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i have been having trouble with a hacker in the last few days and have hade to re-format my pc to regain control of it.

after reinstalling windows and being the dummy that i am i reloaded all my progs from my external hard drive then thinking i will be clever and take out some of the windows components i did not use I.E internet messanger and such but somehow i unloaded the icon that sits in the task bar to allow you to mute the sound and just can not find a way to get it back(i have sound but can not mute it).

i do not want to re-format again if poss (my OS Disk is an OEM and does not allow repair only full installation).

can anyone suggest a way to get it back?????

thanks in advance

 

Try this:

1. Open Control Panel
2. Double-click 'Sounds and Audio Devices'
3. On the 'Sounds and Audio Devices Properties' dialog, check the box next to 'Place volume icon in the taskbar'
4. Apply your settings

Also, you need to make sure that it isn't being hidden by doing this:

1. Right-click a blank spot on the taskbar
2. Select 'Properties'
3. On the 'Taskbar and Start Menu Properties' dialog, uncheck the box next to 'Hide Inactive Icons'*
4. Apply your settings

*Alternatively, you can press the 'Customize' button to make sure that the volume icon isn't hidden.

 

are you talking about this one *points below*, next to the avast icon? or are you using another s/w program (ie - your soundcard)?

control panel --> sounds and audio devices --> "volume tab" place volume icon in the taskbar.

edit - looks like Mada_Milty beat me to it. - sos

 

Thats the one.

i am using a laptop with the same drivers from the original set up.

i have tried the method you suggest and all it tells me is to use Add/remove and re install

 

At what point in the procedure does it give you this message?

 

When i click (place volume icon in the task bar)

 

I have found a download of REALTEK AC97 so i will try that and hope.

this hacker is driving me crazy i don't think he is too far from me as he has broken into my router 3 times now and i keep changing the WEP key but after a few hours he's back.

i am waiting for a reply from my ISP to see what we can do??

 

Reinstalling drivers would have been my next step.

Does your router support WPA?

WEP is pretty easy to crack. WPA-PSK is the de facto standard for wireless encryption.

Your router SHOULD also support MAC Address filtering, so we could set it up so only your network card could connect, even if the encryption key were to be broken.

Failing all else, we could also setup a network intrusion detection system, so you could get this guys info next time he tried, but that's rather complicated. The above two steps are pretty much standard procedure for securing a wireless router. If we can do those, they should be done first and foremost.

If you are interested, please post the make and model of your router, so we can lookup instructions.

 

My router is a D-Link 635 and when i first bought it and installed the disk it asked me to check that the MAC adress was the same on the back of the router but since this hack it does not ask for the MAC.

i have also used WPA-PSK but nothing seems to phase the SOB

 

if this is a fairly recent event (your sound problem), have you tried a system restore? have you tried (i don't know if it'll work), to remove the drivers for your sound in device manager, and rebooting, to see if they will reload, and maybe fix the problem?

with regards to your router, is it a wired connection? maybe you ought to make a post in the networking forum. - g/l, sos

edit - what is your exact model #? is it a dlink dir-635, or what?

 

sorry i missed the DIR bit yes its a dir635.

the new driver did not solve the problem (god knows what i have done)

have tried system restore but no good came of that.

just had a call from Telenet my ISP the engineer will be here Wednesday to install some sort of tracker to find the little B*****d then after i break his head i will break his PC.

on instructions from engineer i have disconnected router and am now direct on the cable.

 

Please see this link for the user manual for this router.

Attached, is a .ZIP file containing the pages relevant to setting up WPA and MAC Address filtering.

Here's the basic outline of configuring your router for security:

1. Disable SSID broadcast.
The "name" of your network is transmitted every few seconds to make dynamic configuration a little easier. In a home setting, this is fairly useless, and makes it easier to find. Disabling will help keep the hacker from even seeing your network.

2. Encrypt the signal
Unencrypted wireless signals can be read by anyone with the tech saavy to do so that's connected to your router. This includes all data transmitted, connection details, etc. Encrypting makes it harder to glean information from your network traffic.
WPA is the minimum recommended level of encryption.

3. MAC Address Filtering
Most wireless routers can be configured so only the specified physical network card addresses can connect. This means only your wireless cards can connect to it, and nobody else.

4. Strong password on the router
If all else fails, having a strong password on the router will make it harder for your settings to be changed.

 

Thanks for the time and effort Mada i am going to call it a day for now and start again tomorrow i have got spots before my eyes with all this trial and error.

THANKS AGAIN

BILL

 

update on my problem the good news is we got the hacker he is a 14 year old who live just behind my house and he told the police that he attacked my system because i am the only one in range of him that had unlimited broadband so now we will let the police deal with it.

I managed to get the icons back as well now all i have to do is sort out the router, when i try to reset it with the disk i get to the point where it says connect Ethernet cable from router to PC press next and it keeps telling me that that cable is not properly connected but i know it is!!!

if i try to reset via the web it will not accept the the IP address from my ISP or my password so it needs a bit of further investigation.

i have a suspicion that it is blocked inside the PC by a keystroke/s so i will have to do some study.

thanks for the help given on this subject and any further advise will be gratefully recieved as i am always ready to learn.