Apache log file showing my own IP looking for robot.txt

[drewpers]

I may be on the wrong path, but in my loog files I am seeing my own IP address look and retrieve my robot.txt file repreatedly about 30 times a minute or over and over through out the day. At the same time I notice on occasion, our server slows. This is the only thing I can see in my log file that seems to be consistent with the server slowing, the upload speed is good, and the proccessor has plenty of juice.
any ideas
Thanks

[jdMorgan]

Are we talking about your ISP-assigned IP address, or are you accessing your site on a local server through a local network?

Are you using Apache's proxy module?

How about browser, do you use IE? Do you have the option to "Synchronize this page on a schedule" set?

What is the user-agent in your logs when you see this request? Any Referrer shown?

A few more details might result in better answers.

Jim

[drewpers]

Ok, my bad.
I am talking about my ISP assigned IP address.
The Proxy Module may be active but not used.
Browsers from Firefox to Safari?
The server is a Mac OS X server.
I have Virtual Hosting set up
And modrewrites for the sites
here is what I get in the access log

My.IP.ADD.Ress - - [24/Sep/2004:15:16:08 -0500] "GET /robots.txt HTTP/1.0" 200 -
My.IP.ADD.Ress - - [24/Sep/2004:15:16:09 -0500] "GET /robots.txt HTTP/1.0" 200 -
My.IP.ADD.Ress - - [24/Sep/2004:15:16:09 -0500] "GET /robots.txt HTTP/1.0" 200 -
My.IP.ADD.Ress - - [24/Sep/2004:15:16:10 -0500] "GET /robots.txt HTTP/1.0" 200 -
My.IP.ADD.Ress - - [24/Sep/2004:15:16:10 -0500] "GET /robots.txt HTTP/1.0" 200 -

Um anything else you need to know I will do the best I can get you the information.
Thanks

[jdMorgan]

Strange...

The first thing I'd check for is any automated user-agents you may have -- anything that can be programmed to do this.

The next thing I'd do is to take the next opportunity you have to pull the plug on your internet connection at a time you won't be using your computer. Then after returning, check your logs to see if the strange accesses stopped while you were unplugged. If so, you have some kind of trojan/virus/worm that's doing it. Download and run AdAware, Spybot Search & Destroy, Hijack This, and any other free tools you can find. If you have a software firewall with connection-reporting capability, see what it says about which program is making the requests.

If the accesses do not stop when you are offline, then perhaps your ISP uses a caching proxy, and it is updating its cache uncontrollably. You might want to check the cache-control headers of your robots.txt file (and other site pages) using the server headers checker [webmasterworld.com]. If the expires time is set to some unreasonably short time, that might explain it. Otherwise, contact your ISP.

Jim

[encyclo]

If you're running Safari it means that you're running a Mac with OSX, so usually that would rule out the spyware stuff.

I'm not familiar with OSX, but can you get a list of processes running on your machine? Have you got any scripts or programs running besides the usual programs? Is the OSX server you're connecting to on your local intranet or at a remote location?

Also, what kind of firewall are you using?