Disconnecting from Your Account

When you are done using the Internet, you can disconnect. Or you can configure Windows to disconnect automatically when the connection isn't being used.

Disconnecting Manually

You can disconnect your Internet connection in several ways:

• If a dial-up connection icon appears in the notification area of the taskbar, right-click it and choose Disconnect from the menu that appears.

• Click the dial-up connection icon in the notification area to display the status dialog box for the connection and click the Disconnect button.

• Choose Start Connect To and choose the dial-up connection to display its status dialog box. Click Disconnect.

Disconnecting Automatically

If you are connected to your Internet account and don't use it for a while (usually 20 minutes), Windows or your ISP may disconnect you automatically. You may see a dialog box asking whether you want to disconnect. You can't control whether your ISP hangs up on you after a period of inactivity, but you can configure Windows to set whether and when to disconnect. Follow these steps:

1. Choose Start Control Panel Network And Internet Connections Internet Options (or choose Tools Internet Options from Internet Explorer) to display the Internet Properties (or Internet Options) dialog box, shown earlier in Figure 24-6.

2. Click the Connections tab.

3. Click the dial-up connection for which you want to configure auto-disconnection and click the Settings button. You see the Settings dialog box for the connection.

4. Click the Advanced button to display the Advanced Dial-Up dialog box.

5. To tell Windows to hang up after a specific time during which no information is transmitted, select the Disconnect If Idle For xx Minutes check box and set the number of minutes.

6. To tell Windows to hang up when no Internet programs are running, select the Disconnect When Connection May No Longer Be Needed check box.

7. Click OK three times to dismiss all the dialog boxes.