Hello

I've several PC's sharing an ADSL line at my cyber café and I've found several so called "Premium" billing software installed on several machines.

These programs are downloaded, executed and dial a premium (added value) phone number to access content, which is usually X-rated stuff. Clients download these without my knowledge and I'm woried about the phone bill.... will those programs actually be able to dial them numbers or shouldn't I be worried, seeing I have an ADSL connection which is by definition "always on" and it doesnt dial any number anyway? An example of these premium billing software can be found at:

www.nocreditcard.com (careful, it's x-rated!).

I've emailed some of these providers with my worries by they do not answer back. So, needless to say, I'm worried here!

Dwight? JWooden271? what do you guys have to say about this?


Thanks

I am on ADSL and downloaded one of these Adult dialers (research purposes only ) ran it and it seems to attempt connection using my internal 56k modem which isn`t configured, so failed connection as after a min or so I was asked if I wanted to redail, so I would suggest disabling or better still removing the drivers for the internal modems to be on the safe side.

Gottano:

Not sure which Operating System you're running - Win98, ME, XP, etc. - but you may want to look at creating some administrative options that won't allow anyone to download anything without your explicit permission.

WinXP has built-in admin capabilities, but I'm not sure about the others. I went looking, and found this freeware (for non-commercial, private use) download that might be worth looking at. System Security 2002.

I don't know that "non-commercial, private use" applies to your situation, but there are commercial licenses available for a one time fee - they look to be fairly reasonable.

Here's the page with the fee structure: System Security 2002 commercial license(s) fee (s).

If you dial up modems are not connected, you need not worry. Your ADSL function is completely separate and your dial up worries are for naught.

I suggest that since you are ADSL, keep your dialup modem (not the DSL modem) unplugged. Then run Spybot Search & Destroy, this program will scan your computer(s) for adware, malware (including porn dialers), and spyware.

It is also a good idea to have a software firewall installed. PCWorld has a list of some decent ones. A software firewall asks you if specific programs are allowed to access the internet, and you can block specfic ip addresses (useful for blocking problem sites).

I hope this has been helpful.

Ok great answers as usual...thanx everyone!

YA very informitive THANX