Windows 7 Security - Deleting All Activity Traces?
Jun 22, 2011
For personal security reasons (two words: online poker,) I have embarked on a mission to make sure that there is 100% (or close to it..) certainty that no one can check or find out what applications were used and accessed on my computerother places / files might be checked in Windows 7 to check user / software activity, so I can deal with it accordingly! Encrypted operating system (True Crypt)Paging file removed and not beingsavedHibernation file removed and hibernation disabledDeleting MUI cacheDeleting prefetch filesUsing a .bat file that completely deletes ALL Windows 7 event logsTurning off memory dump fileDisabled and deleted windows restore pointsUsing CCleaner at the end of every sessionUsing Temporary File Cleaner after every sessionWiping free space (Gutman 35 passes) on my hard drive every few daysStuff like firewall/antivirus/anti-spyware/anti-malware/sandboxie I don't even mention because these are obvious.Now I need to make this clear: privacy is the most important thing for me in this case, so I am willing to sacrifice a lot of performance for it.
I installed IE 10 preview but i removed it using Windows Install Clean Up and no i have no seemingly IE10 install left but I still can't install IE9 because it says i have a newer version of IE installed.
I've run Revo uninstaller but it can't find anything installed and registry cleanups haven't helped so what do i do?
I download iepreview again but when i try installing it, it says it's only supported on windows 8. I have win 7. What do i do?
I attempted to install office 2010 and an error occured during the installation process. Long story short, I noticed it left a folder titled MSBuild and I'm sure some other things on my computer. I was wondering what is the best way to ensure that all traces of office 2010 are removed from my computer?
i use a Internet to mp3 convertor to download songs on my pc.i use google chrome. the thing is, my dad also uses the computer im using and i knoe he will get pissed if he found out i was downloading music. i deleted them from downloadsin google and downloads folder. i deleted them form recycling bin.
however when i go to my computer and go to local disc c and type in song name, i see a remain of the song.i cant delete because it says the file cant be opened im afraid my dad will see these remains. how can i delete remains of the songs.
I recently have a problem with my system. when I try to write a dvd it randomly freezes. sometimes it writes completely without error, and then the next time at the start of the sequence it locks up. the hdd activity led lihgts up, and the mouse is still responsive, but nothing seems to react anything. after some minutes the BSOD appears stating that a system crucial process had been unexpectedly quit or has been closed, and so on.. the same happens now if I try to update the dvd's firmware. it's an LG GH22NS40 writer with a grren power 550w psu and windows 7. previously i have nero 10 installed, but it's been deleted for now.
Whenever I start my windows hard drive led is constantly on and my laptop is slow as hell. If I continue using it sometimes I get blue screen but always I have to restart at last. Second time I boot it's ok. I disabled all unnecessary services. I had got the same problem with Vista. Now I upgraded to this. 7 was working fine but now the same problem is back. I use acer aspire 6920 with 4g ram and 250gb western digital. 2.00 Ghz core due.
My Windows is doing something when I do not use it. The disk makes a lot of noise (r/w) but as soon as I touch the mouse or keyboard it stops.What can be the reason ?
In trying to get a solid grasp on PerfMon features, we were wondering what the best use of "event traces" would be and what is the info that it provides.
I installed Windows 7 on my computer that was originally XP. Ever since then, I have 2 problems. First, my curser does whatever it wants, it jumps all over occasionally and highlights stuff so quickly while I am typing that when I press another key it is all lost. The second issue is that my mouse pad can no longer scroll.
I've been using computers since Win 3.0, but have recently built my own computer for the first time. Generally, everything works great right up until the point it doesn't.Sometimes my PC will randomly just "lock up". The screen freezes, the keyboard is completely unresponsive (including ctrl-alt-del), the mouse cursor is the spinning circle. The only way out is to hit the RESET button.It seems fairly random, and has happened while I was using iTunes, Outlook, or other programs.The one constant is that every time it happens, I can see that the HDD activity light is *solid*. It's not flickering / blinking like with normal HDD access, just solid. I don't know whether there is something truly being accessed, or whether the solid light is just a red herring.
Also, I don't know if the system is actually frozen, or whether there's something hogging the system to the extent it's so slow that it appears frozen. It's a pretty beefy system, so whatever it is would have to be really doing a number. I've only ever waited like 2 minutes before giving up.Given that every time it happens the HDD light goes solid, I have to suspect it's something with the hard drive subsystem, but I don't know how to begin troubleshooting whether it's a mobo SATA port issue, an Intel RST driver issue, a hard drive issue, a cable issue, or maybe it's not the hard drive at all!Here's some details (see more in my Systems Spec)Recently purchased DZ68BC mobo Prior to Windows 7 installed, verified mobo BIOS default was AHCI Installed Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium Win 7 appears to use AHCI After installing Windows, ran Intel utility to update/install all drivers, including Rapid Storage Technology drivers (did *not* update mobo BIOS) I am NOT running any RAID.Again, everything seems to work really nicely, right up until the point it decides to instantly freeze It's hard to troubleshoot because it's so random, I don't know when to expect it, and after it happens I can't bring up any tools (i.e. Resource Manager) to see what's going on.
