Someone else controlling your computer

[Guest]

Can someone direct me to a discussion of how somone can take control of your
PC? There are some strange happenings on my home machine lately and I wonder
if someone has hacked in. Norton Antivirus (with all available updates), Ad
Aware, and Spybot detect nothing.

Also, Task Manager does not open properly. When I boot up and Windows says I
have 2, or 3 or whatever programs running, I cannot find out what those
programs are. Could this be an indication of invasion, or just a glitch?

 

[typical computer geek]

do the running programs not show in the task manager?

try doing an online scan with Trend micro...I have alway found that it
finds things the others don't find.

Check your running services to make sure nothing unusual is running.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Can someone direct me to a discussion of how somone can take control
of your PC? There are some strange happenings on my home machine
lately and I wonder if someone has hacked in.

Please describe those "strange happenings."

Norton Antivirus (with
all available updates), Ad Aware, and Spybot detect nothing.

Also, Task Manager does not open properly.

Does it open at all? What do you mean by "not open *properly*"?

If you mean that the Title bar, Menu bar, and tabs are missing, you're
running in what's called "Small Footprint Mode." To change back and forth
from this mode to regular mode, just double-click on the border.

When I boot up and Windows
says I have 2, or 3 or whatever programs running,

Where does it say that?

 

[Plato]

Can someone direct me to a discussion of how somone can take control of your
PC? There are some strange happenings on my home machine lately and I wonder
if someone has hacked in. Norton Antivirus (with all available updates), Ad
Aware, and Spybot detect nothing.

Chances are. Nobody has hacked in. Hackers dont really care about home
pcs.

 

[Guest]

Please describe those "strange happenings."

The one the comes to mind first is when I leave the computer for a time,
offline but booted up, then come back and find a message to the effect that
the ISP I have indicated is not my default carrier and would I like to make
it so.

Does it open at all? What do you mean by "not open *properly*"? If you mean >that the Title bar, Menu bar, and tabs are missing, you're running in what's
called "Small Footprint Mode." To change back and forth from this mode to >regular mode, just double-click on the border.

That's exactly what I get, just a blank screen with a small icon at the top.
It doesn't report any processes or applications and is hard to close. So, you
have solved one puzzle for me -- Thanks!

Where does it say that?

When it is in rest mode or "Preparing to Stand By" and I click on the user
icon. Or it will do it, I think, when I boot up and click the icon. I will
get a message under the icon saying I have, for example, 3 unread emails and
2 programs running. Is there some way besides Task Manager to see what
programs are active?

By the way, sorry for the delay in getting back on this subject; and thanks
very much for helping me out!