Need major advice

Hi,

I'm new here and not sure if I'm posting in the correct place. I think my computer is being tracked. My husband set the system up, network, router, wireless.. Everything (years ago, not recently). Now I think he is monitoring me. I have installed an anti-keylogger program and a program that scrambles the keylogs. I know there is a way that he can get to my computer by going control panel and to network connections (I believe). I tried to download a "hide your IP address", but mine still shows and also if he takes the "fake" IP he can ping it and get on my computer. Is there anyway to prevent him from doing this?

Becky

 

Assuming this is XP then Control Panel > Network Connections > right click the wireless adapter (says Connected) > Properties > remove the check mark from File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks. Reboot.

This will prevent any other computer in your house from being able to access your computer, but if you are sharing a printer then that may be affected too, depending on which machine it is attached to.

If you want belt and braces you could also right click My Computer > Properties, Computer Name tab > Change button > change the Workgroup name to something else.

If you are right about your suspicions be prepared for a reaction from your husband, but unless he can give you a good reason why he should be able to access your computer then there isn't any need to have this connection.

Dangerous ground though.

 

Yes, this is XP and I also forgot to mention that he does programming. The printer is used by my laptops as well as this desktop. He has no reason to be on my computer there are several others in the home and he always uses his laptop from work. I do medical transcription and all my files are patient files that are supposed to be HIPPA compliant with patient confidentiality. He is breaking that. Is there a way to actually tell if he is accessing my computer. I'm sure his employer would not be very happy to learn that he is using their work laptop to hack into others.

 

Hadn't realised there might be remote access too. 3rd party software is normally needed for this. Make sure you don't have Radmin or Teamviewer installed, but who knows what a programmer may have tampered with? Your firewall? One effective answer though would be to use an encryption program. This would make your files unreadable without the (strong) password, even to a programmer I use a free one to protect my sensitive files, but you would need something more sophisticated, which I will leave others to advise on.

 

There could be many ways your husband could do this. The first question I think of is : WHY ? Is there a reason for him to invade your privacy ?
I don't know your economic status, but if you can, I would just tell you to buy your own laptop, set it up yourself, with no network connections, and password protect it, and if you use wireless be sure you encrypt it.
If you are Internet savvy, you can get a high quality laptop for ~$500. You can also get a functional one at Wal-Mart for ~ $300.

 

I do have Teamviewer, it's required by one of my employers so that if any of the MTs have problems they can help us out. There is NO reason for him to invade my privacy. We don't get along and are headed for divorce. He is just being nasty. I have nothing to hide. A few years back, he put a keylogger on my desktop. I had to have an IT guy from one of my transcription jobs Teamview into my computer to help me with a problem, he found and they almost fired me because I was breaking the patient confidentiality and HIPPA regulations.

I took off the "share files and printer" and he has obviously, somehow, locked me out of every other computer in the house including my kids laptops. I have two other laptops that I also use, but have no idea how to set them up without a network. The one laptop does have work on it the other is just a "play" one. I also took both of those off the share files and printer. I'm sure he is also looking to get into my e-mail. I use outlook express.

Can anyone else recommend an encryption program, and are they hard to set up or use?

Thanks

 

Try Truecrypt. When you run it it will create a password protected virtual drive with a new drive letter, and you can move your sensitive stuff onto it. When you have finished working you close your files and close Truecrypt. It will not then be possible for you or anyone else to see those files until Truecrypt is restarted.

In the meantime I suggest you re-enable File and Printer Sharing as it is that, rather than your husband, that is preventing network access.