Windows XP Pro - Strange Message

Hello all. I have been receiving a very "interesting" message when I log off of my system, and I'm hoping that someone here can enlighten me as to why I would be receiving it.

Background: I recently purchased a new computer from someone I thought was a trustworthy source. The OS is Windows XP Pro. I am very computer literate and have used the Windows platform and the same OS for years, never having received this message in the past.

Here's the issue. When I go to log out, it says (please forgive me, this is not verbatim) "other users are logged on to your computer, are you sure you want to shut down?"

The reason this is disturbing to me is that I am the only person (to my knowledge anyway) that is using, or is supposed to be using this computer. I do not have any routers connected to my system, btw. Is it possible that someone is using VNC (which is installed on my puter) or some other type of software) to monitor my usage, or am I just being paranoid?

I have had someone tell me that having AIM, Windows Messenger, MP3 download software, etc. could be causing the issue. I find this hard to believe as my daughter runs the same system/software/OS as I do and has never had this issue.

Please, this is really kind of starting to get me wondering - I'm hoping that someone can tell me that there is a logical Windows explanation for this. I know you guys and gals have lots of other requests, but if you could get back to me as soon as possible I would greatly, greatly appreciate it.

I'm freakin' out, people!!! :confused

 

it could be possible that the os is corrupted somehow? i've worked on a few computers lately (all xp), and i've seen some stuff similar to what you are saying. although, the comps i am talking about, have had virus/spyware issues. my nephews comp would show 4 user accts on login screen, however if you booted into safe mode, it would only show like 1-2 accts. my other nephews comp wouldn't allow me to do certain things and say that i needed an admin acct, and i was on the admin acct (which was the only acct). i'm not saying that is the case with your comp, i was just saying i've seen some wierd stuff.

i'd check out what steve east said. also, what does it show here --> C:\Documents and Settings, i show admin, guest, and my acct.

can you try and create another acct, login into that acct and see what it does? if it doesn't do it, then maybe you can use that acct, and delete the other acct? anyway, g/l - sos

 

It sounds like malware to me.

 

Can I also suggest that you actually Shut Down the computer and then restart. It sounds like this is what you have been doing, I just want to make sure that you are not just logging off but go through with the shut down. This would log off all users at least once and you could see if it is a recurring situation.