Really creepy thing just happened with my computer. Help!

[Marlie]

I had turned off my computer hours ago, just came in my office and I noticed my start button was blinking green when I went to start it. I thought maybe I had left my computer on, moved my mouse around to wake up my monitor which goes to sleep after fifteen minutes without use and the following message came on my screen. "Other people are logged onto this computer. Do you want to shut down, as you may lose programs". I clicked yes and my computer shut off. I know I had shut it off when I left my office. No one else uses or has access to my
computer. Does anyone know what this means?

[MadMaddie]

1. Is this a computer in your office?

If so you need to get your tech people to run security tests on your computer...so you won't be held accountable if something was downloaded inappropriately

[Marlie]

7. This is an office in my home

Just creeped me out. Other people are logged in, etc and apparently someone
was on, just don't know who or from where. I wouldn't mind aliens I guess,
it's the human people I worry about.

[Swamp Rat]

2. Aliens!

:hide:

[blonndee]

3. Get out of the house NOW!!!

Totally kidding. Sorry, I have no idea.

[Renew Deal]

4. It means that someone is logged in with a different name.

It's possible that it's remote. Did you notice the name that was logged in?

[Marlie]

9. No names

Just said other people. In the ten years I've had a computer, nothing like this
ever happened. I did close out all my programs before I shut down. I always do.

[BuyingThyme]

5. That happens to me.

You probably tried to shut down before closing all of the programs.

No biggie.

[Straight Shooter]

6. You are a test subject in bush's expanded dissenter surveillance program.

Report to your local FBI office immediately. :D

[SammyWinstonJack]

45. !

:scared: :hide: :evilgrin:

[Virginian]

8. Sounds like Windows XP operating system.

My Husband and I each have our own settings on ours. If he is logged on, I go to Switch User to leave his settings in place and use my own.
If he hasn't logged out and I need to reboot, I get that message and the computer won't turn off until I have responded.

[Marlie]

11. I have the windows XP program

I'm the only person who ever uses it but perhaps it's just a glitch in the
program. OMG, all the crap I have saved about the Bush Administration. I'm
going to jail, I tell you. Tortured too.

[file83]

16. self delete

[gkdmaths]

10. eh, this is nothing, probably

if you have more than 1 PC on a LAN and you previously access the PC you tried to shut off with another, it is a stadard message.

Do you connect via wireless through a wireless router on which you have not enabled WEP encryption, or do you hardwire (the only way) to a, say, cable or DSL modem?

it really is difficult for a so-called 'hacker' to access your PC through standard cable or DSL modem with a hardware firewall (especially if you also run a software firewall in tandem), and really some singular person would have to pick you, of all people, out of literally billions of other addresses. Sure, that happened :sarcasm:

[Marlie]

14. Only one PC

Have the old dial up method cause we're out in the boonies and Hi Speed not
available. Can't believe that, it's like the dark ages out here and I have no firewall. Since it's a personal computer, no business stuff on it, didn't think I needed one. Guess I do.

[gkdmaths]

18. yeah, eh. well...

I wouldnt worry too much about it. If you've only got a single PC, then you probably dont have any sharing enabled for any network access, which would make any access other than snooping difficult.

If your worried, there are free firewalls (PM me and maybe I can help) and other solutions.

quite often, sleazy, bored kids with nothing to do will use software hacks and 'port scanners' to find open ports on your PC. Sometimes, if you have installed the PWS with windows (2000 and XP expecially install by default) then someone could have just been scanning a range of IPs and found that you had PWS installed and perhaps running (they were looking for your website or FTP site, perhaps).

Honestly, there are just toooooo many ports and IPs for a single malicious idiot to go through - statistically speaking.

[Katzenjammer]

36. "there is just toooooo much for a single malicious idiot"

You're really not being helpful by poo-pooing Marlie's concerns. Malicious 'idiots' look for unprotected machines (as you obliquely acknowlege) and concentrate on breaking into them.

