Modem connections made at startup

My pc (XP home - Dell 2.4GHz processor, 256Mb RAM, 80Gb HD, RCA cable modem, using latest Adelphia "Freedom" security suite w/ Firefox) - started acting strangely a while back - unable to display pages/connect to the internet - then I noticed there was traffic on my modem - the lights weren't the way they should be... and data was being sent and recieved. I could see on my firewall anywhere between 6 and 16 active connections - but they weren't showing up under any application in the firewall software. Anyway, I thought I had Malware or maybe someone was kiping my IP address? I couldn't connect for a week or so - just kept my USB cable to the modem unplugged. I started looking at this and finally got back to being able to connect to the internet but now I have a question:
When I boot my PC - even without the modem connected via USB - my firewall shows like 6 connections - then if I plug in my cable modem - this number jumps to about 16 - and I see my Mb counters indicating data received and sent = even with the modem on standby! When I take it off standby - it might jump to 18 connections - IS this unusual? I don't think it used to show any connections when on standby and certainly not when unplugged at the USB port. Has my PC been hijacked? What is up here?
Thank you for any information and assistance you could provide.

 

First,
Have you try scaning your pc? for malware, virus, trojans...etc.. Do you have your XP upto date with updates?

 

Yes lets right off blame spyware!




Now seriously, do you programs like msn messenger, any file sharing apps, any programs set to auto update on detecting a connection. Thats were i would start.

 

Yeah - I ran all my anti-virus and anti spyware stuff, made sure I had the latest windows updates. I am still baffled by this..... still looking at it though...