My problem is that my internet connection just starts up and connects automatically. My computer runs all the time and I have just come on to it only to discover that the internet connection has been ‘live’ for 4 hours. Any ideas.

From what you have told me, it appears that your modem tries, and in your case succeeds, to dial out and connect to your ISP when Windows starts. Reasons that this could be occurring are: a program has been configured to check for updated components or web pages; a program which dials your ISP is located in your startup folder; your computer is infected with a trojan horse virus; Symantec WinFax or HotFax Message Center is installed on your computer; you are using a Lexmark printer; you are using Microsoft Personal Web Server 4.0; you have installed a beta version of RealPlayer 5 on your computer; or when Internet Explorer changes a value in your Windows registry sets it to automatically connect to your ISP when Windows starts. Since there are many causes to your problem (listed above) I cannot explain how to fix each of these possible causes in the space of this column. For this reason, I will direct you to an article in Microsoft Knowledge Base (support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q175/3/12.ASP) which lists all the possible known causes of this problem and their fixes.