Marlie is right to be concerned, and it's quite possible that her machine is now a zombie.

[gkdmaths]

44. sure

:thumbsup:

[Katzenjammer]

38. "Guess I do"

Yes, you do. And buy a good one, don't rely on a freebie or a cheapo. ZA Pro is the one I've used for years, and it gets good marks. It has some minor usability problems, but they wouldn't affect you unless you build a LAN.

Also buy one or more good de-spywaring utilities. I use Spyware Doctor, but I don't really know whether it's the best. It seems to work well, but hasn't found anything since right after I bought it. Is that because my routinely being cautious has kept my machines clean, or because the Doctor is incompetent and misses the malware that's managed to sneak in? I can't think of any safe way to test that. So ask around among your nerdy friends. But make sure that you're not connected to the net when you run the anti-spyware utility/ies, since you don't want to be immediately reinfected.

[Selatius]

12. Are you absolutely sure no one else has access to your computer???

Are you willing to bet a year's salary on that assertion? This seems like a physical log-in as opposed to a hack job.

[Marlie]

15. Yes, I'm willing to bet two year's salary

It's just my husband and I now and he doesn't use a computer. He's out of town
on business now and I'm home alone. Except my 150 lb. mastiff that is and I know
he doesn't use it.

[Selatius]

17. It still sounds like somebody logged into your computer physically.

A computer cannot turn on by itself unless somebody turns it on physically.

[smtpgirl]

13. have you checked the hibernate tab under power options

in control panel?

[file83]

19. self delete

[Marlie]

20. Yep, no one on this end and no remotes

Do you know what I should do? My next door neighbor does computers for a living
but I can't call him now, it's far too late. Guess I'll call him in the morning.
Really, I'm nervous, someone was on, that seems a given and I don't know a soul
in the World who would have access to this computer but me.

[file83]

22. I self deleted because I was wrong - the message you would have

seen if it were Remote Desktop would have been "This computer has been locked" and then "Only (your username) or the administrator can unlock this computer".

The message you had has something to do with fast user switching or something. I wouldn't worry - you might have accidently logged into the "Guest" account or something and then logged out. So you might want to go to the "Control Panel" and "Users" and see if that Guest account is functioning - if so, just "disable" it.

That's a start - but to be sure, you should have that tech guy check it out for like 10 minutes and go over the basic security "lock down" measures.

[w4rma]

21. Did you access Network Neighborhood before pressing "shut down"?

What might have happened was you pressed shut down and left before it had completed shutting down.

But it didn't shut down, because someone (Network administrator for your office? Someone else on your office network?) clicked on your computer under their Network Neighborhood. Or you clicked on someone else's computer under Network Neighborhood. Either way a Microsoft Network connection would have been created between the two computers, whether there are shared folders available on either computer or not.

If you want to feel safer, just in case, you can disable File and Print Sharing for Microsoft Networks and NetBIOS under the settings for the your dial up connection within Network Connections inside the Control Panel.

Also, you should check to see if your firewall is blocking these types of connections from the internet, as recently updated ones usually do under their default settings.

[file83]

24. That's a good point - if the "Shared Documents" folder were being

accessed by someone that has managed to get into the network (totally possible if she's on a unsecured Wireless network) and decided to poke around in that folder, then she might get that message she got.

[lapfog_1]

23. you have malware installed

and, probably, Wake-on-Lan enabled.

so if you have cable or DSL, someone, anyone, can turn your computer on remotely and log in.
All they have to do is send you a packet into you lan port (ethernet).

[Marlie]

25. Thanks guys, for all your input

It's so late and so many responses. Thank you, you guys are so great. One thing I would like to mention. When I went to start the computer, the start button was blinking green on and off. When my computer is on and even in the starting phase, it never blinks, just solid green. Is the blinking light an indication of anything?

[lapfog_1]

28. If its the power LED, blinking is likely indicating that it's in

suspended mode.

[Justice Is Comin]

26. I get that message if I am streaming live music

and attempt to put my computer on standby. Did you possibly have a live stream of anything going, because what happened is the computer did not shut off.

When you moved the mouse to "wake it up," you had the message you would have seen on your screen as you were attempting, and thought were shutting it off.

That would be my guess.

[Rex]

27. Do you have wake on LAN enabled?

You should turn that off if you don't use remote access.

[EFerrari]

29. Do you have cats?

My cats love to play with the office machines. One likes to fax and another one likes shopping. Once I stopped her just in time to prevent a large Avon purchase.

[Marlie]

30. Nope, no cats

Just a big old doggy. I know cats and their little paws can do lots of good
stuff. Believe me, wish I had a cat to blame this mystery on.

[EFerrari]

32. What about chickens? I had a chicken that used to crawl

into my office every morning at 10:30 and lay her egg on my bookcase.

One day, I found a bunch of files opened that I didn't even I had.

I'm sure there's an explanation, Marlie.

/oops

[Justice Is Comin]

31. !

Umm Tell them to keep an eye out for some good catnip.

[intaglio]

33. ffs Antivirus and spyware check immediately

Use your normal anti-virus annd follow it up with another for example AVG
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

Then use a spyware checker such as spybot or use a remote checker such as the Spyeare Doc scan on the PC world site below
http://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/?ref=google1

Remember to get them to check the whole system you may be zombiefied - ie some £%**$# is using your computer to send spam or worse

[madokie]

34. you can turn that feature off and it would be a smart thing to do

It probably means someone has nefarious designs on your work. You can turn off remote assistance or something like that. The feature I am typing about is for help from someone else when you have problems with your 'puter mostly. anyways

On edit: Remote Access, turn it off, without it no one can turn your computer on.

[Dystopian]

35. Very creepy.....

I've been in bed and heard my computer logging on. I've got dial-up, and it's eerie. My S/O said it's probably an AOL glitch....I don't think so....We have computer protection 'stuff'..I'm obviously not computer savvy...Also, AOL sucks mail! I've had, for example, 125 emails in my box, and I can watch the number drop slowly as I'm online. This has been happening for about 2 years....I don't know where the emails go, and try to remember to change my password on an irregular basis...This starting happening after I started posting anti-bush statements on AOL message boards....and don't go there anymore.

peace~

[Red Right and BLUE]

37. Can you not switch providers?

AOL is god-awful. And that's creepy about the stuff your computer does. yikes.

[Connie_Corleone]

39. Don't go down in the basement!!

[MyNameGoesHere]

40. I am sorry this just

doesn't seem like a big "hack job" First you are using dial-up. For all its faults dial-up is still more secure than Broadband. Second all the wake on LAN theorists see my first statement WAKE ON LAN not wake on modem. 3rd the status of the blinking light indicates a standby or suspend mode. Also what about your keyboard? Have one of those nifty sleep functions on it? And for the person who stated that computers "Do not turn on by themselves" do you even know what BIOS is? All of the suggestions on firewalls etc are sound measures you should always have. I just do not think there is evidence that you have been "Zombied" as one person put it. We live in enough fear, please do not fear your PC. Sometimes they just act crazy for no apparent reason.

[liberalpress]

41. I've had this happen occasionally

Initially, you did not turn the computer off as you had thought, but merely sent it into "standby" mode. Then when you 'revived" it and wanted to turn it off, it read that it had somebody (you) logged on, and warned you before it logged off. Nothing to worry about. It was just speaking XP to you.

[H2O Man]

42. "Unchained Melody"

Was there in Righteous Brothers' music playing in the background?

[radfringe]

43. it's the cat(s)

our computer desk has a pull out drawer for the keyboard and mouse...

I have to remember to push the drawer back in if I leave the computer alone - our cat(s) have been know to walk across the keyboard and make strange things happen