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carrotgirl
FemaleFirst Guru
Joined: 04 Nov 2006
Posts: 7859
Location: The vegetable patch with Kingy!
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 Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 1:47 pm Post subject: OK all you clever people!! |
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I am hoping that one of you can help me/give advice.
This is the scenario:
Someone in my household who uses the same computer as me has managed to find out the address of my secret hotmail account, and also the address of the person I have been primarily corresponding with through it. I always delete all the browsing history and temporary internet files every time I switch off. How have they done this? And how do I stop them potentially spying on me?
AOL is my server and I use Windows XP.
Many thanks - any help greatly appreciated.... |
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tguir
Hello. I am New! Talk to Me
Joined: 10 Dec 2007
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 4:38 pm Post subject: |
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you will find if you go to start and then search and type in hotmail it will show all the accounts used under the @hotmail.com or .co.uk on that computer.
Hotmail is real easy to crack too, if that said person knows you well and you have a secret question set up they would know its easy to get into the account and read all your emails without you knowing |
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monosodium
FemaleFirst Guru
Joined: 21 Oct 2005
Posts: 5734
Location: In UR base snifin all UR pantys
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| Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 10:49 pm Post subject: |
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| tguir wrote: |
you will find if you go to start and then search and type in hotmail it will show all the accounts used under the @hotmail.com or .co.uk on that computer.
Hotmail is real easy to crack too, if that said person knows you well and you have a secret question set up they would know its easy to get into the account and read all your emails without you knowing |
They're sort of right in that the information (username / psw) might come up via the "autocomplete" but hotmail is not that easy to crack directly, as if they are going via the secret question route it would cause a password change, so you'd know about it because you wouldn't be able to get to your account.
It's easy to fix - You'll need to set up a seperate user account for your "friend" and then set a password on both accounts (remember the username and passwords as you'll need them). You can then log out when you're not using the machine and all your stored passwords etc will be safe from your "friends" (although I'm using that term pretty loosely if they're spying on you).
To set up the Users, just go into the control panel, and there will be a section for users there and the rest should be relatively obvious. Once you have seperate users then all your settings (history, autocomplete, my documents etc) would only be accessible to you.
Just don't forget the password for your computer or you'll be locked out too! |
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carrotgirl
FemaleFirst Guru
Joined: 04 Nov 2006
Posts: 7859
Location: The vegetable patch with Kingy!
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| Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 11:32 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the advice guys.
I have tried putting "hotmail" into a search though and nothing came up. Any other ideas as to how they may have done this? Remember that they also found out the name and addy of the person I was corresponding with too. Bear in mind that this is not a very computer literate person who has done this - but they may have had some help from friends. |
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raliy2k
FemaleFirst Newbie (20+ posts)
Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Posts: 46
Location: London
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| Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 2:13 am Post subject: |
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Use crap cleaner, it cleans your computer of all crap:
http://www.ccleaner.com/ |
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boingo
FemaleFirst Guru
Joined: 19 Feb 2006
Posts: 15931
Location: Perth, Western Australia (GMT+8hrs)
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| Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 3:32 am Post subject: |
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Definitely do a scan with "AVG Anti-Rootkit Free", too.
"What is rootkit
Rootkits are used to hide the presence of a malicious object like trojans or keyloggers on your computer. If a threat uses rootkit technology to hide itself it is very hard to find the malware on your PC. AVG Anti-Rootkit gives you the power to find and delete the rootkit and to uncover the threat the rootkit is hiding."
It's free and won't stuff up your system. I use it to scan my computer now and again.
Click here to get it |
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cosmicB
FemaleFirst Grand Master (1000+ Posts)
Joined: 31 Jan 2005
Posts: 2620
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| Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 7:54 am Post subject: |
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Some firewalls, and cleaner scanners reveal data in alternate accounts, in older operating systems... but if it's in XP I would run scans for a snoopy keylogger, hiding in IE's native pix... and check temp files for completed searches... and backtrack from there...
MajorGeeks have experimental download softwares that determine who did what where and how... And if you can't find a software there that does what yo need.. then you post it in the software forum, and in a few months someone has built it.. and it's in the downloads...
__________________________________________
"Angel's wings smell like someone just farted..." |
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monosodium
FemaleFirst Guru
Joined: 21 Oct 2005
Posts: 5734
Location: In UR base snifin all UR pantys
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| Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 10:39 am Post subject: |
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When you hear hooves think Horses not Zebras folks.
Running rootkit detectors, virus scans etc will not help in this instance because there aren't likely to be any causing this issue. |
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boingo
FemaleFirst Guru
Joined: 19 Feb 2006
Posts: 15931
Location: Perth, Western Australia (GMT+8hrs)
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| Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 5:15 pm Post subject: |
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| monosodium wrote: |
When you hear hooves think Horses not Zebras folks.
Running rootkit detectors, virus scans etc will not help in this instance because there aren't likely to be any causing this issue. |
I figured that too, but it's something overlooked by most people.
I'm rather Anal about PC security because I've had problems with losing data in the past.
