always down/uploading?

**eliteforce** · 01-18-2009, 01:10 AM

what does it mean when that wifi light in the corner of the screen is always on..even when all internet aps/browsers are closed,including skype and TV programs like tvants..everything is quit so there should be little or no data being sent and recved; when i click it, it is sending and recv packets as a constant rate .. i'm just wondering if i have something hat is using my machine as a zombie..

**T_Own** · 01-18-2009, 01:56 AM

when you say a constant rate, how many are being sent? like thousands? usually wireless will constantly communicate with the router and send a small number of packets back and forth. if your comp was being used as a zombie it would be ridiculously slow and have a huge number of packets being sent, so i don't think its that

**eliteforce** · 01-18-2009, 02:20 AM

thx for reply..with all apps closed(except virus protection)-in 15 seconds it went from R:110490 to 110750 and sent:122582 to 122803 it seems to be doing it at a slower rate now, i think the virus protection was downloading before..maybe i'm just being paranoid, the computers performance isn't effected it just seems that light is on more than it used to be..

**T_Own** · 01-18-2009, 05:41 AM

ok well i think it should be fine. thats not many packets at all, only a couple hundred can't get anything done on a comp

**quarry206** · 01-18-2009, 11:05 AM

there is a free program called wireshark that you can turn on you computer and see everything that is being sent over the wire that your router shares..

http://www.wireshark.org/

this program is mostly for network people and people with more knowledge of protocols for mostly training and trouble shooting problems at lower levels. but its free and doesn't harm your computer or network. you can download it and see all the packets that you are sending and receiving... at peak times in my apartment complex there will be thousands of packets sent over the wire in a matter of seconds. since some of the packets don't know where to go they send out all type of stuff figuring out where to go and best way of getting there figuring out mac-address, tcp/ip, network paths and a host of other things that happen on networks.

**T_Own** · 01-18-2009, 06:50 PM

best way of getting there figuring out mac-address, tcp/ip, network paths and a host of other things that happen on networks.

it seems like you would need to know a decent amount about networks for any of that to make sense to you though. otherwise it would seem like a lot of numbers

**quarry206** · 01-19-2009, 04:44 AM

ya in all honesty, it won't totally make sense to you if you use the program.. i was just saying if he was bored and really wanted to see why the router was flashing, running wireshark would show you all the packets sent...

it was just a way of offering a simple tool that even if you don't fully understand it, you can see what is going on with your router