Hacked!

[PC_Repair_Man]

As far as that ICMP Echo portion of the Shields Up test that failed, you should be able to log into your router and check the option to block pings from the internet and it should solve that security hole.

And also just my 2 cents on the situation ... you don't need to play around with these people because just like you are attempting to learn from the hackers at the same time they are learning from you. By not stopping them you are giving them a clean slate to learn from and to see what works and what doesn't. I would literally unplug the uplink cable from my router until I could sort this mess out.

On the other hand I can see how curious you are about it, which is completely understandable, just be sensible enough to know when to pull the plug!

[Flyingcrapaud]

I also wonder if the hacker was able to bypass a router and Windows firewall from outside your system. My guess is that it was initiated by either something from bittorrent or an autorun virus on the external hard drive that opened the connection to the hacker. It may not be a coincidence that this started while the external drive was connected, scan it for viruses.

[Bama19642]

That never occurred to me, but it sounds feasible. I mean I've scanned my ext. drive, but never thought of a virus that would activate when it was plugged into your pc. That's pretty diabolical, like an insanely smart idea.

[Flyingcrapaud]

There are several viruses around that use the autorun.inf file to automatically run once you plug the drive into the computer. They spread by moving an infected USB drive from computer to computer just like the old viruses were spread by floppy drives. It makes no difference if it is external USB hard drive or a thumb drive.

The problem became so widespread this year that the US military had to place restricitions on using USB drives, it is suspected that it got as far as the Space Station.

[Money2themax]

I also wonder if the hacker was able to bypass a router and Windows firewall from outside your system. My guess is that it was initiated by either something from bittorrent or an autorun virus on the external hard drive that opened the connection to the hacker. It may not be a coincidence that this started while the external drive was connected, scan it for viruses.

actually i found the nothing.exe on my flash drive that i was using souly for readyboost and when i ran it the computer stated making that noise again and so i put it in a rar file and passworded it btw i goto college but iv;e never seen anyone take my flash drive

[Flyingcrapaud]

Submit it to Virustotal and see if they find anything.

[Money2themax]

i found a duplicate file called essential.exe in "C:/windows" that i ran though virustotal and both came up with the same thing look

Nothing.exe

Essential.exe

it's really called beep.exe and heres what Quinnsoft says it's supposta do

Beep is a prank program that will cause a person's computer to emit a loud, high-pitched beep through the motherboard (which means that even if they turn their desk speakers off, it'll still beep). The beep cycle (beeping one second out of every 1.5 seconds) continues until the computer is restarted, at which point the prank is disabled.

[Bama19642]

I don't think that's the same thing you reported, as that sound comes from the mb. You said your sound was from the speakers and then headphones, and the sound wasn't on and off like that was it?

[Money2themax]

I don't think that's the same thing you reported, as that sound comes from the mb. You said your sound was from the speakers and then headphones, and the sound wasn't on and off like that was it?

thats the program that was running in the background and my laptop doesn't have a mobo speaker

[Money2themax]

i found how he got in

he put a file called Updater.exe in my system 32 folder

C:/Windows/System 32/Updater.exe

Virus Total 36/41 said it was a virus (87.80%)