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Computer Hacking ?

If possible I would appreciate some advice / help from computer literate people.

I have recently purchased a new laptop, and have noticed that when I am using internet and go to close down the computer, I have a message that says (to the effect of) -

'Other people are logged onto this computer; are you sure you want to close down''.

I have a firewall installed, and the internet I am using is password connected. Is there something else I should have installed to stop this, and can these other computers / people 'see'' what I am doing (or access documents etc) on my laptop?

This has occurred with my home internet connection in Medellin, and in the Internet provided by restaurants in P Lleras. It never occured with my old laptop.

Thanks for your help.

By bickerss on Nov 4, 2009, 13:09 in Friendly Talkzone.

boomer says on Nov 4, 2009, 13:15:

Check your Administrator/User settings. Sounds like you have more than one logon. Don't think this has anything to do with other people using your internet.

orgullo_de_colombia

0 funny, 1 helpful.

thepieman says on Nov 4, 2009, 13:21:

Big Brother is watching you!

2 funny, 0 helpful.

tannedincali (☼Travelguide writer) says on Nov 4, 2009, 13:39:

I think it's what boomer says, you may have another account logged in. Just in case you can delete any other user different than yours (if you're the only one who use that laptop).

Take the red pill and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes

0 funny, 0 helpful.

bickerss says on Nov 4, 2009, 14:28:

Ok, thanks tannedincali and boomer - appreciated.

Investment Strategy - buying when others are crying!! Offloading when others are gloating!!!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

jimbo67856 says on Nov 4, 2009, 14:34:

bickerss, What OS is on the cpu? Do you have other users on it? Have you set up the cpu to act as a share for file/print services? Any out of the ordinary config at all?

Errors of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. ---- Thomas Jefferson

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bickerss says on Nov 4, 2009, 14:40:

Jimbo - thanks; it is windows and it is not set-up to sharefiles / print. I have another ''user'' established that came with the comp (ie my user name which I set-up and another which was there ie admin). As I don't use it, I did not think it would have had any influence on the received notice. I will disable it however to check.

Appreciate all help.

Investment Strategy - buying when others are crying!! Offloading when others are gloating!!!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

jimbo67856 says on Nov 4, 2009, 14:46:

np bickerss. Do me a favor. Go to Start -> Run -> type "cmd" and hit enter. That brings up a DOS prompt. When there type "net session" and tell me what it says. Hopefully it says "There are no entries in the list."

Errors of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. ---- Thomas Jefferson

0 funny, 1 helpful.

jimbo67856 says on Nov 4, 2009, 14:49:

bickerss, Also, what version of WIN are you running? Is it XP, Vista, or 7? I've got a sys admin sitting next to me right now who can help.

Errors of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. ---- Thomas Jefferson

0 funny, 0 helpful.

bickerss says on Nov 4, 2009, 14:51:

jimbo - I did that and yes it said - there are no entries in the list

Investment Strategy - buying when others are crying!! Offloading when others are gloating!!!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

jimbo67856 says on Nov 4, 2009, 14:54:

Okay good. Now let's try two more commands. the first is "echo %username%" and the second is "echo %userprofile%". Include the % signs around those words. Don't repeat it here but let me know if you see more than one name/profile path for those commands.

Errors of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. ---- Thomas Jefferson

0 funny, 1 helpful.

bickerss says on Nov 4, 2009, 14:55:

Windows XP - I will try the other commands now.

Investment Strategy - buying when others are crying!! Offloading when others are gloating!!!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

jimbo67856 says on Nov 4, 2009, 14:57:

bickerss, I may be assuming things far in advance of what's actually happening. When you get that message you first tell the computer to shut down? Is that correct? Or are you telling it to disconnect from the network, then telling it to shut down? Also, when you tell it to shut down, does the warning pop up and then disappear during the shut down process? If so that's completely normal, as what's happening is your connection is still active but the computer received a stop order and it's confused.

Errors of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. ---- Thomas Jefferson

0 funny, 0 helpful.

bickerss says on Nov 4, 2009, 14:58:

Jim - only saw mine on there when I entered both commands. (and thanks VERY MUCH for assisting with this).

Investment Strategy - buying when others are crying!! Offloading when others are gloating!!!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

jimbo67856 says on Nov 4, 2009, 15:01:

np bickerss. It sounds to me like you've got a process out of order error which is quite common to Windows. What usually happens is that Windows doesn't understand one thing is supposed to happen before another, so it tries to do the wrong thing first. It's like trying to step out of your car before opening the door. As you've reported nothing out of the ordinary I strongly suspect it's just a simple Windows "WTF" error.

If you suspect that someone might've tampered w/ the computer, hit me up privately and I'll point you to some places to get free, open source software which can detect keystroke loggers, packet sniffers, and other problems like that.

Errors of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. ---- Thomas Jefferson

0 funny, 1 helpful.

bickerss says on Nov 4, 2009, 15:02:

I do not disconnect from the internet first, I simply close my running programs and then go to 'turn off computer'' The message pops up at that time (but not every time) and when I select that I still wish to shut down it goes away.

Investment Strategy - buying when others are crying!! Offloading when others are gloating!!!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

jimbo67856 says on Nov 4, 2009, 15:04:

Ha, ya that's almost positively an out of order process error. Friggin Windows. I obviously can't say for 100% sure but if it happened to me I'd ignore it.

Errors of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. ---- Thomas Jefferson

0 funny, 0 helpful.

bickerss says on Nov 4, 2009, 15:08:

great and thanks again for your time; very good of you and much appreciated. I owe you a beer sometime!!

Investment Strategy - buying when others are crying!! Offloading when others are gloating!!!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

jimbo67856 says on Nov 4, 2009, 15:11:

bickerss, my minimum fee for taking a few minutes to talk computers is 2 beers. 2. LOL j/k

No problem man. Glad to help.

Errors of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. ---- Thomas Jefferson

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bickerss says on Nov 4, 2009, 15:17:

I'll up it to three to include a 'tip'!!!

Investment Strategy - buying when others are crying!! Offloading when others are gloating!!!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

jimbo67856 says on Nov 4, 2009, 15:22:

jaja now you're talkin!!!

Errors of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. ---- Thomas Jefferson

0 funny, 0 helpful.

flynn flanagan says on Nov 5, 2009, 01:38:

go to the control panel and under "user accounts" you can turn off all other accounts except yours (administrator) therefore you will be the only one with password access to the computer.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

panthercat187 says on Nov 7, 2009, 02:29:

Use
A
Mac

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