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I recently had to install something to allow a tech agent free reign on my Win 8 Pro Home PC. The tech agent was courteous and professional and I have reasonable faith in her/him; however, I must be prudent when protecting my home PC.

What do I need to do that make 100% sure that the tech agent or an associate of the same company can never remote into my PC again? I have unchecked "Allow Remote Assistance connection to this computer" in Control Panel/System Properties. Also, I have a DLink 2540B external Firewall/Router but I'm not sure how to block the appropriate ports.

NOTE: This is nothing against the tech agent or her/his company. I'm just paranoid...

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  • This question seems a bit overly broad, and likely to get more debate than solid definitive answers.
    – killermist
    Jun 17, 2013 at 3:43
  • The question is purposefully broad to try and protect the tech agent and her/his company. It's very unfortunate that I was nearly forced into allowing the agent into my machine. The 100% legal software in question had serious activation issues...
    – Mr. Paranoid
    Jun 22, 2013 at 8:00

3 Answers 3

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Destroy the computer.

If someone has already been on the computer then there is no guarantee. In fact if that computer is so much as on then it's not 100%. Since your agent has been inside it's more like 50%. You have done the biggest step but past that there isn't really much you can do.

Welcome to information security :)

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    Don't "destroy your computer". What a ridiculous suggestion.
    – Austin ''Danger'' Powers
    Jun 17, 2013 at 3:57
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    100% way of guaranteeing nobody could EVER use it again.
    – Michael Frank
    Jun 17, 2013 at 21:03
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    @Griffin: so presumably you throw every computer that gets a boot sector virus in the garbage and tell the user they need to buy a new one (instead of doing a low level format and re-flashing the BIOS if you felt it necessary as an extra precaution)? Where else, other than the BIOS and the hard drive, can malware realistically persist in a computer? Be careful- your response to this may seriously reduce your credibility. Someone who didn't know any better could waste hundreds of dollars unnecessarily if they made the mistake of believing you.
    – Austin ''Danger'' Powers
    Jun 29, 2013 at 0:34
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    @Griffin: so where in the chassis can malware persist? Where in the CPU can malware persist? Where in the motherboard after the BIOS has been re-flashed can malware persist? Where on a hard drive after doing a low-level format can malware persist, or even better, on an SSD after running the Secure Erase command? Where on the network card or graphics card can malware persist? Where in the RAM can a virus persist? Discarding the ENTIRE computer is starting to look a bit foolish now.
    – Austin ''Danger'' Powers
    Jun 29, 2013 at 0:39
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    Just realized I'm arguing with a 16-year old. Poor guy's parents probably buy him a new computer every time he gets a virus.
    – Austin ''Danger'' Powers
    Jun 29, 2013 at 0:42
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Do a wipe and reload of the OS to remove all prior traces of software and start with an OS you can trust again.

No need to "destroy the computer".

This implies it has been PHYSICALLY compromised which, of course, it has not.

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    Well, I agree with Griffin. While its very unlikely the tech agent would do this, it is theoretically possible that the agent may have flashed my BIOS when my children were distracting me... If that happened, then reformatting the HD will not help me.
    – Mr. Paranoid
    Jun 22, 2013 at 7:52
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    But you would still not need to "destroy the computer". If you were that paranoid and believed they were that smart, you could simply re-flash your BIOS and save yourself a few hundred dollars (i.e. the expense of a new computer). I will always call people on their useless, alarmist answers which could end up someone a lot of money for no reason. And that was one of them.
    – Austin ''Danger'' Powers
    Jun 29, 2013 at 0:26
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I might start by looking for new icons in the task tray that when hovered show an IP or something remote oriented, then find the corresponding program in add remove programs and get rid of it.

Could open a RUN menu and type msconfig and go to the startup tab and untick anything that looks suspect.

Also probably go down and change the default RDP Port if you don't remote access your computer yourself at times. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306759

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  • Yes, I think changing the RDP Port is one of my better options, but maybe I just need to destroy the computer as Griffin said...
    – Mr. Paranoid
    Jun 22, 2013 at 7:55

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