[lovasiyo]

I share internet with my room mate. I am not too computer savey, so he does all the stuff. I have few questions for you guys if you can help me.. He told me one day that he can basically see whats happening in any computer that goes out of his router.

Now i am worried... So i googled, and found there are ways he can log my IM client... via network / Im sniffers.

1) I need help to find out.. if he he is sniffing ... If he is , how to block him? I recently installed zone alarm in my laptop. I am running vista home... is there a way to protect myself from firewall?

2) So can you guys tell me how to stop this happening??

3) Also one more question --- Lets say if his computer is turned off completely, is there a way that he still can run network sniffers / im sniffers without any other computer being on in the network except me.
Ex: we have 3 computers.. one mine and two his.... if his both computers are shut off... and only mine is on... is there a way he can still see what i am doing....

Thank you guys....
Sarah.

[Techmonkeys]

There are products that can do what he says, but as you assume if he has his computers off then NO he can't packet sniff your internet traffic (unless he has a really expensive router with packet sniffing technology).

Unfortunately if he has control of your router then I don't think there would be much you could do to stop your traffic being analysed without using some sort of network encryption, but this is a little beyond me.

Zone alarms and personal firewalls wont help as they stop un-wanted traffic coming in or going out of your machine but don't have control over the info being sent and received.

[jbm1991]

as far as im aware there is no way to stop a sniffer without manually removing it from one of his computers. however the fact he told you he could sniff you (that sounds so stupid ) probably means he isnt as he has now arroused your suspicions. to test i suppose you could tell someone in an IM chat something and then talk to him about it but dont mention what you told the IM person to him and see if he lets his guard slip and brings it up into the conversation.

regards
john

[lovasiyo]

thanks daren and john for your reply...

John, He has actually shown to one of our friend on how to do this.. so he has that stuff in his computer...

Darren, So again when he is not at home and his pc is turned off... I dont have to worry about it right?

It really sux that there is no way to remove that... Imagine you are sitting at barnes or cafe and creeps are scanning your stuff....

[jbm1991]

to be honest i wouldnt fancy sharing a room with someone who is scanning all the stuff i send from my computer, moving out isnt an option is it?

regards
john

edit: actually now i think about it. do you want to live with that "creep" from the cafe?

[lunarlander]

Here's a service that might help you:

http://www.hotspotvpn.com/