I've been using Windows 7 since it was released and never had to reinstall so far.Unfortunately my System seems to have developed some issues which make work with the computer rather tedious. I have the impression that the issues are all related to a massive boot delay. Windows takes some 4-7 Minutes to boot. The masive delay starts after the logon screen. I have not been able to find out what is going on here and where the timeloss occurs. Once the machine has become usable - i observe some serious disc activity (led blinking constantly. This can go on for minutes.
I already tried to deactivate unnecessary startup programs, scan for malware. I frequently let ccleaner sweep the system.'d be very happy to see some opinions about this behaviour and perhaps find a way to resolve the issue, so I do not have to reinstall from scratch. I am aware that there is an inplace repair function in Windows 7 - this however only works with a system CD that contains Windows 7+sp1+all important updates. As I only have the original system CD I would like to avoid setting up a working boot cd.ps:[CODE]
Just got a brand new Samsung Series 7 laptop and everything was working fine until i started installing windows updates. The cpu is now stuck at around 15% load and there's constant disk activity too. I run msconfig.exe and disabled programs that I don't really use much, run disk defrag just too make sure the disk was working well. As a result my cpu is running hot (65 degrees) and the battery drains pretty quick.
I am sure this has been answered in the past butI cannot find any links when I search!
I left my pc to boot up and it started into a check disc mode and all I get is the above message. I cannot reboot in safemode to restore, what can I do?
I recently purchased a lenovo laptop for home purpose around 1.5 months back. The laptop was having already microsoft security essentials (MSE) and mcafee antivirus plus software. Unfortunately, yesterday i was facing blue screen on death type of error (BSOD) error. On one forum, I found that it may be due to the mcafee antivirus software. So, I uninstalled the software as per suggestion.Why MSE was not able to detect this bsod error? Moreover, why mcafee, which itself is a anti-virus software, was causing this issue?
Morever, I want to install good free antivirus software. I am totally confused whether should I install the antivirus software or, the internet security software. Please throw more light on good free internet security software from longer perspective. (I just found that almost all free trials are only for 1 month only)? Moreover, why built-in windows firewall and microsoft security essentials (MSE) are not enough for detecting malacious software. Why extra internet security software or antivirus software is required ?
I recently bought a notebook PC, and was quite annoyed to find that Intel has magically removed the ability to change the Centrino N 130 wireless adapter's MAC address.Before the nutters get in here with accusations of "illegal" activity, I feel obligated to point out that there is nothing "illegal" about changing the MAC address on my own property. Briefly, I want to pose my notebook as a hypothetical attacker, trying to bump one of my other wireless devices off the router by assuming its MAC address. I don't really know what would happen if I did this, because, like I said, Intel artificially crippled the Centrino N 130 through its Windows 7 drivers. Rather paternalistic of them.Another benefit of the proposed experiment: showing the futility of MAC filtering in keeping out the "bad guys." I have been convinced of this for some time, but been simultaneously unable to demonstrate it to my own satisfaction. There is no substitute for actually trying something, rather than just reading about it.
I am also a little annoyed at the Centrino N's (lack of) performance. I have yet to have it connect at greater than 72 Mbit/s, even while sitting less than 10 feet from the router with a clear line of sight.FWIW, my router is a NetGear WNR3500v2. N wireless is enabled. As far as I know, this router is capable of supporting a full 300 Mbit or so 802.11n wireless connection, as long as the wireless NIC on the other end is doing its part (which mine doesn't).With all that in mind, can someone suggest an N-capable wireless NIC that is not purposely crippled by its manufacturer? I would prefer an internal mini-PCIe card, but Intel seem to be the only ones making those. Even a G-capable or USB device would probably serve the purpose, if that's all that's available.
Got an Acer laptop - haven't had any problems with it at all, until recently have been getting BSODs during a range of activities. I've run Memtest and that hasn't flagged up any problems.
I am having trouble lately with my disk drives. First of all the specs and then the problems :
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Second behavior, I think since last week, my activity led is pulsing every second and my main drive never seems to go to sleep while my three others do. This is bugging me deeply as I have no idea what exactly is goign on the system.There is NO viruses, NO malware. Windows has been reinstalled from scrath on fresh formatted partion. I've tried to boot the system in diagnotstic mode with the same issue. I do not know what is the problem but I find it very unpleasant.An other test I did, disconnect the RAID entirely and the pulsing continue.Do anyone of you have any idea of what's going on? Are both problem related somehow? Could it be a windows patch causing all of this as it started not so long ago while is was running perfectly before?
