Is My Wifi Access Point Computer Compromised?

[p_brownstone]

My main Computer running Windows XP is set up as the Access Point for a secured WiFi Network used by staff and members of my family – the authorised computers run various OS’s XP, Vista and Windows 7.

The Computer itself is Password Protected and so far as I know no-one else knows the password.

I have no Files on this computer “shared” by anyone on the Network.

For the last couple of weeks I have been having some very weird things happening when I am working on the computer:

1) It will shut down unexpectedly – I get a blue screen with white text for a second but is disappears too quickly for me to read it. The Computer reboots itself immediately.

2) Because the Computer also contains the office Fax Modem it is left on 24 / 7 – however when I get to the Office each morning and Log on I get the same blue screen and the computer re-boots itself.

3) I use a program called Hide Folders to hide sensitive Files – again I am pretty sure no-one knows the password – but occasionally after I have finished using one of these Folders and want to hide it again I get the message “cannot Hide this Folder since it is being used by another user”

4) I get a similar message sometimes when I want to re-name a Folder.

5) Occasionally if I try do a complete re-boot – i.e. turn the computer off completely then on again – I get the message “other users are logged on to this computer – this action will affect them, are you sure you wish to continue?”

My question is – is it possible for someone on my WiFi Network to somehow access my computer in any way?

Or maybe I am just paranoid and these problems signal the start of some internal problem with my computer?

Patrick

[jfchandler]

Patrick, it's hard to tell these things from afar... But a couple of thoughts...

The BSOD usually would not be something triggered by someone else in your workplace having somehow gained access to your PC thru your network. Usually, BSODs are indicative of some kind of hardware problem or failure or driver conflict. I would consider the BSOD to be indicative of something physically wrong with your PC... And often, those are triggered by having installed some new piece of hardware or software with drivers that create the issue. And of course, Windows is horrible at giving the user any useful on-screen information for trying to identify what's causing the BSOD.

The part about you getting messages that others are logged onto your PC when you try to reboot and such is probably something different occurring. If I recall correctly, in Windows XP, you can have different user profiles on a particular machine, and switch from one to another, without logging off of the one you're exiting. So I'm wondering, on your main XP machine, under User Account controls, do you have more than one log-on profile set up that possibly is running simultaneously??? That would give you the kind of message you're describing.

Re your wifi network, with multiple PCs and multiple operating systems, it's certainly possible that somehow some part of your XP PC has been shared, or one of your other PCs has somehow gotten share rights to your main PC. AFAIK, there's no universal setting for such things, and individual drives and folders and even files can have individual and different settings for sharing.

But, I also have a Wifi network at home with multiple PCs running Windows. And I have files and drives shared from my main PC to the other PCs on my network, so the other PCs have file and printer access to my main PC. However, even with that in place, if I am turning off or rebooting my main PC, I've never seen any kind of message saying any of my other PCs are "logged on." Just when I turn off or reboot my main PC, those shared drives/files just silently disappear from the Networking folders on the other PCs, since they're no longer accessible.

[PoorSucker]

Had the BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) last week.

In the end I had to reformat my drive and Install Windows 7.

Reinstalling WinXP was futile, got BSOD right away.

Seems to be some problem with my graphics card.

Windows 7 suggested me to find other drivers.

Now I'm happy again.

[siamect]

"other users are logged on to this computer this action will affect them, are you sure you wish to continue?"

As far as I remember that message is comming up when someone else is browsing a share on your computer and you try to shut down.

Are you sure you dont have any shares... like hidden ones $C and such... ?

I also remember there was a keyboard logger that was causing unexpected shutdowns but that was 2002...

In total, and regardless of the cause of your problems, it is quite serious.

You can just forget every little grain of trust in that computer until you really zap the disk and make a new reinstall... so back up whatever is important in your life... and get it reinstalled.

Maybe run a memtest for a couple of hours... Maybe you have a hardware problem?

Martin

[jfchandler]

I know it's probably not the advice you want to hear... but...

Microsoft actually in about a week is scheduled to cease supporting Windows XP SP2, although they'll continue to support SP3 for four more years, according to the current plan. And existing users can download the upgrade to SP3 to bring their XP systems up to the current standard.

So, under the circumstances, it might well be time for backing up your data files and other content, and then wiping your hard drive and reinstalling a new operating system, either XP SP3, or something more recent... On older machines, Windows 7 is going to tend to run better than Vista...

[p_brownstone]

Thanks to all for the input - I rather thought I was watching the first indications of a meltdown in my old system!

Data is all backed up and I plan a trip to Seacon in the next day or so to get a new "machine" with - probably - Windows 7 Ultimate installed, then pop in my old Hard Drives, transfer the Data to the new "D" and re-install all my programs on "C" .

Check out the old HDs for problems and if OK use for backup.

Not looking forward to that at all - I wanted to play Golf this weekend! However I just checked Specs for the latest Asus Motherboards and INVIDIA Video Cards etc. etc. - so to some extent my pain will be diminished by expectations of better performance!

Thanks again.

Patrick

[jfchandler]

That approach certainly should solve your BSOD problems... And who needs a weekend of golf, anyway...

When you get the new machine completely set up, just make sure you set and check all your sharing permissions settings, and configure your User Account Controls settings the way that suits your needs. Working from newly configured hard drives should resolve whatever was going on before with sharing issues.