Stop Windows XP automatically dialing up

August 13, 2007 2:47 AM

I'm a recent convert to Windows XP. I have a dial-up modem and whenever I have Thunderbird or Firefox open the computer attempts to make a connection even when I've disconnected. Is there a way to turn off this automatic connection?

I have tried googling for this by the way but couldn't find anything that worked.

posted by feelinglistless to computers & internet (6 comments total)

I think this may just be Thunderbird causing this issue. Try going to File >> Offline >> Work Offline. Now do you get prompts?

You might also go to Tools >> Options >> Advanced >> Network & Disk Space >> Offline - Play around with these settings (try 'Ask me for online state at startup').

You might even go to the Updates tab and uncheck the Thunderbird and Installed Add-ons options (although I doubt this is try to connect).
posted by B(oYo)BIES at 3:04 AM on August 13, 2007

I thought of that, but it happens when I've just got Firefox open and I'm reading something I've saved to read offline. The only way I can really stop it happening is to disconnect the cable from the wall...
posted by feelinglistless at 3:29 AM on August 13, 2007

If you go to Control Panel->Internet Options->Connections and check Never Dial a Connection, then the only way you'll get a network connection is by dialing one up explicitly by double-clicking on it under Network Connections. You can make QuickLaunch bar and/or desktop shortcuts to the dialup connections you use frequently.
posted by flabdablet at 3:55 AM on August 13, 2007 [1 favorite]

You can also put Firefox into offline mode, by the way; it's under the File menu. If you make your Firefox disk cache stupidly huge (a good idea, for a dialup user) and put Firefox in offline mode, you should be able to revisit pretty much your entire browsing history, without using your network connection or having to save pages explicitly.

The disk cache size can be embiggened by opening the about:config URL, typing cache into the Filter: box, double-clicking on browser.cache.disk.capacity, and changing the value from the default 50000 (50 megabytes) to 1000000 (a gigabyte).
posted by flabdablet at 4:02 AM on August 13, 2007

. . . shouldn't that be "bigified"?
posted by uspommie at 4:53 PM on August 13, 2007

I just looked it up. We're both wrong; it's "humongenated".
posted by flabdablet at 5:16 PM on August 13, 2007