Program Request

[DarkMassacre]

My mother has been concerned about her computer lately. Last night she was watching a movie and heard the noise a computer makes when the "This has performed an illegal operation" message pops up but thought she imagined it. After the movie she checked it and found that her scanning program was up, as well as a picture that she apparently scanned as well as the error message. No one in the house could have opened the program since we were all doing our own thing so she's concerned about hackers. I was wondering if there's either an explanation for this or a program to moniter the computer to make sure that no one is getting in.

 

[superdave1984]

Possibly a fluke, but why take the chance. Scan for spyware, adware, etc. get a firewall. Use it. You don't have any file sharing programs like Limewire on there do you?

 

[S0ULphIRE]

Therz plenty of programs to monitor your computer. If you think uve been hacked, the best thing you could is format your computer. Then get a firewall (such as zone alarm) and some anti-virus software (like AVG). Both are free.

 

[DarkMassacre]

I didn't know that formatting your computer would help against this. But thinking about it now, it makes sense. Well, I'll tell her that and I'll try and convince her to get AVG. She doesn't believe that anything you can get from the internet (especially free) is any good so if she doesn't that's her fault. I might take pity on her and install it when she's not home.

 

[Osiris]

so whats the outcome of this?

 

[DarkMassacre]

Well, I convinced my mother to get Zone Alarm. She'll set it up tomorrow. Actually I probably will so she doesn't do anything wrong. She and my father are debating on reformatting the HD and if they decide to do it then I'll likely be the one to do the deed. So, if anyone has any instructions how to reformate the HD, that'd be awesome. She has Windows XP by the way. Also, maybe even instructions of what to do after the reformatting as I'm not sure if its the same as Windows 98. All I can think of is installing the drivers. While I'm on the subject of reformatting the computer, what are some programs to get for it right after I re-install everything? Zone Alarm, AVG, and Firefox for sure. Anything else that would be an optimal choice?