Help`! Did my PC get hacked ?

trade2live · Jun 21, 2013

I was on a broker's forum this afternoon and left for an errand.
When I logged back into my computer, I got a message : Windows had closed IE to protect my PC / prevent data to be transmitted to whatever (an outside computer) I don't remember. The computer froze, I had no other choice than restart.
When I did , it said "are you sure, other persons are logged in the computer " ! I am the only user AFAIK, there is admin and my username . I tried to run Malwarebytes but could not do anything so I restarted anyway. How strange and alarming !

It restarted OK except for the fact that Matrox DualHead2Go and its software were malfunctioning. Turns out it no longer works, my computer no longer recognizes the DualHead. Regular dual extended desktop still works.

I was wondering if someone hacked into my computer, could the fact that a vid card no longer worked properly indicate someone is displaying my screens from a remote PC (for doing that they would have to disable my multi monitor display somehow, does it make sense ? ) .

I ran Malwarebytes and Spybot, nothing came up .

hoodooman · Jun 22, 2013

I had an intrusion the other day after going to a site about blood pressure.
Internet Security Pro caught it and found over sixty files infected. It said the
intruder "worm" could even read my credit card number. Good luck.

ISP is free by the way.

Eight · Jun 22, 2013

Quote from hoodooman:

I had an intrusion the other day after going to a site about blood pressure.
Internet Security Pro caught it and found over sixty files infected. It said the
intruder "worm" could even read my credit card number. Good luck.

ISP is free by the way.

you should upgrade to the paid version!!

moonmist · Jun 22, 2013

Quote from trade2live:

I was on a broker's forum this afternoon and left for an errand.
When I logged back into my computer, I got a message : Windows had closed IE to protect my PC / prevent data to be transmitted to whatever (an outside computer) I don't remember. The computer froze, I had no other choice than restart.
When I did , it said "are you sure, other persons are logged in the computer " ! I am the only user AFAIK, there is admin and my username . I tried to run Malwarebytes but could not do anything so I restarted anyway. How strange and alarming !

It restarted OK except for the fact that Matrox DualHead2Go and its software were malfunctioning. Turns out it no longer works, my computer no longer recognizes the DualHead. Regular dual extended desktop still works.

I was wondering if someone hacked into my computer, could the fact that a vid card no longer worked properly indicate someone is displaying my screens from a remote PC (for doing that they would have to disable my multi monitor display somehow, does it make sense ? ) .

I ran Malwarebytes and Spybot, nothing came up .

Two years ago, one of my friends downloaded some pictures from the internet. His PC was immediately infected with several viruses. He thought it was safe to do so, because of the AVG anti-virus program.

I spent an hour deleting all the viruses, malware, etc. Whenever the computer was rebooted, Windows 7 displayed an error message about a malfunctioning ATI Catalyst Graphics Driver. ( Two LCD monitors were linked to his PC via a Radeon 5450 video card. ) I ran Spybot, Avast anti-virus, etc., and nothing came up. It turned out that one of the viruses changed the property of some folders, and made them "hidden".

IMHO, a virus can make many subtle changes to mess up the graphics software. It does not mean that your computer is hijacked. In addition, you may like to open a command prompt, and do a "netstat /a" to check all active connections.

zdreg · Jun 22, 2013

that is the reason to have a separate computer for trading.

Pekelo · Jun 22, 2013

The surest way to get ride of any harmful thing is to reinstall your OS. I know it sounds drastic but:

1. You should have back ups of your important files anyway.
2. Reinstalling all your programs can be much faster than trying to find and getting ride of the virus. And you can never be sure you are 100% clean.

I just did an OS reinstall for Windows 7 and it took like 20 minutes. Add to that reinstalling your programs and it can be done under 2 hours... On the other hand I have spent hours and hours trying to get ride of viruses in the past...

So just nuke everything if you want to sleep well....

Scataphagos · Jun 22, 2013

Quote from trade2live:

I was on a broker's forum this afternoon and left for an errand.
When I logged back into my computer, I got a message : Windows had closed IE to protect my PC / prevent data to be transmitted to whatever (an outside computer) I don't remember. The computer froze, I had no other choice than restart.
When I did , it said "are you sure, other persons are logged in the computer " ! I am the only user AFAIK, there is admin and my username . I tried to run Malwarebytes but could not do anything so I restarted anyway. How strange and alarming !

It restarted OK except for the fact that Matrox DualHead2Go and its software were malfunctioning. Turns out it no longer works, my computer no longer recognizes the DualHead. Regular dual extended desktop still works.

I was wondering if someone hacked into my computer, could the fact that a vid card no longer worked properly indicate someone is displaying my screens from a remote PC (for doing that they would have to disable my multi monitor display somehow, does it make sense ? ) .

I ran Malwarebytes and Spybot, nothing came up .

Next thing to try is uninstall/reinstall video card driver and DualHead2Go software. Perhaps all that happened is that they got corrupted.

Also, a Windows Restore Point and/or restore image created before.

d473n · Jun 22, 2013

Quote from Pekelo:

The surest way to get ride of any harmful thing is to reinstall your OS. I know it sounds drastic but:

1. You should have back ups of your important files anyway.
2. Reinstalling all your programs can be much faster than trying to find and getting ride of the virus. And you can never be sure you are 100% clean.

I just did an OS reinstall for Windows 7 and it took like 20 minutes. Add to that reinstalling your programs and it can be done under 2 hours... On the other hand I have spent hours and hours trying to get ride of viruses in the past...

So just nuke everything if you want to sleep well....

THIS.

If you have all your important stuff backed up on an external hd, formatting and reinstalling is a really quick process. The first time you do it may take a couple hours, but after the first time it will be a breeze down the road. I have zero antivirus programs except for the stock windows 7 firewall etc and haven't had a virus in over 8 years. I just like to do a cleanse every once in awhile, feels like a new computer.

jnbadger · Jun 22, 2013

Quote from d473n:

THIS.

If you have all your important stuff backed up on an external hd, formatting and reinstalling is a really quick process. The first time you do it may take a couple hours, but after the first time it will be a breeze down the road. I have zero antivirus programs except for the stock windows 7 firewall etc and haven't had a virus in over 8 years. I just like to do a cleanse every once in awhile, feels like a new computer.

I was surprised to hear my programmer say he doesn't have any security programs running either. As a matter of fact he scolded me for a few minutes when I downloaded AVG a few years back. I still recall "Get that f...ing s..t off of there immediately!"

Still learning, I guess.

Cdntrader · Jun 22, 2013

Quote from trade2live:

I was on a broker's forum this afternoon and left for an errand.
When I logged back into my computer, I got a message : Windows had closed IE to protect my PC / prevent data to be transmitted to whatever (an outside computer) I don't remember. The computer froze, I had no other choice than restart.
When I did , it said "are you sure, other persons are logged in the computer " ! I am the only user AFAIK, there is admin and my username . I tried to run Malwarebytes but could not do anything so I restarted anyway. How strange and alarming !

It restarted OK except for the fact that Matrox DualHead2Go and its software were malfunctioning. Turns out it no longer works, my computer no longer recognizes the DualHead. Regular dual extended desktop still works.

I was wondering if someone hacked into my computer, could the fact that a vid card no longer worked properly indicate someone is displaying my screens from a remote PC (for doing that they would have to disable my multi monitor display somehow, does it make sense ? ) .

I ran Malwarebytes and Spybot, nothing came up .

restart in "Safe mode" then do system restore. that's what i do ..works every time.