I have a home network hooked to CHARTER.NET cable internet through a Linksys BEFSR81 router/switch and a SB3100 cable modem. The activity light on the modem and the WAN traffic light are blinking constantly (in concert) with a on time percentage greater than 50%. All the time, 24/7. There is no matching LAN traffic. My access speeds aren't what I'd like and I suspect that a lot of this traffic is caused by zombies. Is there freeware/shareware sniffers available and router settings that I can apply to characterize this traffic? I have an XP pro and RH9 machines on the LAN that I can install a sniffer on. I can physically bypass the router if I have to. I have looked for and found some software that I think would do the job, but I'd like some experienced advice before I proceed.
Thanks in advance, Brian.