Remote access? Programs running on their own
Community Forums/General Help/Remote access? Programs running on their own
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| Recently my computer just decides all by itself to start up a program. Sometimes games and sometimes other stuff. Last night I turned off the wifi but this morning it still had about three programs trying to start. They were all at a screen that would require further user input so it doesn't seem likely a remote user was doing this. I ran microsoft security scan and spybot but nothing showed up. What's doing this? Any help appreciated. DOG |
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| It's annoying, but perfectly legitimate, for programs to add themselves to an autostart list. You can take them off the list using Spybot quite easily. It's in the Tools section, with the little lightswitch icon. Be careful not to remove any important system things. Many programs (such as iTunes) will add themselves to the list again if you run them manually though, because they don't know how to take no for an answer. (If you're feeling daring, you can also take a look at which system services are set to automatic by running services.msc, but this carries a high risk of damaging your computer. There are a lot of awesome optimisations you can make there though, as well as crippling the ability of things like the aforementioned iTunes to be annoying.) |
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| Thanks but that isn't it. I checked the autostart list and those aren't the programs. It's been things like paint programs and games. |
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| Which autostart list did you check? Windows has a few. What windows are you running? What is msConfig showing up? (type msconfig from command line) Be -careful- with this mind. Also search the registry for "run keys" specifically for the software you reckon is starting up on it's own. I strongly reccommend reading up on this. And... if you are using XP that was an upgrade (or earlier version) you might want to look in system.ini quickly, but i strongly doubt that is your issue. Last edited 2012 |
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| I only found one autostart list. Win7-64 Will look at msconfig It's been different programs at different times. Strange. Thanks for the help. |
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| Note that a remote user -can- launch programs that output data to the console user's display instead of his/her own, so just because it shows up on your desktop doesn't necessarily mean someone else wasn't behind it. Also note that there was a recent microsoft RDP exploit that allowed admin access into unpatched computers. for a quick check, type this at a command prompt: qwinsta it will show any pending RDP sessions. Normally you would see just one active one, on "console". (that's your own session) |
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| typing qwinsta just says unrecognized command. The computer did it even while offline. |
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| I only found one autostart list. Win7-64 Will look at msconfig There are actually a LOT more locations that can auto-start programs than those listed in msconfig -- Sysinternals' AutoRuns can show you a lot more information. Free download, here: (They're owned by Microsoft these days) http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902miou |
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| http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902 WHoa. That does show everything but I didn't see even one game or paint program listed that I've found running itself. Unless of course they're being run from within some other program that autoruns. Or my computer is demon possessed and will require an exorcism. Thanks! I'm just concerned if some unknown person is on my system. Could explain that black sedan parked across the street with the guy in the black suit and hat. |
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| Why not try disconnecting your PC from the outside world....and if it still starts up then I guess it's not a remote pc connection.... |
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| Seconding what Matty said. Of course, make sure to turn off any WiFi adapters it may have too. You never know. |
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| I mentioned in the original post that it happened even when I had shut off the wifi. That's why it really surprised me the next morning when programs were started. I wonder if it's a trojan horse or something that is not detected by spybot. |
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| Try MalwareBytes, it seems to find a lot more than Spybot does these days. |
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| Maybe your mouse is misfiring and randomly clicking. I know I use to push in my keyboard drawer and hit the mouse button every once in a while. Cat jumping on it? Kids bumping it? Etc... |
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| The mouse would've had to move around not just click. I forgot to mention this is a touch screen computer I'm talking about so I wonder if that somehow could be the culprit tho I wouldn't know how. |
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| I forgot to mention this is a touch screen computer I'm talking about so I wonder if that somehow could be the culprit tho I wouldn't know how. I've run into an issue where a GPS unit got mis-detected as a mouse, and every ~30 seconds or so when the GPS would generate a location update, it would mouse the mouse to semi-random spots on the screen, and occasionally clicking. Now, if it was the touchscreen/mouse malfunctioning, do you at least have shortcuts on your desktop from these various apps that have appeared? For example, the paint program or games in question? |
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| Yes, the shortcuts for all programs I've found running are on the desktop. Usually I've found the programs running in the morning if the computer hadn't applied an update overnight but on one or two occasions it's done it right while I was sitting there but not using it at the moment. |
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