Computer active while I'm away

[DavidW]

I leave my computer with Outlook (or maybe nothing) on the screen. I come back later and the hard disk is churning away with the red light flashing. Something is happening ! What? How do I find out? My AVG is not doing a virus scan. Is there a trojan sending messages to the world. Thanks for any tips. David

[PENTIUM]

Nothing to worry about.

[Renmoo]

Hi David. Do you have any indexing service program installed on your computer? Indexing service programs like Google Toolbar catalogs and indexes files on your HDD whenever the computer is in a state of idle - hence the HDD activity. At the same time, this could be due to the presence of malware. I suggest you do an anti-spyware / adware scan. For more information on malware, check out PressF1 FAQ -> http://faqf1.net.nz/index.php?title=...re_%26_Viruses

Several PressF1 users have also made a similar post as you. I also propose that you do a search on this forum for more resolutions.

Cheers

[The_End_Of_Reality]

Has it done this the once or does it do it all the time? if it is only the once don't worry about it... elses look at running spyware and anti virus etc...

[PENTIUM]

You could well be right.
However hard-drives were doing this long before we all went on to the Internet, it is related to the expansion and contraction of the platters.

[Trev]

Yeah nothing to worry about. Mine dose it all the time.

Trevor

[pctek]

I Something is happening ! What? How do I find out? My AVG is not doing a virus scan. Is there a trojan sending messages to the world. Thanks for any tips. David

Quite possible......how do we know?
Scan your PC with some anti-spyware for starters.
Then you'll know for sure.

And don't you have a firewall? IT should tell you if something is going out to the net.....

[yzhu]

Windows might be indexing your drive(s) - if your file system is NTFS. To check or disable, right click on the disk (in My Computer) and choose Properties. It will be on the 'General' tab.

[Greg]

To help ease your discomfort... if you have a decent firewall, even Zonealarm, you can set it to disable all Internet access after x number of minutes after any user activity.