Re: Am I under attack?

Hard to make concrete suggestions when I don't have access to the machine.
My strategy is to use Process Explorer and Autoruns to assess what's running
(or set to run) and suspend/kill/delete anything obvious. Then run all the
scans I can find. You could try running adaware:
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/
and "Sypbot Search & Destroy"
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html (also use the "Immunize"
facility).

Control Panel windows aren't necessarily evil - if a removable drive is -
er - removed, you can sometimes find yourself looking at the next thing down
in the folder hierarchy, and, depending on the system's configuration, that
can be Control Panel.

Otherwise, make sure a firewall is enabled (and doesn't have any iffy
exceptions). File-sharing programs like Kazaa and LimeWire are notorious
for opening the machine up to dodgy elements, so give him/her a budget to
spend legitimately (try www.allofmp3.com).

Finally, make sure Lobster junior is using an unprivileged account (you may
be prepared to give him/her access to an admin account as well, but make
sure he/she runs routinely as a Limited user). See:
http://tinyurl.com/lt84a
http://tinyurl.com/7s5el

--
####################
## PH, London
####################
"Lobster" <davidlobsterpot601@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:o5RPf.74106$494.2727@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Philip Herlihy wrote:

"Lobster" <davidlobsterpot601@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:WiLOf.69688$mf2.1093@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Or at least, is my kids' PC?

I haven't seen the symptoms exactly, as they happen only sporadically,
but it seems that various windows suddenly open by themselves, including
Control Panel, most worryingly.

PC is networked to a cable broadband connection via a Linkys router
(with hardware firewall); PC runs windows firewall, Ad-aware antispyware
and AVG antivirus software (all up to date). None indicates any problem
with the computer.

Kids are running the wretched MS-Messenger which I know is a Bad Thing.

> It's also worth running online scans, including:
http://www.pandasoftware.com
http://housecall.trendmicro.com

Both take quite a while to run, but are very thorough, especially the
trendmicro one.

Thanks.

I ran the trendmicro scan - nothing untoward there... ?

David



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