7

Is anyone able to take any educated guess(es) about what this "Unknown Contact" is, which has access to a few shared folders on my computer?

enter image description here

enter image description here

The concerned machine is connected to another via a crossover cable, and I sometimes set "advanced sharing settings" so that both, file discovery and file & printer sharing, are turned on, for both, "Home or Work" and "Public". I also do not have a password set for the account on the machine concerned; operating system is Windows 7 SP1. I have programs like TunnelBear and Tunngle installed, too, but I don't see why they'd have access to shared folders, especially writing access. If there is any other information needed for an educated guess or more, please let me know. Thank you.

Improve this question
3
  • 2
    They could be accounts that were added to the access control list, but then deleted. The system doesn't go through all files to scrub references to deleted users, so phantom entries like these get left behind.
    – G-Man Says 'Reinstate Monica'
    Feb 20, 2015 at 23:00
  • Thank you. I'm not too concerned, since I'm fairly IT literate, can even deal with "false positives" with some research, and the concerned machine was formatted to get a fresh installation of Windows. But at the same time I want to be more sure that it's nothing to be concerned about. Hopefully others with some experience with this can clarify further.
    – Rok
    Feb 21, 2015 at 9:52
  • It’s probably a user from a different Windows installation. Maybe from the past, maybe from a different PC.
    – Daniel B
    Jun 2, 2019 at 20:00

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1

They could be accounts that were added to the access control list, but then deleted. The system doesn't go through all files to scrub references to deleted users, so phantom entries like these get left behind

Answer added from comment.

Improve this answer
0

If you're really concerned, you could hunt down a proggie that monitors logons and etc.

Something like Share Watch at http://stevemiller.net/apps/ will show if anyone's actually dropping in.

Improve this answer
1
  • Thank you. That program can potentially be useful in related issues. Interestingly enough, when the other machine browses this machine, ShareWatch initially shows 8 users (guests) logged in; after a few seconds, those are reduced to 2, then eventually to 1. When the other machine browses a specific folder, ShareWatch shows 2 users logged (guests too), then 1 in a few seconds. Someone told me that setting passwords for all accounts can help; but still, I want to understand where those "Unknown Contacts" came from. My question is more about understanding than anything else.
    – Rok
    Feb 21, 2015 at 12:21

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .