OK, I caught my PC in the act! It wasn't attempting to get into the Cellar, but instead it was attempting repeatedly to log into another, quite large forum. I guess they're big enough that such things don't bother them?
Sky, it's too hard to get at my plugs and modem - they're behind my desk and bookshelf.
What I will do is shut down my computer. It still seems to me that there should be a command to tell my computer to not attempt multiple log-ins.
This is a recent thing and if it's a virus, neither malbytes nor AVG caught it. But I can only use the free versions - too poor to buy the complete program.