I still remember the good old days with dial-up and those global dialers that booted us from our ISP and onto a premium rate ISP in some foreign country. |
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cosmicB
FemaleFirst Grand Master (1000+ Posts)
Joined: 31 Jan 2005
Posts: 2620
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| Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 5:32 pm Post subject: |
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It used to be that every month I had to format C because of a bug hit... but now it doesn't happen, since I started opening all unknown and suspect emails in the old iMac, which sits asleep beside the desk just for this purpose... I don't bother with firewalls and AVS scanners... They just suck-up the PC's resources... My PC"s only security is a floppy loaded copy of LittlePersonalFirewall, which really isn't much of a firewall... I use it only to lock-up internal links from connecting... I am my best security... I stay away from the places that killed the OS in the first place...
My best security is no security... It's the iMac, and the drawer full of pre-loaded hard drives, and in my weekly file backups...
The Internet is a war-zone... Expect to take a few stray hits once in a while...
Last night a client dropped of his dead W2K tower, claiming his kids probably caught it a virus while playing on the Net... I hopes hitting F8, on start up, gets me into registry restore, and changes the new buggy registry to a clean backup... Hold breath/fingers crossed/eyes crossed/teeth clenched/even hold bum cheeks tight, and tap F8 twice...
If it works, add my preferred list of cleaners, run them, run an AVS scan, checkdisk full, defrag, add spybot s&d, and bill him a hundred bucks... |
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Topic Of Gossip
FemaleFirst Guru
Joined: 03 Mar 2005
Posts: 5171
Location: London
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| Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:39 am Post subject: |
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| boingo wrote: |
| monosodium wrote: |
When you hear hooves think Horses not Zebras folks.
Running rootkit detectors, virus scans etc will not help in this instance because there aren't likely to be any causing this issue. |
I figured that too, but it's something overlooked by most people.
I'm rather Anal about PC security because I've had problems with losing data in the past.
I still remember the good old days with dial-up and those global dialers that booted us from our ISP and onto a premium rate ISP in some foreign country. |
Also with the advent of Wi-Fi wireless routers and broadband many people have no idea how unsecured their information and data is.
Wireless routers for instance can pump out their signals way beyond the confines of an individual's home. If someone has the right equipment they can see exactly what you are typing on screen, and which sites you're visiting on the Web, whilst sitting in a vehicle outside your house! 
In some ways using a fixed line connection is safer, but most people use Wi-Fi broadband these days. Here are ten useful tips if you're using a Wi-Fi connection, to stop people getting at your "private" information...
10 Tips for Wireless Home Network Security |
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monosodium
FemaleFirst Guru
Joined: 21 Oct 2005
Posts: 5734
Location: In UR base snifin all UR pantys
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| Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 7:37 pm Post subject: |
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| boingo wrote: |
| I'm rather Anal about PC security because I've had problems with losing data in the past. |
It's the "it'll never happen to me" mindset. I wish I could back up my whole system up in one go, but if I want to back up to DVDs, I'd need to go through about 100 (each time I wanted to back up my data) and that doesn't include any software I have on disk.
Given the failure rate of DVD's I'd also need to make sure that each one was verified too. That's a hell of a lot of work, especially as windows backup will not back up directly to DVD.
That's quite a scary thought actually.
| boingo wrote: |
| I still remember the good old days with dial-up and those global dialers that booted us from our ISP and onto a premium rate ISP in some foreign country. |
Hehe - yeah, I always loved those. They almost always came from porn-sites as well, or they certainly did in 99.9% of the cases I came across. (Ouch! Bad pun!)
| Topic Of Gossip wrote: |
In some ways using a fixed line connection is safer, but most people use Wi-Fi broadband these days. Here are ten useful tips if you're using a Wi-Fi connection, to stop people getting at your "private" information...
10 Tips for Wireless Home Network Security |
That's a good article.
Just as a general point I'd recommend that everyone read, learn and inwardly digest the content on www.getsafeonline.org - it's really well written and simple enough that normal people can understand it and act on it. |
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Jane_
FemaleFirst Chatter (200+ Posts)
Joined: 15 Jun 2006
Posts: 379
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| Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 9:51 pm Post subject: |
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I have no techy advice to give but I took a quick peek anyway (as you do) and just thought Id say thanks guys, this thread was interesting to read and Ive picked up some good tips from those websites. Over and out  |
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cosmicB
FemaleFirst Grand Master (1000+ Posts)
Joined: 31 Jan 2005
Posts: 2620
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| Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 4:44 am Post subject: |
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You have only two options to stop people from spying on you...
1: Buy your own computer...
2: Buy your own computer... |
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monosodium
FemaleFirst Guru
Joined: 21 Oct 2005
Posts: 5734
Location: In UR base snifin all UR pantys
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| Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 5:58 pm Post subject: |
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| cosmicB wrote: |
You have only two options to stop people from spying on you...
1: Buy your own computer...
2: Buy your own computer... |
Those don't work for you cosmic as:-
1) I now have direct access to your brains via my techno brainscan-o-matic 5000.
2) You forgot to put on your tinfoil helmet.
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