Other users are logged in

I recently worked on a pc that had a dead powersupply for a coworker. She had a fairly serious case of malware on it as well. I cleaned some of it up and had it working much better, but after getting it back to her, she asked a question about a prompt she gets now. When shutting down, "Other users are logged in remotely" and asks if you really want to shut down. There are other accounts on the pc, her kids, no one else logged in. One of the things I did was patch the pc with MS updates. It is an XP home OS. Does anyone recognize this message as a threat?
Thanks

 

It's very possible that malware on her computer compromised her Windows accounts information and access. Basically, there are a lot of trojans and rootkits out there that will allow whoever coded the malware to either get usernames/passwords of existing accounts (they usually target accounts with administrative access), and/or the ability to create other accounts.

Suggestions (all will need to be done using an account with administrator privileges):

First, there should definitely be a password on ALL Windows accounts, and any existing account passwords should be changed IMMEDIATELY. This is easily done in User Accounts (Control Panel).

Secondly, the Guest account should be disabled. This is also easily done in User Accounts (Control Panel).

Thirdly, remote access should be turned off. This can be done by right clicking My Computer, selecting Properties, going to the Remote tab, UNCHECKING "Allow Remote Assistance invitations to be sent from this computer" and "Allow users to connect remotely to this computer", pressing Apply, then OK.

Finally, it's always a good idea to rename the default Administrator account (default name is Administrator) on the computer. This is accomplished by going to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management, expanding (on the tree on the far left) System Tools, Local Users and Groups, Users, right clicking on Administrator (in the right pane), and selecting Rename. Also, while you (she) are (is) there, you can easily set the password for that account by again right clicking on it, and selecting Set Password.

All of the above is common sense for anyone that uses Windows. Unfortunately, Windows doesn't default as secure as it should. I hope this helps.

 

thank you both for the replies. I appreciate your time.