[Randy D]

Does anyone keep an open connection to the Internet while using their PC to watch movies? I've always had a dial-up conection, so it's never been an issue before. I always disabled my virus protection before running the TheaterTek player. I recently purchased DSL service and it seems that I'm causing my PC to hang up whenever I pull the telephone plug out and plug it in again and try to reboot to make the DSL work.


Will having the internet always "on" cause problems for me?


Randy D

 

[WingZero]

I have a DSL connection on my HT PC. Never once have had a problem with keeping it "connected" and watching movies.

 

[taz291819]

Never had a problem keeping my dsl connection on. Hell, I watch movies all the time via Theatertek while I'm dl'ing huge files. I do however disable the auto-protect in Norton Antivirus.

 

[Sarah Baucom]

Dis...connect from the internet? Is that possible? I connected in 1993, and haven't been able to unplug since


There's no reason it should cause a problem. My HTPC is also a server for 6 web sites (only one of them really gets much traffic though), and I haven't had a problem staying connected. You probably wouldn't want to have IM clients open though. I'm sure it wouldn't be too nice to have an AIM message pop up on top of the movie. lol.

 

[evans036]

randy,

Quote:

I recently purchased DSL service and it seems that I'm causing my PC to hang up whenever I pull the telephone plug out and plug it in again and try to reboot to make the DSL work.

so you are unplugging the telphone connection between the DSL modem & the outside? or between the computer & the DSL modem.


in any case, loss of ip connectivity may cause a problem if you have some background app trying to get out to the internet (such as spyware) which could cause a general hang (not likely) or perhaps peg the cpu (more likely) or something i havent thought of (very likely)


i dont know how probable all this is and perhaps im rambling


good luck,


steve

 

[Salmoneous]

Randy,


You should have no problems having an open internet connection while watching a movie or doing anything else. On a slightly different issue, a couple of your comments seemed a bit "odd" and suggest further questioning...

I always disabled my virus protection before running the TheaterTek player.


Why?

I recently purchased DSL service and it seems that I'm causing my PC to hang up whenever I pull the telephone plug out and plug it in again and try to reboot to make the DSL work.


Hang up? Pull the telephone plug out and plug it in again?


You really shouldn't have to do that. What's going on?

 

[Karyk]

I'm not 100% sure what you're talking about, but as long as you have Messenger disabled (and preferably Windows Messenger and any other instant messenger too), and are running a firewall, you should be okay leaving your computer connected to the Internet. I assume you're disabling NAV to improve system performance. I don't believe there are any viruses that can infect your system if you're not browsing the web, downloading e-mails, as long as you have the above-referenced programs disabled.


BTW, the quick and dirty way of disabling messenger is to go to GRC.com and run their Kill the Messenger program.

 

[Randy D]

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like I've just been creating problems for myself.


Salmoneous,

As others (taz291819 and Karyk) have stated, disabling NAV is needed for smooth operation of the TheaterTek player.


Steve,

I unplugged the telphone connection between the DSL modem & the outside. I was concerned about some internet-related application trying to run and screwing up the operation of the TheaterTek dvd player. Looks like it's more likely that I'm screwing up my PC by unplugging the connection to my modem. It hung up when I tried to boot and I got a press DEL to enter SETUP message. When I pressed Delete, nothing happened. After trying to reboot a couple of times, it went into safe mode and said I needed to check my frequency or cpu multiplier settings or something like that. Hope I didn't do any long term damage. Did something "peg" my cpu?


Maybe I just need to kill the messengers and leave the internet connection alone. I'll check out the site Karyk suggested.


Randy D

 

[loftus]

Randy D you might want to try installing a software firewall. Something like Zone Alarm allows you to stop all internet activity (without pulling the plug!) just by selecting a menu option.

 

[Karyk]

Quote:

Originally posted by loftus Randy D you might want to try installing a software firewall. Something like Zone Alarm allows you to stop all internet activity (without pulling the plug!) just by selecting a menu option.

That still might cause problems as a program attempts to connect to the internet. Assuming it's not going to be doing anything significant (downloand and installing an update, say), it's probably better just to let the program call home. Otherwise it could be taking up computer resources continuing to look for the Internet.

 

[DAVE2]

if you are going to leave computer hooked up to internet then make sure virus protection and a firewall is on since there are worms that go from computer to computer on connected networks, dsl networks, cable networks, office networks, And they don't need emails to travel!!!!

Check your settings for your dsl connection, you can have it disconect automatically if thier is no activity.


Also you can try "adaware" free download anti spy ware which will prevent spyware from opening your internet connection.


dave

 

[Karyk]

Quote:

Originally posted by DAVE2 if you are going to leave computer hooked up to internet then make sure virus protection and a firewall is on since there are worms that go from computer to computer on connected networks, dsl networks, cable networks, office networks, And they don't need emails to travel!!!!

I don't know that there are any worms that can infect a computer connected to the Internet that is running a firewall and has all the MSFT security updates installed (absent browsing to a malicious site). That doesn't mean that a new one might be created someday, but if that happens, there'd also be a lapse before the antivirus software was updated to catch it (although that lapse would be shorter than the time it takes for MSFT to create and release a new patch).


Being behind a router also can help.

 

[DAVE2]

a fire wall protected router would be the best bet, since you are not waiting for the next hole to be found in windows, that a hacker will exploit.


as far as patches 99% of people don't install them. In my office every time that ballon opens up that says updates are ready to install, everone clicks the close box and ignores it.


dave

 

[Karyk]

Quote:

Originally posted by DAVE2 as far as patches 99% of people don't install them. In my office every time that ballon opens up that says updates are ready to install, everone clicks the close box and ignores it. dave

I know an office like that. They were down for days a few months ago, after one of the worms hit.