29
votes
Accepted
An unrelated program (Clash for Windows) links to FFmpeg libraries. Can it be spyware?
From the app's overall appearance in its official screenshots as well as the presence of en-US.pak and GPUCache in your DLL list (that is, not just "GPU cache" generally but that specific ...
- 454k
11
votes
How is Intel spying on my computer?
What is the spyware process doing this?
You are not infected with spyware. The program in question is 100% legitimate.
What information is being sent to Intel?
Your device is not enrolled. So ...
7
votes
Unable to disable Compatibility Telemetry in Windows 10
I had similar problem in my laptop, the telemetry consumes all disk IOs after I install anything new or updates. Making it unusable for a few hours.
Here how I solved:
Make sure the telemetry is not ...
- 201
7
votes
Accepted
Could this well known software be a spyware?
Due to the nature of the question one can't give a definitive "No" answer without very time-consuming reverse engineering, but mine is:
Probably not, and you've agreed for this suspicious behavior ...
- 57k
4
votes
How is Intel spying on my computer?
If I write a program that runs on your computer, it can report to you all kinds of things that happen on your computer. It does not follow that this information is being report to me. Your question is ...
- 61.9k
4
votes
Accepted
What can I do if a spam email claims I'm infected with Pegasus spyware?
It is not a joke, it is, however, a common scam.
The PC is not infected at all.
A website somewhere was hacked that contained your email and possibly pass (for that site).
Someone used that list of ...
- 4,954
3
votes
Accepted
How is Intel spying on my computer?
Working from Ramhound's answer I have discovered the culprit. It is something called the Intel(R) Management Engine, which is just a rebranding of its old Active Management Technology. The difference ...
- 6,121
3
votes
Accepted
What does "netstat -n -o" mean?
The purpose of the netstat command is usually to show the currently active connections from or to your computer. This list includes all apps – the shown connections may be related to your web browsing,...
- 454k
3
votes
Accepted
I gave full access to a webmaster (freelance) how do i check for malicious scripts/viruses that he could have left?
I can recall a couple of answers about this on other SE sites. This and this.
tl;dr: It's really, REALLY difficult to be sure. About the website itself, static analysis and installing a known, (code)...
- 591
2
votes
Prevent browser addons from "phoning home"
Im not sure, but it would depend on your browser. You could only use open source plugins, which would allow you to check if they phone home. Also, you could use something like Wireshark to look for ...
2
votes
Accepted
Svchost.exe using upload
scvhost is, literally, the Host Process For Services. By itself it is nothing, but, depending on your Windows version, each instance of svchost.exe will be hosting one or more services, and these are ...
- 41.8k
2
votes
Entering a random number sequence seed under surveillance
How to enter the seed into the computer without them finding out?
You cannot.
assume my computer is being totally bugged and monitored
The above statement means anything that happens on your ...
- 73.3k
2
votes
Accepted
Is this a virus? Hexagonal shaped icon preventing Windows 10 shutdown
That's the icon for a program called Snagit by United Add-ins.
- 27.5k
2
votes
Accepted
ANONYM USER whatis this ? i never saw this before
NT AUTHORITY\ANONYMOUS LOGON is a special pseudo user account in Windows.
It is
defined
by Microsoft as a "special identity":
Anonymous Logon
Any user who accesses the system through an ...
- 481k
1
vote
What can I do if a spam email claims I'm infected with Pegasus spyware?
Adding my answer as somehow this term hasn't been mentioned - this is known as social engineering - the simpliest to use, yet one of the most effective deception techniques that simply relies on ...
- 6,799
1
vote
What can I do if a spam email claims I'm infected with Pegasus spyware?
I concur with the accepted answer. It is worthwhile adding some other things which are not really conducive to comments, so an answer is warranted -
You likely can't track down who the sender was in ...
- 70.8k
1
vote
I bought an open-box laptop. Should I reset Windows?
You mention that:
I'd prefer a surely clean system because I may use this netbook for banking and cryptocurrency operations.
The only way to truly do this is to reflash the BIOS and reinstall the OS....
- 8,328
1
vote
I bought an open-box laptop. Should I reset Windows?
The fact that you entered the Out of Box Experience (OOBE) means that all
traces were removed of the previous user (if there was one).
It does not mean that such a user did not install some software
...
- 481k
1
vote
Command Prompt Refreshes all Programs
This behavior does not happen in windows, so there is something or someone that is causing an application to start that shows the command prompt window.
It might be someone installed something just to ...
- 463
1
vote
Accepted
Wierd "q" .cmd file starting on startup?
Its malware. Here is the summary:
Recording my laptop booting
Found out it was a dumb virus clone of cmd.exe running on startup trying to delete the full documents folder, but it does not run as a ...
1
vote
Should I do anything after formatting my computer because of malware infection?
If in the few minutes of this episode you have not logged-in to any sensitive web-sites,
then your situation is "relatively" good.
It's unlikely but possible that the virus had time to ...
- 481k
1
vote
If a software on Windows 7 has storage access and network access, what prevent it from sending all the files on the computer to a external server?
If you are interested to see what you PC is sending out, you might want to take a look at Wireshark. Check if you can legally use it in your country and stay within the legal boundaries as you use it.
...
- 111
1
vote
If a software on Windows 7 has storage access and network access, what prevent it from sending all the files on the computer to a external server?
Indeed there is no way of knowing what an installed program is doing.
When a program misbehaves in such a way, we call it "virus".
You protect yourself by using an anti-virus product and by yourself ...
- 481k
1
vote
How did my computer screen became a camera?
Software can access the screen content by other means than by using an optical device (when making a "screenshot" this becomes obvious). This technology exists some decades now, and as you correctly ...
- 3,190
1
vote
Does Paint add an IP address onto pictures?
The entire bitmap file specification is explained here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMP_file_format
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BMPfileFormat.png
As you can see, there isn't ...
- 183
1
vote
Accepted
Windows 10 eats up my bandwidth through discrete processes
Windows 10, as you state, continually exchanges information with Microsoft, including your preferences, searches, location and other telemetry. In addition, Windows 10 can download updates to one ...
- 29.7k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible