Need Help From The Techies

as i was browsing on my network where i work yesterday, my buddy told me the network admins could browse my computer. i asked him what he was talking about, and he told me what happened to one of our coworkers, j. ie, j was online downloading something and the boss was watching some porn that was on js computer.

unfortunately, i have some “personal” pictures on my computer, and would like to circumvent this. the worst of them, fortunately, are kept in password protected zip files. after i was notified, i created and switched to a windows xp account. the files in question or in unshared folders. norton occasionally popped up with a warning saying “outbound traffic, svchost, port 3” and “outbound traffic, svchost, port 4”.

is there anything i can do to keep people from browsing my files when i log on to the network? what’s the best course of action to take before i get back on the network, and while im on the network?

If your drive is formatted in ntfs I believe you can password protect just about anything. Another thing would be not to “share” files on the network. XP has a built in firewall you could use, or there are some great firewall programs you could download.

I would not keep personal stuff on a work computer, but if that is what you choose to do (accepting any consequences), you could use TrueCrypt to encrypt and lock out anybody from your files…
http://www.truecrypt.com/

its my personal laptop.

thanks. ill try both. is there anyway to see if someones viewing my files? the norton warnings are pretty vague.

when you say logon to the network, what do u mean? If its simply a matter of plugging your laptop into a jack in teh wall to be accessing the internet and any shared servers, you should be fine provided you have no shared folders and a firewall running.

we have a network that we log onto (everyone has the same logon) to get access to software. im trying to figure out how they went through my coworkers stuff without him knowing, although he just got a new laptop and hes not very computer literate.

If you’re using Microsoft networking and you logon to a “domain”, then the administrators will, by default, have access to your machine.

Whether you share folders or not is not important, since Windows creates hidden shares that can be accessed. Each drive (C: D: E: F:) has a corresponding C$ D$ E$ F$ share that’s not shown by default windows tools, but can still be connected too.

You can block this type of networking by blocking off ports 135, 137, 139 and 445 inbound with a firewall.

But since you mention that everyone has the same logon, you’re probably using the “workgroup” type of network. In that case there’s no real “administrator” for the network, and your buddy probably had stuff easily available.

Either way, encryption will prevent access to your files, the above mentioned TrueCrypt is excellent. Just make sure you don’t leave the encrypted volume mounted while at work. It will also prevent someone from accessing your files if your laptop is ever stolen.

[quote]BJJRaver wrote:
its my personal laptop.

thanks. ill try both. is there anyway to see if someones viewing my files? the norton warnings are pretty vague.[/quote]

If the “private” photos are on your personal laptop, then I hope you are only worried about your boss seeing them and not firing you for them. It is your computer. Password protecting your personal files will prevent your boss from getting in there.

[quote]MaloVerde wrote:
BJJRaver wrote:
its my personal laptop.

thanks. ill try both. is there anyway to see if someones viewing my files? the norton warnings are pretty vague.

If the “private” photos are on your personal laptop, then I hope you are only worried about your boss seeing them and not firing you for them. It is your computer. Password protecting your personal files will prevent your boss from getting in there.
[/quote]

I can’t see him being fired for having anything on his personal laptop…

But TrueCrypt is a great program i’ve used before. Definitely recommended.