The EADD Windows Technical Gibberings Thread

[badandwicked]

I need help please clever people, I know very little about computers.

I'm not trying be all YPDH, but I think someones monitoring my computer from a distance. Its a member of the family I don't get on with, they are shit hot at computers (its their job), they came to stay a while back and asked to borrow my computer when I had to go out.

Since then there's been too many real life co-incidences to list, and I know he did this to an ex girlfriend so its clearly not beyond him.

If I took it to one of these local computer help people that advertise or even PC world would they be able to check for any installed spy programme? Or would a full system restore just get rid of anything? I'm more curious to find out if there is anything & when it was installed.

Thanks in advance for any advice peeps.

 

[Ben So Furry]

I need help please clever people, I know very little about computers.

I'm not trying be all YPDH, but I think someones monitoring my computer from a distance. Its a member of the family I don't get on with, they are shit hot at computers (its their job), they came to stay a while back and asked to borrow my computer when I had to go out.

Since then there's been too many real life co-incidences to list, and I know he did this to an ex girlfriend so its clearly not beyond him.

If I took it to one of these local computer help people that advertise or even PC world would they be able to check for any installed spy programme? Or would a full system restore just get rid of anything? I'm more curious to find out if there is anything & when it was installed.

Thanks in advance for any advice peeps.

Someone more knowledgeable than I will come along and be able to help you soon b&w but in the meantime you could read through this and perform every step to determine if you have a keylogger installed (one way in which you could be being monitored without your knowledge or consent)

Best of luck

Also if on windows check if remote desktop and remote assistance are enabled

 

[maxalfie]

I need help please clever people, I know very little about computers.

I'm not trying be all YPDH, but I think someones monitoring my computer from a distance. Its a member of the family I don't get on with, they are shit hot at computers (its their job), they came to stay a while back and asked to borrow my computer when I had to go out.

Since then there's been too many real life co-incidences to list, and I know he did this to an ex girlfriend so its clearly not beyond him.

If I took it to one of these local computer help people that advertise or even PC world would they be able to check for any installed spy programme? Or would a full system restore just get rid of anything? I'm more curious to find out if there is anything & when it was installed.

Thanks in advance for any advice peeps.

I no nothing about computers really but that's a bit freaky if they have put something on yr computer to see what you are doing.
Hope someone can help you out cos you never know what they could be doing with the info off yr computer if there is something on there.

 

[Allein]

I need help please clever people, I know very little about computers.

I'm not trying be all YPDH, but I think someones monitoring my computer from a distance. Its a member of the family I don't get on with, they are shit hot at computers (its their job), they came to stay a while back and asked to borrow my computer when I had to go out.

Since then there's been too many real life co-incidences to list, and I know he did this to an ex girlfriend so its clearly not beyond him.

If I took it to one of these local computer help people that advertise or even PC world would they be able to check for any installed spy programme? Or would a full system restore just get rid of anything? I'm more curious to find out if there is anything & when it was installed.

Thanks in advance for any advice peeps.

he may have enabled XPs remote support of access, do you have a firewall running, just the XP one or more than that ?

 

[knock]

I need help please clever people, I know very little about computers.

I'm not trying be all YPDH, but I think someones monitoring my computer from a distance. Its a member of the family I don't get on with, they are shit hot at computers (its their job), they came to stay a while back and asked to borrow my computer when I had to go out.

Since then there's been too many real life co-incidences to list, and I know he did this to an ex girlfriend so its clearly not beyond him.

If I took it to one of these local computer help people that advertise or even PC world would they be able to check for any installed spy programme? Or would a full system restore just get rid of anything? I'm more curious to find out if there is anything & when it was installed.

Thanks in advance for any advice peeps.

What exactly makes you think they're monitoring your computer? What things are they monitoring? There's a lot goes on in a computer. Do you think they're reading your emails? Watching what you're surfing?

Have they had access to your computer to install anything on it? Sorry you already said.

Have you tried Malware Bytes? Do you have antivirus software running and do you keep the database up-to-date?

 

[badandwicked]

Thanks Ben, & everyone, I appreciate it. I have avast but its probably shit, I must admit I havent done a good job of protecting myself.

i run a full system scan from time to time but that;s it, I assumed the firewall was within avast

knock - yeah what I've been looking at & emails, I'm not concerned about banking and passwords and stuff, just personal activity. And yes, he had my laptop for about 3 hours when I wasn't there.

 

[Ben So Furry]

Malwarebytes seconded, great software

More reading, hope it helps, it's scary what tech folk can do

 

[guerrilla]

Thanks Ben, appreciate it. I have avast but its probably shit, I must admit I havent done a good job of protecting myself.

avast is just fine. MBAM is not a substitute for an antivirus.

