Ok my computer has been acting a little funny latly, and I was woundering if it is possible if someone had maybe cracked my computer. What are some of the signs that someone else is using your computer/system? I have heard of things called Trojan Horses before but what else could it be? And what can I do to get rid of whatever it might be or tell if there is even anything wrong at all? I only use avg and I run it everyday. Is there any other free anti virus programs that I can dowload to help keep my computer safe?

-Melissa-Hello Melissa

Please can you give more details as to what you mean by "a little funny".

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Also do this.

If you are on Windows 2000 or XP download Ewido/AVG Anti Spyware from here ….

http://www.ewido.net/en/

It has a fully working 30 day trial period.

Install it and update it to the latest definitions.

Do NOT use it yet.


Now boot to safe mode. Here’s a “how to” if you’re not sure ..

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2001052409420406


When in safe mode run a full system scan with AVGAS and let it fix what it wants to.

REMEMBER TO SAVE THE SCAN REPORT and also remember where you saved it.

Reboot to normal mode and use the computer as you would usually do.

[FOOTNOTE > this is a good program to use as an “on demand” scanner even after the trial period is over. Keep it updated and use it to scan your computer from time to time].

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If this doesn’t succeed in fixing the problem download a self-extracting copy of HijackThis from here …….

http://downloads.malwareremoval.com/hijackthis_sfx.exe

Save it to your Desktop.

Double-click on the file hijackthis_sfx.exe file and it will self-extract into its own FOLDER ……

C:\Program Files\HijackThis

Go to this folder and run the hijackthis.exe file.

From the MENU click on "Do a system scan and save a logfile".

Copy and paste both the AVG AS scan report and the HJT logfile to this thread. More specific removal instructions will follow for whatever it is that's CAUSING the problem.


OJOk well for staters its really slow starting up and when I say slow I mean like it takes a good 10 min to just start the computer up and get it to a point where I can actually do things on it without it freezing. Another is that when Im playing online games, sometimes the charecter Im using or the game in it self, will just start playing by itself. Like the charecter will start running around the screen by itself with out me touching anything. (And this is in the middle of the game after everything is already loaded) Another is that the mouse flips all over the screen. Im on a laptop and that seems a little funny to me. And my biggest problem is that someone has been screwing around with my llife big time using a computer. On msn and Nexopia someone figured out my passwords and was sending msgs to my friends and boyfriend, telling them that I was no good and that I was cheating (which I wasent) And that (and this came from whoever is doing this themselfs) that even if I changed my passwords on all of my accounts, that they would still have access to them because they were already logged in. Now I thought that you get logged out of most of these things as soon as your computer gets turned off or goes into sleep mode, which means that this person would pretty much have to sit in front of there computer 24/7 to keep there computer from shutting off, just so that they could stay on my accounts. Seems pretty weird to me. And also whoever is doing this seems to know me pretty well. Like they know even small stuff about me like bad habbits and the way I act and stuff I have done in the past. Which means that its probably someone I know. But the think is that no one I know has the capability to do all of this. So im really stuck and lost and I dont know who to trust out of my friends cause really it could be anyone. Wow sorry that was a really long post. I dont know if thats spamming or not. If it is then Im really sorry and you can just delete this.

-Melissa-OK. This is my recommended course of action.

If I were you I would report this behavior to the moderators/administrators of the sites in question.

Next, derigister from ALL the organisations/websites and stay away from them for a few days. Don't tell anyone if you're suspicious of your "friends".

Now run through the AVG AntiSpyware & HijackThis instructions I gave you in my earlier advice.

Post back the AVG scan report and the HijackThis logfile.

We will see if there's anything obviously bad, fix that first then, when you're clean, you can think about rejoining the sites.

But that's me. You do what you think is best but I must see those two scan reports please.

Post back as soon as you can.


OJNo, a long post it not spamming. LOL. But, a long paragraph is hard to read.

Are you using a firewall on your computer? Are you using Windows XP? Do you have Service Pack 2 (SP2) installed?Quote

Do you have Service Pack 2 (SP2) installed?

• Download the latest version of Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 6.
• Scroll down to where it says "The J2SE Runtime Environment (JRE) allows end-users to run Java applications"…..
  
  
• Click the "Download" button to the right.
• Check the box that says: "Accept License Agreement".
• The page will refresh.
• Click on the link to download Windows Offline Installation with or without Multi-language and save to your desktop.
• Close any programs you may have running - especially your web browser.
• Go to Start > Control Panel double-click on Add/Remove programs and remove all older versions of Java.
• Check any item with Java Runtime Environment (JRE or J2SE) in the name.
• Click the Remove or Change/Remove button.
• Repeat as many times as necessary to remove each Java versions.
• Reboot your computer once all Java components are removed.
• Then from your desktop double-click on jre-6-windowsi586-p.exe to install the newest version.