How to remove a ghost connection in the task manager?

3

After disabling most of my connections (all except one actually) I am surprised to go to the task manager, network tab and see two connections there.

Picture of the connections in control panel:

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Picture of task manager screen:

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EDIT: As it turns out, it was a virtual adapter that was installed by a program. Uninstalling the program removed the adapter. Why did it not show up as an adapter in the first place in the networking center in the control panel?

soandos

Posted 2011-08-08T17:06:26.757

Reputation: 22 744

Have you tried clicking on it with the mouse, then pressing the "Delete" key on the keyboard (or right-clicking then choosing "Delete")? – Randolf Richardson – 2011-08-08T17:11:31.103

A lot of these are virtual connections - are you sure that one isn't as well? Can you find what adapter it's on? – Shinrai – 2011-08-08T17:11:48.333

Clicking on what exactly... In task manager, it can be selected, but not deleted (yes I just tried, but I don't think that was possible in any version of windows). – soandos – 2011-08-08T17:13:11.337

@Shinrai, I don't know how to do that. – soandos – 2011-08-08T17:13:47.497

2@Randolf: The Delete option isn't available for built-in adapters. – Tamara Wijsman – 2011-08-08T17:14:09.890

@Shinrai, done, and now I am removing it (I know what program installed it, and am removing that program). Why was this not listed though with the other virtual adapters? – soandos – 2011-08-08T17:15:23.563

Problem solved, but don't know why it was a problem in the first place. Editing question. – soandos – 2011-08-08T17:16:35.310

1@Tom Wijsman: It's not on my Windows 7 laptop (even though I have BlueTooth drivers installed). What do you mean by "built-in" in this context? – Randolf Richardson – 2011-08-08T17:20:55.477

@soandso - I don't know, it's pretty weird. What application was it? – Shinrai – 2011-08-08T18:04:00.560

1@Randolf: I actually mean physical, rather than virtual. – Tamara Wijsman – 2011-08-08T20:12:40.223

Answers

3

The proper way to disable connections that you will not use on a daily basis is in the device manager.

Open the device manager, under Network adapters disable the adapters you don't use.

In my highly tweaked set-up it looks like this, in your case the Atheros AR8131 can be disabled:

enter image description here

Under View, the Show hidden devices option shows more devices, be careful with them.

Tamara Wijsman

Posted 2011-08-08T17:06:26.757

Reputation: 54 163

Would these adapters also show up in the networking center under adapters? That is how I was disabling the rest of the connections. Why would a connection be in one place and not the other? – soandos – 2011-08-08T17:19:49.720

Regarding the Hidden Devices, I've encountered a few which can't be deleted outside of Safe Mode. (+1 for this great answer, especially because of the "be careful with them" warning.) – Randolf Richardson – 2011-08-08T17:23:22.167

@soandos: Only those that can serve an internet connection towards your applications would show up in the networking center, other adapters are meant to support extra features. Like asynchroneous RAS, IPv6, IKE and so on. For example, disabling PPPOE would result in the inability to use a dial-up connection...

– Tamara Wijsman – 2011-08-08T20:14:07.700

Asked: 2011-08-08T17:06:26.757

Viewed: 3 793 times

Active: 2017-10-06T02:00:20.670