Re: OT - Computer access

On Dec 15 2005 5:03 PM, Will_gamble wrote:

> While playing poker I notice this little blue and white 'executable' icon
> appear for a few seconds on my task bar. This may happen 10 - 15 times
> over a three hour period each night while playing. So.... I am thinking
> to myself that it is only Party scanning my desktop.
>
> Then this morning while reading email without Party being up I notice it
> again. WTF?
>
> So I ask one of the PC system geeks at work what he recommends and he
> suggests downloading Microsoft anti-spyware. He says this will cause a
> dialog box to pop up for your approval before this program can access your
> system.
>
> Should I buy a firewall instead or is Microsoft's controls adequate? If
> so, which firewall product do you recommend?
>
> Thanks

I've been using MS's anti-spyware tool for a couple of months and it seems
very good - I would certainly recommend you install it if you haven't
alreadly done so. You should also consider installing ZoneAlarm (software
firewall) and make sure you have up-to-date anti-virus software.

If I were you I would be keen to identify the executable that is
periodically running. One way might be to download PSList from
SysInternals.com. This is a command-line tool that generates a list of all
the processes running on your system, similar to what you see in
TaskManager. Create a little batch file on your desktop that runs PSList
and appends the output to a text file. Run the batch file the next time
you see the suspicious task bar icon, then run it again after the icon has
disappeared. Comparing the two process lists should give you the name of
the culprit and you can then hopefully determine exactly what it is. If
you need me to go into finer detail on how to do this let me know.

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