A friend of a friend set up my new computer, but I have since
discovered he has also done this for others and has "fixed" them to
forward information to him (or others) on their computer use,
including copies of email and possibily weblogs. He is a computer
consultant and very capable. How can I tell if my
computer has likewise been "fixed"? I tried the free scan from
PestPatrol but wasn;t sure if that would do it or not.

---

Request for Question Clarification by landog-ga on 22 Aug 2005 10:08 PDT

Hi,
I can suggest various software that logs activity of outgoing traffic.
Are you looking for free software or do you mind paying a low amount
of dollars to get this set up?

Regards
Landog-ga

I would give the following programs a try.  They are very good at
detecting spyware, adware and even some keylogger software.


Ad-Aware

http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Personal-Edition/3000-8022_4-10045910.html?part=dl-ad-aware&subj=dl&tag=top5


SpyBot 

http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10401314.html?tag=lst-0-1

HiJack This

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3155.html

Also, such as landog-ga suggested, you might want to monitor your
outgoing (and incoming) traffic to see what's going on.

Here are two programs (which are free) that are firewalls that will
give you information on incoming and outgoing data as well as asking
you for approval when these applications which to connect to the
internet.

Sygate

http://smb.sygate.com/products/spf_standard.htm


ZoneAlarm

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_za.jsp;jsessionid=DKTZiAULPaGRpkPXn0c4zcdcIqwCqsm31Mq3uUjdOgznyrcBEwo1!-1418879408!-1062696905!7551!7552!NONE?lid=dbtopnav_zass

Something that you should really consider doing would be to do one of
the following things:

1. Hire a trusted consultant to come in and do some packet filtering
to see if there is indeed a problem.
2. If you are absolutely sure you should seriously consider contacting
your local Police and the Local FBI Fileld Office.

This is a very serious accusation and, especially if others are
involved, needs to be dealt with.

The problem with much of the advice you have received is that all of
the tools used to locate and/or remove the problem will make it
extremely difficult or even impossible for law enforcement to be of
any kind of assistance.

the best rule of thumb is that you should not even touch your
computer, do not even turn it on, if you become aware of any serious
criminal activity involving your computer. Law enforcement needs to
have the most pure forensics possible to be of any help.

I hope this helps. If he is truly a bad guy you need to do the right
thing and make sure no one else is victimized by his tactics.