Should I be concerned if I see another arrow on pages I am viewing online?

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   Faith Reaperposted 8 years ago

   Should I be concerned if I see another arrow on pages I am viewing online?
   
   I just noticed that while reading hubs, another arrow, other than my own mouse arrow, was showing up on the pages I am on and moving about, when it is not me.  Should I be concerned?  My computer did pop up a message a couple of times saying "Tracking Cookies were removed and fixed ..." or something along those lines.  Thank you for your insight into this issue.  I just want to be sure there is nothing funny going on.  I rebooted, etc. 
   
   

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   Jodahposted 8 years ago

   This happened to me once, Faith, and the arrow was moving about as if by remote control, clicking on things and opening pages. I found out I had been hacked and had a virus. I would get it checked out.

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      Faith Reaperposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Oh, really, John!  Yes, it was clicking on things. That is a bit disturbing. I have anti-virus and such and shut down and rebooted. I haven't seen after that. Thank you!

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      bravewarriorposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Faith, you might want to do a full scan on your computer. I've never experienced what you and John have, but it's definitely something to be concerned with. Run a full scan.

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      Faith Reaperposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks, Sha,
      
      Yes, it sounds suspicious for sure.  I will do that very thing!

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   Cissy1946posted 8 years ago

   I don't know what your particular problem is but I do know that remote access by customer service personnel is gaining popularity. At present I've always been asked if they can access, I ALWAYS say no, but soon, if it hasn't already, it will probably be inserted into the user agreements that we all just click OK to and get on with out business. People are told that remote access helps them help you but what it really does is give them a doorway into your computer and once that doorway has been opened I would be willing to bet you can't close it again--not completely. Even if it starts out innocently, it will stay that way. Too many people think they have a right to invade the privacy of everyone else.
   Anyway, you can maybe stop it by changing the "Allow" setting. Are you  using a Windows OS? I have 7 and it's still here but I don't know about 8 or 10 but you can try it.
   Go to "Start" and click to open. On the right side click on "Control Panel" to open. On the Control Panel click on "System". On the left hand side click on "System Protection". Go to the last tab which is "Remote" and take the check mark out of the box that says "Allow remote assistance". Hope this helps.

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      Faith Reaperposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Wow, Cecilia, you've provided some great insight here.  You're right, too many think they can invade our privacy just because they may be in customer service, which is so wrong.  I will do that, and thank you so much!

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      teaches12345posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I agree with others on this, you should have it checked out for virus. Sorry this happened to you, Faith.  Hope all turns out well.

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      Faith Reaperposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks, Dianna. I keep running a scan, so not sure why this is happening?

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      Glenn Stokposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      You say you keep running a scan, but did you run the scan before booting Windows as we talked about?

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      Faith Reaperposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for the email, Cecelia, that is helpful to be aware. @Glenn, I ran the malwarebytes and it found something and removed it before. A vast didn't seem to want to work right? I have Norton that scans and I know what you said about behind Windows

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   Glenn Stokposted 8 years ago

   Faith, It sounds like you most certainly have malware installed on your computer that is letting some hacker have control over your computer.
   
   Did you ever receive an email asking you to click on a link in the email?  Hackers fool you with those things, making it look like an innocent email. You should never click on links in emails. That gives permission to install their malware. They might say "look at this pretty picture, click here" and the damage is done if you do it.
   
   For now, you need to scan for malware. An anti-virus program may not catch this. Try malwarebytes, it's free. But only download it from their website.  It will find and remove most malware.
   
   If you are using Windows, experienced hackers can hide their malware from scans. You really need to scan without Windows running. I recommend Avast. It can scan before Windows boots up. The free version is all you need.
   
   After you found any malware and removed it, change all your passwords with every account you have. Also check your credit to be sure no one took out a loan in your name.  I'm serious. That other curser moving around definitely indicates that someone was looking around for vital personal information to use for their benefit.

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      Faith Reaperposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Glenn, I did all of what you've suggested recently when you advised me before when a Best answer kept getting chosen when I did not choose it. So, I have to do it all over again?  I don't remember clicking on an e-mail link.

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