 

[Allein]

I'd install a new firewall for a start off, the XP one ain't great but it would pick up something obvious like remote desktop.

Do you leave the machine switched on and online a lot ?

 

[Ben So Furry]

avast is just fine. MBAM is not a substitute for an antivirus.

Agreed, it's a great spyware scanner though, you need dedicated antivirus software such as avast as well

 

[badandwicked]

I do atm23.

Yep ben & max, its a really horrible feeling. Normally I can talk myself out of paranoia but not this time, this guy is very intelligent and doesnt always use it the right way. I'll be able to tell when I see him next if he's reading this.

Thanks atm guerilla & knock, plenty of reading material for tomorrow. Reassuring that avasts ok.

The Hand that Rocks the Cradle just started, haven't seen that for years.

Its my short attention span that got me into this mess....

 

[Mendo_K]

Theres all sorts of programs that can go un-detected, ones that send regular screenshots, key logs etc and they are really easy to install, also having complete access of your PC is easy enough. Just to show there are websites that 2 people log onto, after a few clicks a person can completely take over the others computer, anyway best to try and download some software to check.

Hijack this is good software that checks for any background activity or sneaky software..

http://www.filehippo.com/download_hijackthis/

or try some free online virus scanners I guess..

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/uk/index.html

Malware Bytes (Free) http://www.malwarebytes.org/
Spy Bot Search and Destroy (Free) http://www.safer-networking.org/

Ahh already mentioned

Our famous me weetvanweeten over on Pill Reports (Old regular poster, always got the latest pills etc) found some spy snooping software on his PC a while ago, maybe he could help with how he went about finding it

 

[Ben So Furry]

Time for bed, best of luck b&w, hope you get to the bottom of it. Night all

 

[Allein]

I'd check on that remote desktop or remote assistant function built into XP first off, if he has enabled it and allowed it through the firewall that would be an easy way to get in. I think you have to acknowledge remote assistant fro the other end fr it to work but maybe you can do it without but remote desktop would be my first port of call.

If he a serious hacker it could be much more covert...is he that switched on ?? get his IP address and we will Kill Him

 

[watsons torment]

just to make you more he is probably using a non public key logger/trojan that virus/malware detectors won't have the signature for.. at least that's what i'd do :D



don't take it to pc world. those guys are CLOWNS

for peace of mind i'd back up my data and just do a fresh windows install and then not let him near your computer.

 

[badandwicked]

Still appreciated Mendo. Its too late to get stuck into all that reading, tomorrow I will make a big pot of coffee and get stuck in and keep at it till my brain melts. I'm not good with screen text but this is worth getting to grips with. Kinda have to. Thanks again EADD, this is a one stop shop for all matters from a-z, I love it

Its people like you that scare me watters I'll do exactly as you suggest, if that will give me peace of mind, as thats what I want mainly. I've just thought of someone I can ask for help to do that. Thank you.

 

[knock]

When a program on a computer is set to accept incoming requests, it opens a port in LISTEN mode. It might be useful to see a list of those open ports.

(this info relates to Windows computers)

Open a command prompt (start/run/cmd [ENTER])

A black command window will open up with a prompt:

If you enter

netstat -anb

this will list open ports and show the PID and name of the code which has the port open - the unique number showing what program opened the ported.

This info might be useful if you could post it.

 

[Allein]

for peace of mind i'd back up my data and just do a fresh windows install and then not let him near your computer.

This is probably the best approach if it looks badly compromised, I'd bin the hard drive as well for the sake of

I got caught with that Police e Crime Unit virus screen locker thing at the weekend, bastard posed as a Java update or summit, wasn't paying enough attention.

Had to pay up the £100 via UKash to get it unlocked


not

 

[watsons torment]

This is probably the best approach if it looks badly compromised, I'd bin the hard drive as well for the sake of

I got caught with that Police e Crime Unit virus screen locker thing at the weekend, bastard posed as a Java update or summit, wasn't paying enough attention.

Had to pay up the £100 via UKash to get it unlocked


not

what if they are searching your bins as well? smash the hard drive up, set fire to it and bury the ashes in a secret location.

also put a sticker over your webcam b&w, he has probably been watching you get undressed... again this is what i'd be doing.

(i like that this topic gives me plenty of excuses to put in my posts)

 

[RLP]

Is there anything the member of the family you don't get on with could use against you? Presumably your family know you use drugs as it's not an easy one to hide for most of us.

If there's absolutely nothing this member of the family you don't get on with has to learn from your computer usage and he's just spying for spying sake, then fucking lead the bastard down the biggest of wild goose chases. Get a friend to create a fake identity and refer to them only as Red October whilst leaving non-descript coding such as "your package will be delivered imminently." Playing games with people who think they're one up on you is more fun than leveling the playing field.

Or just flood your hard drive with squirrel pictures. Here's one to get you started: