Re: HELP! I've been made a client on my own PC!

From: x y (jamescagney90210@excite.com)
Date: 06/21/02 

From: "x y" <jamescagney90210@excite.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2002 13:48:04 -0400

I don't think it's very common for a hacker to lock you out of BIOS
selections. If this is a hacker, it sounds like someone who knows you and
has targeted you. But it sounds more likely to me that this could be some
sort of system failure or maybe a virus. Can you describe in more detail
the things that are going wrong?

One sure test would be to format and reinstall Windows again, and don't
connect it to the internet. If you still have problems [or if you know that
you had problems after installing Windows and before connecting it to the
internet], the problem is probably not a hacker. Use a hardware and/or
software firewall, starting with Netgear or Linksys BEFSR41 around $70, and
consider installing Sygate firewall as well [free for non-commercial use]
and check the log of blocked packets. Install an antivirus program like
Norton that is set to download the latest updates every day. Search your
machine for files that have changed in the past day or two or three to look
for possible evidence of hacking. Download and run fport from
foundstone.com and pstools including pslist and psloggedon from
www.sysinternals.com to look for anything unusual. You may want to run
Scandisk, and download and run some sort of hardware diagnostic tools on
your computer, and/or have someone else look at your computer for problems.

I'm not convinced that fdisk is always necessary or beneficial when
reinstalling Windows. One issue is that any sectors marked bad on your hard
drive are I believe marked good again after the reformatting.

"JM" <Jose.Matthews@med.ge.com> wrote in message
news:f3e501c21948$adeec000$37ef2ecf@TKMSFTNGXA13...
> Hi folks... please help...My home PC is an HP Pavillion
> 8670C, was running Windows 98 and upgraded to ME and I
> believe I was struck by a virus and/or a hacker. Anyway,
> this person has gained control at his/her will, and I am
> now a client on my own PC and have vurtually no control,
> have been locked out of lots of BIOS selections, and have
> no access to the network that appears to have been
> established on my PC. Whoever has done this continually
> fu**s with me when I'm trying to use this system, and I'm
> not skilled enough to know what to do. Have tried
> changing hard drives, have fdisk'd a million times, but to
> no avail. This person is even accessing my system via
> wireless technology. I'm desperate, what can I do? Would
> really appreciate your help. How can I fix this, and are
> there any telltale signs/logs that might lead me to who
> this person is? (Just in case, I have pretty much taken
> the system apart, including removing the hard drives, just
> in case). Thanks so much!

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