Is someone hacking me? | Tech Support | Forums

If it is norton, a good way to tell would be to unplug from the network and see if it is still happening. I think norton would still try to do its scans without a network connection.

Hope this is of some help:

I've installed a few free Vista desktop sidebar gadgets, the best 2 are a network monitor for watching IE activity, the other is a real-time CPU usage monitor that also tells how much is being used by each of my dual-cores. If I'm running a malware scan I know it will use typically 25% to 100% by itself, depending on the app. But if nothing much is happening & I see the CPU jump up, or the network, then I run AnVir Task Manager--which if you don't have, look to the right at the dotTech freebies & get it from here! Over time I've learned which services can be stopped, which startup entries can either be changed to delayed or disabled (manual start, or on demand), which processes, etc., & AnVir or other apps can help with that. A culprit can be auto-updates of apps, so I have every app that I can be set at manual update.

 And as we've seen from GOTD, for example, certain programs include "calling home" to the apps website. I would never d/l anything that can make Internet connections on its own, or surreptitiously (even if totally legit) sending unknown info from my computer (& also even if it is supposedly anonymous info, or part of a so-called part of the apps "improvement program"). There is no control then of who actually sees what at the apps website, & also just what is done with the gathered info. Privacy policies they may claim that are "in effect," are only as good as the companies personnel, & subject to security breaches, which they may never even tell us about.

OK, that's enough for now, or I could write on this till………………..