I think my computer was hacked - Any solutions?

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phil1147

Registered User
Messages
76
i think my laptop must have been hacked. i turned off my virus software and firewall because i was trying to use one of those file sharing (P2P) programmes.

The next time i was using the laptop i forgot i turned my virus software off, then my computer started to act up so turned on my virus software, ran a scan, it found some stuff then crashed. i was then in a hurry to go out and had to leave it idol. When i got back there was RAP music playing from it... even though i dont have any RAP music, i couldnt even open any files, programmes or even shortcuts from my desktop!!!!!

I had to hold the off button for ages, turned it back on and the music came back and still couldnt open anything!!!! Im starting to freak out, what should i do!!!! Have i been hacked, is my personal info in jeopardy???

Any ideas would be a great help!!!!!!
 
phil1147 said:
i think my laptop must have been hacked. i turned off my virus software and firewall because i was trying to use one of those file sharing (P2P) programmes.
Click to expand...

Firstly you must under the P2P concept. It's a bit like sharing your house.

House = harddrive
Rooms = directories

You give out a map to your house and a map to your room. People can come into that room and take a copy of whatever you have in there. The same way you can go to their pc (house) and copy the contents of their directory (room).

The P2P software allows you to copy the stuff quicker by finding the same file in directories.

Now some people don't follow the map correctly and can break into your other rooms and wreck stuff. A dog (firewall) can stop these people but since your dog (firewall) was asleep someone had some fun.

Check your startup folder or msconfig (google it) for any strange entries. Also do a search on your harddrive for exe files created since the original issue started.

Any private info held in word, excel, access should be password protected.
 
If you must use P2P then you really should use a sandbox or virtual machine or something like that in my opinion.

[broken link removed]
 
thanks guys, i tried my laptop when i got home again last night, Rap music came back on again so i went into task manager and ended some processes that looked strange. The music stopped, I then ran Spybot and it found 35 "Risk" items!!!

Spybot then crashed, my norton antivirus doesnt work at all anymore, as a matter of fact i think my laptop is completely bust!!!

Do i have to completely wipe it or is there some ingenious method of making go back to the way it was?!?
 

The dog obviously was asleep when...
 
Do a search for new exe files and delete them. You may have to stop the processes first. Run spy bot again then. Stay offline and check norton is up ane running
 
davidoco said:
Do a search for new exe files and delete them.
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Very poor advice and a good way to potentially screw up the machine by deleting something important.

Also - don't go around arbitrarily killing applications/processes. If you don't know what you're doing then get somebody who does to have a look. Otherwise there is a high risk of doing even more damage.
 
ClubMan said:
don't go around arbitrarily killing applications/processes. If you don't know what you're doing then get somebody who does to have a look.
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The best advice you'll receive. If you don't know what your doing, either get a friend who does or else pay for someone who does to help you out. (If you work in a company with an IT team, or have friends/family who do, it isn't a huge task for someone with knowledge to have a look)

Rather than randomly killing applications/processes, try going to safe mode and trying to run your AV/anti-spyware/anti-malware stuff.

The good news is it doesn't sound like something that shouldn't be solved by identifying the problem software and removing it. How tough this is/might be will depend on exactly what the problem software is.
 
And if you are intent on a DIY solution then read up on/research relevant matters as thoroughly as possible before doing anything rash! I've been through too many cases of recovering machines for people who decided to arbitrarily delete stuff to fix problems or "free up space/memory" to know what sort of damage can be done by somebody who does not know what they're doing...
 
It s your computer and you ve already killed some processes using task man so some level of competence in that area is assumed, unless you have some critical life support apps on there delete away.
you ve always got the recycle bin.
asking someone who knows about computers to drop in, is like asking ao electrician friend to wire a few plugs for free.
 
davidoco said:
asking someone who knows about computers to drop in, is like asking ao electrician friend to wire a few plugs for free.
Click to expand...
I'd strongly disagree with this.

Given the huge variance in IT knowledge out there, it's an extremely common request.

I've been asked on numerous times to assist and, depending on the problem, have always been more than happy to help. Nine times out of ten it's something I'm familiar with and very basic, but if you (or the user) don't know the answer (or the problem for some) it can be tough to tackle. In the other cases it's something which required a little research before tackling or else getting someone with more knowledge than myself (which isn't hard) to come in and sort.
 
Did you download any software over P2P? The problems could have been caused by running untrusted software you downloaded, rather than running a P2P client.

Quick-fix
1. Disable all Internet connectivity on your laptop until you get this resolved.
2. Create a "restore point" with System Restore. This backs up your current configuration, so you can undo changes later if they don't work
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/systemrestore.mspx
3. Use System Restore to rollback your machine to a known good configuration
4. Educate yourself so it doesn't happen again!

See also
 
thanks guys, i tried starting in safe mode but for some reason my virus software wouldnt work properly and some error message kept coming up. Good news is that i could access my photos and important documents to put them onto a large SD card.
Then i decided to install windows XP again and format the thing. That virus or whatever it was was a pain in the a**

The advice i would give ppl if they dont want a computer virus is to get anti virus software, and the most important thing is to keep it on. Thanks for the posts!!!
 
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