Computer problems

[Pressing-On]

BTW, a couple of months ago my phone service shut off my Internet saying they had been notified that I had tried to pirate some horror movie flick. lol

I have no idea what that was about. Got that straightened out and had my wireless password changed. Of course, my local phone company makes excuses that it is very difficult to change on my end and they have to do that for me. What else can I do but comply?

[Pressing-On]

Originally Posted by Praxeas

Is your firewall on?

You can check for open ports here

https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

That wiki on remote access is pretty on target.

Interesting after clicking the link, it says:

The text below might uniquely
identify you on the Internet

Your Internet connection's IP address is uniquely associated with the following "machine name":

******************* (deleted for viewing at AFF)

The string of text above is known as your Internet connection's "reverse DNS." The end of the string is probably a domain name related to your ISP. This will be common to all customers of this ISP. But the beginning of the string uniquely identifies your Internet connection. The question is: Is the beginning of the string an "account ID" that is uniquely and permanently tied to you, or is it merely related to your current public IP address and thus subject to change?

The concern is that any web site can easily retrieve this unique "machine name" (just as we have) whenever you visit. It may be used to uniquely identify you on the Internet. In that way it's like a "supercookie" over which you have no control. You can not disable, delete, or change it. Due to the rapid erosion of online privacy, and the diminishing respect for the sanctity of the user, we wanted to make you aware of this possibility. Note also that reverse DNS may disclose your geographic location.

If the machine name shown above is only a version of the IP address, then there is less cause for concern because the name will change as, when, and if your Internet IP changes. But if the machine name is a fixed account ID assigned by your ISP, as is often the case, then it will follow you and not change when your IP address does change. It can be used to persistently identify you as long as you use this ISP.

There is no standard governing the format of these machine names, so this is not something we can automatically determine for you. If several of the numbers from your current IP address (*************) appear in the machine name, then it is likely that the name is only related to the IP address and not to you. But you may wish to make a note of the machine name shown above and check back from time to time to see whether the name follows any changes to your IP address, or whether it, instead, follows you.

Just something to keep in mind as you wander the Internet.

After I hit proceed, it says:

THE EQUIPMENT AT THE TARGET IP ADDRESS
DID NOT RESPOND TO OUR UPnP PROBES!
(That's good news!)

[Reader]

AND I have an account at Amazon and they are sending me info via my email, addressing me by my user name on this forum - Pressing-On!

Have you done any reviews & if so, did you happen to use Pressing-On as the screen name for them? Did you go and check your Amazon account to ensure no one has accessed it and changed anything?

So many places try to make it seem like they are from a particular company and they are not.

[Pressing-On]

Originally Posted by Reader

Have you done any reviews & if so, did you happen to use Pressing-On as the screen name for them? Did you go and check your Amazon account to ensure no one has accessed it and changed anything?

So many places try to make it seem like they are from a particular company and they are not.

I have changed my password and I do check my credit card regularly. I have never opened one of those emails addressed to me as Pressing-on from amazon.

If you look back at post #22. Perhaps they can get more info than we are aware. Remember Snowden saying that all they need is your zip code and they have everything?

[Reader]

Did you name your computer Pressing on?

In any email, do you use Pressing on? Some have Yahoo, which allows a screen name.

What may have happened (in part) is that they got an email address that may have contained the screen name and then you could get slammed with email appearing to be from all types of places, though it isn't if you look at their email used to send it or a link in the text.

More recently two email addresses I have started getting hit with emails with attachments (I delete and compact Thunderbird right after) and a few other regular spam mailings. That alone can be frustrating. It seems to be much better since closing one of them.

I can feel for you!

[Praxeas]

Originally Posted by Pressing-On

No, I couldn't have because, I use my credit card and it has to match when I order something.

Maybe it wasn't really from amazon. Don't click email links unless you are sure it's legit. Lots of times they are schemes, fake websites to steal info

I also went to My Computer, System Properties, Remote Settings and unchecked "Allow Remote Assistance connections to this computer".

Oh...thats good. Actually should have been unchecked already. What OS is it?

[Praxeas]

Originally Posted by Pressing-On

BTW, a couple of months ago my phone service shut off my Internet saying they had been notified that I had tried to pirate some horror movie flick. lol

I have no idea what that was about. Got that straightened out and had my wireless password changed. Of course, my local phone company makes excuses that it is very difficult to change on my end and they have to do that for me. What else can I do but comply?

You can change the password on the router yourself. Or buy your own router with better security.

Don't use WEP.

[Pressing-On]

Originally Posted by Reader

Did you name your computer Pressing on?

In any email, do you use Pressing on? Some have Yahoo, which allows a screen name.

What may have happened (in part) is that they got an email address that may have contained the screen name and then you could get slammed with email appearing to be from all types of places, though it isn't if you look at their email used to send it or a link in the text.

More recently two email addresses I have started getting hit with emails with attachments (I delete and compact Thunderbird right after) and a few other regular spam mailings. That alone can be frustrating. It seems to be much better since closing one of them.

I can feel for you!

No, I didn't name anything Pressing-on other than my forum name here.

The thing about Amazon....I can search for an item anywhere and then log into Amazon, the item I have searched for is at the bottom of the page. So, yes, they do track what we are doing online, and I think it extends further than we think.

[Pressing-On]

Originally Posted by Praxeas

Maybe it wasn't really from amazon. Don't click email links unless you are sure it's legit. Lots of times they are schemes, fake websites to steal info

No, I don't open anything I don't recognize.

Oh...thats good. Actually should have been unchecked already. What OS is it?

Windows 7

Looks like I fixed the video viewing problem. I right clicked on any video I wanted to see (mainly news clips), chose Settings, and then unchecked Enable Hardware Acceleration.

I am still having a few problems with a webpage loading. Most of the time a second click will load it and then sometimes I have to click it three times. Still don't know why that is happening. I've noticed with all the stuff I've been doing that my computer is running faster.

[Praxeas]

Originally Posted by Pressing-On

No, I don't open anything I don't recognize.



Windows 7

Looks like I fixed the video viewing problem. I right clicked on any video I wanted to see (mainly news clips), chose Settings, and then unchecked Enable Hardware Acceleration.

I am still having a few problems with a webpage loading. Most of the time a second click will load it and then sometimes I have to click it three times. Still don't know why that is happening. I've noticed with all the stuff I've been doing that my computer is running faster.

Did you try clearing Temporary Internet files?