can someone put programs on my computer without my knowledge?

Question

I recently had a bout with some spyware that was a particular pain. There were tcp ports being scanned and somehow mirc had been downloaded. (I've heard of it but don't use it). There were some very odd things about it. Like it did not have a sys tray icon nor was it in any other menus and the folder containing mirc.exe was something like DCFSOFKSLJMDSURKJSLFJESREDYUPDKMTGLODSDSKITRWRFTRPDFYOHGVLTG ... if you get the picture. So I'm wondering if this has ever happened to anyone else and is there a way to ensure that my system is clean?

I have a very good spyware removal kit. What I mean is that mirc was downloaded and installed without my knowledge and that I think use of my keyboard and or mouse was sending someone my files. mIRC users help me here. It's funny because I have no file sharing and nothing good on my pc. So it was a waste of someones time.

Answer 1

There are a lot of RPC holes and other network services hacks in Windows Operating Systems. These are buffer-overflow problems that have to do with flooding data into an open port on your machine. One way to prevent that from happening is to disable all non-essential network services under windows. Additionally, if you are good enough to not remove essential programs you can edit your registry by searching for the "RunServices" key, and remove the references to the spyway(usually listed as C:\WINDOWS\wefwefwefe.exe or some other random sequence of characters), since that's usually the best way to get rid of it for good (remember to kill power to your machine in a cold boot after saving the registry, this will prevent the trojan from self-referencing in your registry again). You are probably not skilled enough to do this though (I got my first job building, repairing and programming computers about 13 years ago and consider myself an expert on the subject, but even so I am very very careful before I mess with the system registry in windows).

Answer 2

No. interior the previous maximum p2p's have been renouned for putting secret agent ware on your laptop on the time once you install them. Now it extremely is much less of a topic. For e.g. Limewire basically places a pair of innocuous spyware prog's on in the process the installation. if your in touch, use Spybot seek and wreck at contemporary after installation to do away with the spyware. From that factor on, the only courses downloaded and put in would be those you opt for for to acquire.

Answer 3

Sometimes I get icons appear on my desktop without my knowledge and I usually worry that I might have gotten some sorts spyware or viruses on my computer.

Answer 4

You can use as many "anti-spyware" & "anti-malware" and virus programs as you like, the onmly way to prevent others from putting stuff on your PC is to never, ever go on the net. And how much fun would that be?

Answer 5

Oh yes...spyware is a huge problem. Download the following tools to hopefully keep from getting them again:

Spyware Tools:
http://www.lavasoft.nu/software/adaware/
http://www.safer-networking.org
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsdefender