[wetstuff]

...the reason I started looking was that my Intel Mac is quite slow these days.. I have Verizon business DSL and it's acting like dialup.. When I look at the DSL box both the 'Data' & 'Internet' lights are flashing. My browsers are off .. there's nothing like VUZE running, but there is a ton of activity at all times.

Is there anyway I can find out what it is? ..and stop it? It's the first time - since the 80's - that I've had, or noticed, this sort of issue.

I'd appreciate some help. Thanks.

Jim
wetstuff.com

[Hg2491]

I'm curious, does this happen as soon as you power up your Mac?

[CharlesS]

If you download Little Snitch and look at its Network Monitor feature, it can tell you what applications are sending and receiving data.

[wetstuff]

Yes/No... I pretty much only once a week do a complete shut down with Cocktail where I let it clean house. When I put it to sleep in the evening - the lights continue to flash.

I had that app called Vidalia ...not that I used it - or knew how - just curious. I thought perhaps that it was doing some 'networking' thing, but the lights are flashing as we speak and Vidalia has been trashed.

The monitor shows: Packets in/sec: 8 ... out/sec. 10 ...the numbers vary but seem to range 4 - 12sec Total packets out: 4Mil-400thou ..over how long a time??

Jim

[wetstuff]

Charles: I have L.S. but I don't know how to have it display like the Activity Monitor.

Jim

[wetstuff]

I did find the L.S. Monitor.

... Ahem. There was a bunch of activity in a little used browser - Opera - that was file sharing. The only thing going now is a ping to/from Google to another browser I use for Gmail.

Thanks for the tip on the Monitor. Cheers.

Jim

[wetstuff]

I was in the Army but I would like to blow the 'All Clear' whistle I think they blow aboard ship. My Mac is quiet now.

Thanks gentlemen.

Jim

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by wetstuff 

Yes/No... I pretty much only once a week do a complete shut down with Cocktail where I let it clean house. When I put it to sleep in the evening - the lights continue to flash.

When the computer is asleep, it doesn't send or receive data. The lights flashing are the presence of internet worms and related "bad guys," scanning the internet for vulnerable computers.

When I first got cable internet in early 2001, the lights only really flashed when my computer initiated network access. Ever since Code Red hit in July 2001, the lights have constantly flashed and only stop when the cable modem is disconnected from my cable outlet.

[steve626]

It is not just "bad guys" that cause the lights to flash. I have inspected the security log on my router and while it reports some probes (once every 10 seconds maybe) from oddball internet locations around the world, many of the communications are simply between my internet provider and the cable modem. The internet provider is constantly checking the MAC address and IP addresses, might be assigning DHCP IP addresses, monitoring traffic in/out, etc.

[Simon]

Also, with cable modems your lights will flash when there is traffic between the cable provider and another customer if you are both attached to the same cable node. If your neighbor (who happens to be with the same company) is downloading a file you will see the lights flash on your cable modem. Nothing malign about that either.

[msuper69]

Originally Posted by Simon 

Also, with cable modems your lights will flash when there is traffic between the cable provider and another customer if you are both attached to the same cable node. If your neighbor (who happens to be with the same company) is downloading a file you will see the lights flash on your cable modem. Nothing malign about that either.

That may be true for cable but the OP has DSL which does not share the physical cable/wire with anyone else.

[Simon]

Yeah, sorry about that. It was in reply two the two previous posters who were actually talking about cable modems.