Why would a computer come on by itself? After I turned it off at the hard-drive column. Virus? Hacker? What?

Question

Help. Strange things are happening on the old out dated system that I have been using at a friends house. It isn't unuaual for it to freeze up & the only way to shut it down is to hit the button on the hard-drive column that sits on the floor, then wait 5 minutes everytime I go to use it again. Today, I found it on 3 hours AFTER I shut it down. I heard it running & hit the off button again & signed on to ask this question. I am computer ignorant, so I hope someone will have an answer that is helpful that I CAN understand. Thanks.

I always TRY using the START/shut down, but it freezes up & nothing else works. I have to hit the button Or UNPLUG IT.

Answer 1

a fluctuation in power can cause a computer to boot, as can wake on lan if your computer supports it, and wake on ring or any number of wake events.

Answer 2

to properly shut down the system use "start" shut down (red button on start menu).

part of the reason it's so messed up is that you shut it down wrong. Kind of like if someone hit you in the head with a hammer every night to put you to sleep.