right click on the "My Computer" icon; select "Properties". find "Device Manager": on XP Pro (no service packs), it's on the "Hardware" tab.
open Device Manager. this is a list of all the hardware in your computer. click the "plus sign" next to "Network Adapters". it will list your network card, if you have one.
go up to the menu bar and click on "View". look through that menu until you get to "Show hidden devices"; click on it. now look through that hardware listing again.
i still haven't figured out what all those "new" network adapters are; why so many? and given that the nature of a network adapter is to transfer information from your computer to something someplace else, i have to ask: who is sending what to whom? when are they doing it? and WHY?!!
this is a big part of my animosity toward microsoft: why is this sort of stuff hidden from ME! i paid for this computer; i ... well, generally speaking, windows came with it, so i didn't actually directly pay for windows ... (unless i tried to buy the computer without it, then the computer would cost even more! go figure ...), ... but that is MY information on this thing - i feel that i should surely have some say in what leaves my computer?
heck, this is the sort of stuff that them "malicious malware makers" would do!! ... which brings to mind another thought.
early on, it was fairly common wisdom, amongst those that understood these computer things, that virus writers and the like did the thing to point out that the "hooks" to allow these things to be done are built in to Windows. to us, these are "malware vectors"; to Microsoft and MS_Developers, these are "tools" - to Microsoft Business Partners, they are "features". if these "1337 haxxor d00ds" weren't writing all this stuff and bringing all this danged attention to the OS, all them business folks could just get on quietly doing their market/product research with their own keyloggers, backdoors, phoning home and such!! heck, they prolly still use them, anyway!!
but, as they say "one man's ceiling is another man's floor"!
Happy Computing!
open Device Manager. this is a list of all the hardware in your computer. click the "plus sign" next to "Network Adapters". it will list your network card, if you have one.
go up to the menu bar and click on "View". look through that menu until you get to "Show hidden devices"; click on it. now look through that hardware listing again.
i still haven't figured out what all those "new" network adapters are; why so many? and given that the nature of a network adapter is to transfer information from your computer to something someplace else, i have to ask: who is sending what to whom? when are they doing it? and WHY?!!
this is a big part of my animosity toward microsoft: why is this sort of stuff hidden from ME! i paid for this computer; i ... well, generally speaking, windows came with it, so i didn't actually directly pay for windows ... (unless i tried to buy the computer without it, then the computer would cost even more! go figure ...), ... but that is MY information on this thing - i feel that i should surely have some say in what leaves my computer?
heck, this is the sort of stuff that them "malicious malware makers" would do!! ... which brings to mind another thought.
early on, it was fairly common wisdom, amongst those that understood these computer things, that virus writers and the like did the thing to point out that the "hooks" to allow these things to be done are built in to Windows. to us, these are "malware vectors"; to Microsoft and MS_Developers, these are "tools" - to Microsoft Business Partners, they are "features". if these "1337 haxxor d00ds" weren't writing all this stuff and bringing all this danged attention to the OS, all them business folks could just get on quietly doing their market/product research with their own keyloggers, backdoors, phoning home and such!! heck, they prolly still use them, anyway!!
but, as they say "one man's ceiling is another man's floor"!
Happy Computing!
... please make yourself at home ... 