Can't Disconnect Help

I know I'll probably feel even stupider than I already am, after hearing the answer to this simple question, but, How do I disconnect from the internet other than pulling the ethernet from the modem?

I'm using Vista 64 Home Premium. Every other pc I've had has always given me the option to disconnect(including my brand new lap top w/windows 7) and I'm just not seeing an option here.

Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated. This is also my first post here and Thanks for letting me be a part of the community.

Rick

 

Don't have an option for disable either.

I like to work with programs that don't necessarily need to be connected, like Movie Maker. When I'm working on a particularly large project, I don't want the internet hogging usage from my pc. Another example is Real Player. It loads much smoother and faster when it doesn't have to load up on all the internet bloat.

Saftey is an issue too. I don't like the idea of the network being all up in my pc's crawl, even when I'm away.

It seems odd that I'm apparently the only one on the internet using Vista that would like to occasionally disconnect from the internet. I've googled my situation and only responses I'm seeing are people having trouble getting disconnected when they don't want to be.


Thanks anyway.