something is going on and I didn't initiate itl

I just meant that a blinking modem light doesn't tell you that
something bad is happening. Your "That's bad!" conclusion above was
incorrect.

 

[charlie]

I just meant that a blinking modem light doesn't tell you that
something bad is happening. Your "That's bad!" conclusion above was
incorrect.

All the blue blinking light on my modem means is that the modem is
working, and in DocSys 3 mode. There is no direct relationship to data
flow from or to my router.