[freon]

I want to turn off my file sharing from the local and wireless networks in my office. Someone tried to snoop into my laptop.

So what I did was turn off (unchecked the File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks) in Manage Network Connections... both local and wireless. Is that enough to stop the file sharing? I've deleted other users that i've not added myself.

Is there anything else I should do?

And also someone installed a yahoo logger into my computer. I intercepted it. I wanted to know the extension of the log file created by this logger.

Someone pls help!

[rainforest123]

Do you own this computer, or is it owned by the company? If owned by the company, you may have no legal rights to modify it.

If you do not own the computer, I strongly recommend that you do NOT place any personal information or create any personal files or use the computer for personal email. I make this recommendation because the company probably has a legal right to access any files you create and read any email messages sent from or received on a computer owned by the business.

Assuming that you own the computer:

Which version of Vista?
RIGHT click "computer".
Left click "properties".

You can add a password.

Open "computer". Is there a sharing symbol associated with your hard disk drive[s] [ HDD ]? Open each HDD. Do you see any sharing symbols?

The person / people who accessed your files could have placed malware [ malicious software ] on your computer. What do you mean by a "Yahoo logger"?

How did you intercept the program to which you refer?

Which firewall do you use? Vista's or a 3rd party fw?

RF123

[freon]

Originally Posted by rainforest123

Do you own this computer, or is it owned by the company? If owned by the company, you may have no legal rights to modify it.

If you do not own the computer, I strongly recommend that you do NOT place any personal information or create any personal files or use the computer for personal email. I make this recommendation because the company probably has a legal right to access any files you create and read any email messages sent from or received on a computer owned by the business.

Assuming that you own the computer:

Which version of Vista?
RIGHT click "computer".
Left click "properties".

You can add a password.

Open "computer". Is there a sharing symbol associated with your hard disk drive[s] [ HDD ]? Open each HDD. Do you see any sharing symbols?

The person / people who accessed your files could have placed malware [ malicious software ] on your computer. What do you mean by a "Yahoo logger"?

How did you intercept the program to which you refer?

Which firewall do you use? Vista's or a 3rd party fw?

RF123

I intercepted it, meaning AVG detected the malware while it was being copied to my hard disk. Dunno how it still remained in my programs list though. So I removed it from the list.

Yes, the laptop is mine and not the company's. I'm just getting miffed because either someone's playing some stupid prank on me while away from my desk.

I use the Windows firewall. I checked the exceptions and the list seems fine.

Checked the HD's and there's no sharing symbol on the icons. I also checked our network from another laptop to see if my laptop's name came up... not there anymore. So, was what I did more than enough to stop the sharing? or is there some port that can be hacked thru still?

[DaveA]

Stop taking it to work. If I can get my hands on it I can do things.

[rainforest123]

Turning off file & printer sharing will keep most people, except DaveA [ he IS correct! ] from accessing your files.

Securing your computer requires many layers, such as, but not limited to, disabling the "administrator account"; using a strong password, 20 or more characters to include CAPITAL letters, lower case letters; numbers; and allowed symbols, such as # $ @.

I don't know how to configure Windows FireWall to deter people from entering over the internet [ or your network ].

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=xp+...=UTF-8&fr=moz2

Recently, at this forum, I became aware of a free firewall called Comodo, which reports to be better than Zone Alarm's free FW

http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/

With ZA's or Comodo's FW, you can access the network & internet, but block / deter other computers from accessing your computer.

Keep in mind that if someone can hack into the computer system at the Pentagon, in Washington, DC, USA, they can hack into your computer & my computer. We can only make it hard. We can only deter hackers. We cannot stop hackers.

You might want to ask a moderator [ click on the white / red triangle ] to move this thread to the malware detection forum, or if you should start a new thread there. In general, at Tech Guy, starting additional threads is frowned upon.

RF123

[Rich-M]

Easiest way is to right click My Computer, choose Properties, and then Computer Name, and change the Workgroup name to something personal, and that way no one will be able to do anything to access your computer.

[rainforest123]

R-M:
So eloquently simple!

That will sure do it!

RF123

[Rich-M]

Yeah I was impressed with the thought also...KISS principle!

[rainforest123]

Absolutely!

RF123

[TerryNet]

"change the Workgroup name to something personal"

Sorry to spoil your back-patting party, but all that does it make "My Network Places" and "View Workgroup Computers" unusable. Even I know how to do file and printer sharing w/o caring about workgroup names.

I use the Windows firewall. With Vista my plan, when I take my laptop to a hotel or other public spot, is to change the type of network (in Network and Sharing Center) to "Public." That tells the firewall to not even acknowledge existence (block pings).

With XP in the same situation I change the firewall setting to "No Exceptions" to accomplish the same thing.

[rainforest123]

TN:
Thank you for bursting our bubble. I had thought that being part of a different workgroup prevented others from accessing my files. Boy, was I wrong! Thanks for the education!

How can one, using XP, defeat people with your level of knowledge?
"Even I know how to do file and printer sharing w/o caring about workgroup names."

RF123

[TerryNet]

With XP, when on a public network, I change the XP firewall setting to "No Exceptions." This causes the firewall to block file and printer sharing, Remote Desktop, etc., etc. I do not know whether it also blocks pings.

[Rich-M]

How about explaining how you can bypass the Workgroup name here, I am all ears!

[TerryNet]

If you are trying to do this to somebody else I cannot help you.

On your own network,

Start - Run - \\OtherPC -OK

where "OtherPC" is the IP address or computer name of a computer on the network. The result should be a Windows Explorer window showing OtherPC's shares.

[rainforest123]

Wow!

Dare I ask you how you would know the IP address or computer name of "OtherPC"?

I suppose, if you connect to a LAN, and determine the IP address you have received, you could go through the remaining 254 IP addresses.

RF123