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However, I have also noticed that my PC will often light one or both of the lights  without any action by me. If I watch more closely, I can see the router going through the dialing procedure, too. My Mac does not do this. What can I change in Windows 95 to stop this? I pay a flat monthly rate for ISDN telephone service and Internet access, but this behavior is still bothersome. 

Kirk Mahoney 

A: I first read about this behavior in a column by programming guru P.J. Plauger. His problem was more severe; he was being charged by the minute and by the call, so his Windows machine was costing him plenty! 

I wrote Mr. Plauger to ask if he'd ever found a solution. He said that the problem went away once he installed a second machine, running UNIX, that acted as a domain name server for his LAN. This suggests that Windows 95 machines on a LAN make periodic DNS queries. (Perhaps they're just checking to see if the server is still there, or perhaps they're doing DHCP or looking for an NT host; I'm not sure.) 

Fortunately, you can solve the problem in the same way. Configure your Mac as a domain name server and let it handle the queries from the Windows machine. In your case, you won't reduce your bill, but you will prevent the machine from blocking incoming calls.