[Actionchix] Hacking through the electrical outlet?

[Madison Kelly]

Lloyd Dettering wrote:
> For nearly a year, my WinXPPro, S.P.2 has been hacked even after I've taken the Ethernet adapter out of the PC and the PC is only connected to the electrical outlet via my APC Backup-UPS (no Internet connection). ????? My emails have been intercepted, "The page cannot be found" message appears when I try to access sites that may be helpful. Howe do I stop this from occurring? Not that I hope to receive any reply considering the hacking interceptions!
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First up, Doc Nielsen made good points :)

If you are using a web-based email program (like Google Mail, Yahoo! 
Mail, Hotmail/MSN or similar, it could be that someone has gotten hold 
of your username and password. In this case, follow the instructions on 
that website on how to change your password and use a password that is a 
mix of letters, numbers and, ideally, non-alphanumeric characters (like, 
'.', ',', '!' and so on).

Next off is your connection to the internet... If you have a wireless 
adapter card (if you have a relatively modern laptop you probably do), 
then make sure it's turned off or that the radio/antenna is off (look at 
your machines documentation on how to do this, if you do have wireless). 
With the wireless off and no network cable, it is quite impossible for 
your machine to be "hacked"; or at least accessed anymore.

How do you know that your email has been read? Do you have any other 
evidence that your machine has been hacked? If so, what? The more 
details, the more we can help. :)

If you are worried that this email account is being read, setup another 
email account (try http://gmail.google.com). Then subscribe here (or to 
a windows-specific list) using that new address and work from there.

It is more likely that you have spyware or malware infecting your 
machine... Windows is prone to that. As Doc said, make sure you are 
using an antivirus program (Avira is good; http://free-av.com) and an 
antispyware/malware program (Search & Destroy is good; 
http://www.safer-networking.org). Both of these programs need to be 
updated after they are installed to make sure they can detect the most 
recent viruses and malware.

Lastly, depending on where you live, many computer shops offer 
"clean-up" services for not too much money. I trust Staple/Business 
Depot (at least more than other big-box stores like BestBuy/Future 
Shop). Maybe it's worth taking it there?

And lastly, to echo Doc again, you might want to try Linux (Ubuntu; 
http://www.ubuntu.com/ is a great first-linux version that is quite easy 
to install and use). Just remember to save any files you want before 
installing Linux! Also, the Ubuntu Desktop install CD (free, by the way) 
will start as a "Live CD". This means that after you burn the CD and 
reboot it will start Ubuntu Linux running on top off (but not 
touching/hurting) Windows XP. It's a great way to see if you like it 
before erasing windows. If you do, and you've saved your files, you can 
run the install from the Live CD.

Best of luck!

Madison