Came at work, the computer was working (it has been working 24/24 second week already) everything was fine, the internet was working no issues, but decided to restart because my Antivirus (NIS 2011) crashed and there was no icon on taskbar, after restart my network was dead, but there was network port activity (as you can see in the screen), what I tried:1. Disabled/Enabled the network2. Restarted in safe mode with networking3. Removed for about 20 seconds the power cable4. Removed/Added the Network from Device manager (with "remove driver" option)5. Downgraded to another driver from May 20116. Tried another cable7. Tried another port in the switch8. Changed from Automatic to Manual in Network Settings (added IP)9. Used the Diagnose utility (it said something wrong with the Driver) after this I downgraded to another driver and nothing changed10. Logged with another username11. All services related to network are started.All the above didn't solved my problem, what's wrong ? I really can't understand - I'm a SysAdmin myself but I never had a issue like this that I couldn't solve!
So, 7 is reporting 4.5tb of network activity in 11 hours, with 600 gigs sent. I'm connected to my mac file server with roughly 1.8 TB of external hard drives (not NTFS either. mac formatted). It just keeps pumping out 5 megabytes a second and i have no idea where it's going. It doesn't show up in my resource manager, either, Any ideas?
I've been bothered by the lack of a visual indication of network activity on Windows 7, so I found and installed this:
Network Activity Indicator for Windows 7 - IT Samples
It is just the twin monitors like in XP, but even when I'm not doing anything on the internet, both monitors keep a steady beat in harmony of ~2 beats/s. Is this normal for a cable connection?
I remember seeing in a thread a long time ago on here that there was a way to get network activity lights in the system tray using a 3rd party application.
Does anyone know of one that works in Windows 7 and doesn't have much of an overhead? I have found some that add a new icon to the system tray, but it would be better if it could replace the existing network connection icon if possible.
My PC takes approximately 90 seconds to boot! The HDD constantly reads/writes when windows has booted.My system:Win7x64, i7 920, gtx 560, 6 gig ram, Western digital 650 gig HDD, Asus p6 deluxe MB.
Having an issue with intermittent BSOD with no common activity. Decided to turn blue during idle, surfing the web and playing games. I am not over clocking but i do have the RAM set to what OCZ recommended, DRAM frequency to 1333Mhz, CPU/NB voltage to 1.2v, DRAM Voltage 1.65v, DRAM timings to 9-9-9-20. Currents set up is as follows.
been watching that when the system wake up form hibernation, the LED that shows me the activity (I guess read/write..) of the hard disk is blinking, and keep doing that for several minutes (2- 6 minutes).The weird part is that the system is not going slow, when i open the task manager to see what is running, in processor usage the value is minimal, between 0 and 5%.In the process tab, the only thing using some CPU is one of the svchost.exe, it had an intermittent CPU usage of 0-3%, when i finished it, the LED stop blinking.
I'm having this weird problem with a PC trashing disk to the point where the PC becomes completely unresponsive, yet, perfmon does not seem to indicate any load. CPU is 1-3%, memory used <1.5GB. Disk-IO is indicated to <100 KB/sec, yet, and this is the weird bit, the blue line "highest active time" hammers on at 100% non-stop, and the HD activity light is on constant.
This is the hardware:
GIGABYTE Z68MA-D2H-B3 MB i5-2400 CPU 2 x 4GB 1333MHz RAM 2 x 320GB WD SATA3 (3GB) disks connected to the MB 3GB SATA connectors.
It started with an upgrade from an AMD64 with an Asrock MB which had worked fine for years. First I just replaced the MB, CPU and RAM and after the usual complaints by MS, Windows 7 eventually settled and everything worked fine for a couple of days until suddenly the trashing that I described above started. I thought this was perhaps due to some leftover drivers from the AMD time, so I reformatted and reinstalled Windows 7. The trashing eventually goes away, for example if I leave it alone overnight, it might have calmed down in the morning, or if I turn off the PC and turn it on again, it may take anything from a couple of minutes to a couple of hours, but eventually it starts again.I already checked for malware. I've used Avast for years, but decided to switch to MSE to see if it made any difference (it didn't). I also ran Malwarebytes, also didn't find any problems. Windows 7 has been updated with all the latest updates and patches and SP1 as well as with the supplied Gigabyte Drivers.
I installed Windows 7 RC. When ever I am booted into Windows 7 one of my hard drives (probably not system drive - sounds like my secondary storage drive) is constantly working. Not very much but still making sounds.
I have completely turned off indexation, there is no automatic defrag going on. I have set a constant size to the paging file and there is no antivirus activity going on. The hard drive is making noise even when the system is idle for a long time and also when I am using it.
The processes tab in the task monitor shows no process that is using CPU.
I Windows 7 Home Premium. My windows is getting the updates but when it says configuring windows it doesn't do it and says it failure to config and is reverting back.I also cannot turn on Windows Security Center.I appears something happened 8/15. I tried microsoft's fixes and system restore which hasn't fixed the problems.[CODE]
