Just as long as you don't have to kill a cow randomly every few days to feed all your dogs...

That's from calls from hell at rinkworks... guess i'll quote the reference.

I get a notification once in a while about a new product or a sale on something from ZoneLabs. Thats the free version though - never nce had it when I used a paid edition (like through work etc).
Its far less agressive on that than steams advert popups.

If your OS is OEM then the manufacturer of your hardware has access via backdoor. Dell asus Sony etc.

If its retail OS then your system is hijacked.

Disconnect network cable or and disable wifi.

Use malwarebytes and anti virus software to clean your system. Every time you detect something reboot after the cleaning and repeat till there are no more.

Go to Control Panel > User Accounts > Manage Another Accounts. Some times you can see if there is someone else. delete it.

Check your task manager to see if anything doesn't look right. Bloat ware program running you may need to uninstall it.

Once all is clean then use CCleaner to remove any left overs in the registry.

If you still have someone tapping into your system you may have to do a clean install. This part wont fix the oem version because of the backdoor. You can buy a retail and do a clean install but you will void your warranty.

DON'T use Linux unless you know exactly what you are doing.

Considering that versions of Windows after Vista have spyware built into it by MS, I don't think it's a terrible idea.

Windows has gotten more secure, but there's not much point in securing an OS that's programmed to send all sorts of stuff to somebody else without your explicit permission.
FTFY

Linux has, for many years, required less technical knowledge than Windows. They just lack the reputation that MS has for enabling morons to use computers. In the modern era, Linux is easier to use than Windows and generally doesn't require you to relearn how to use it every freaking time there's a new version out of your favorite distro.

It amazes me how many people keep repeating that old saw about Linux being hard to use.

Sorry, my experience differs. Thank you for your opinion though.

Anybody who was able to successfully figure out how to use Windows XP, Vista or 7 has really no excuse for saying that Linux is hard to use. Linux Mint uses almost an identical UI and nearly everything that one needs to do to maintain it has the tools built right into the OS.

P.S. The only reason why I even bothered commenting is that a one line suggestion not to use Linux with no details or justification does nothing useful.

Bless you! I now know... It's OEM. And the manufacturer; it's Intel... Well. I got that laptop at a shady computers shop. The kind of which is full of spyware gadgets and new age technological sh*t. That is why i asked before, if such a thing as a spyware laptop exists, in the first place... About malwarebytes and my antivirus, they always find the system clean. ALWAYS... I have deactivated groups lans workforce etc manually, too. Nothing strange in task manager, either, by the little knowledge i got from googling each and every suspicious entry there out... Only thing i noticed, is that ALWAYS, my intrusion detection feature of antivirus, even though i always leave it at max, drops by itself to ZERO, each time i open the laptop.

You can check how good your firewall is by running <span class="bold">ShieldsUP!</span>, an online test from Gibson Research Group.  Select "All Service Ports" and look for any open ports.  All your ports should be "stealthed".  The site also gives a good explanation of each port.

If you need drastic measures to get rid of active rootkits, backdoors, rogues and ransomwares, the following tools might be useful:

<span class="bold">Dr.Web CureIt</span> :  A non-resident antivirus (on-demand scans) excellent at detecting trojans, rogues and rootkits.
<span class="bold">AdwCleaner</span> :  A good complement to Malwarebytes.
<span class="bold">TDSSKiller</span> :  A tool made by Kaspersky to detect and get rid of some rootkit infections, including TDSS and ZeroAccess.
<span class="bold">MBRCheck</span> :  A tool to test if the MBR of your hard drive is infected by a rootkit.
<span class="bold">Combofix</span> :  A powerful utility to get rid of various malware infections (be careful with this tool).
 

Quite often today you can find a decent distro as a liveCD. Boot up the disc, if you don't like it, nothing changed on your computer. If you like it, you can install it. Most (if not all) distros include some kind of GUI. Some are more minimalistic (DSL) while others go for a MAC or Windows feel in it's structure for familiarity. The commandline and it's strengths are never hidden, but at the same time the average user probably doesn't need them.

Yes GNU/Linux isn't nearly as difficult as it used to be. It used to be a hacker's sandbox and toy, now it's a fully fledged swiss army knife, but without the budget to leverage itself as the main OS... Then again so many systems are using it it's merely lowest on mainstream PC's. Systems that don't add to that count are things like routers, tablets (Android), entertainment systems, slot machines... (I can't think of any more).

I've really got nothing against linux. Hell, my opinion is really formed by looking over someones shoulder as they tried to work with linux, so not wholly first person, and yes, it was awhile ago.
If you're willing to put up with a non-OSx non-MS environment, try it out.
Im curious to see what the experience would be now as in 5-6 years ago.

Personally I'd reformat, then take preventative measures like everyone has suggested. It doesn't sound like this is pro-surveillance, as they would basically make sure that you didn't realize they had access to your system and would never do something as suspicious as controlling your mouse, changing menu structure, etc.

In addition to the good advice already mentioned in this thread, I'd also be wary of any software that acts as a server for remote access from things like smartphones and tablets. Moving forward, do not use your admin account for daily use, and instead setup a restricted user account for daily browsing and computer use. Lastly, I know you are reformed from your previous ways, but make sure you do not run any software that has been obtained from untrusted sources on an internet-connected machine. This isn't only in relation to pirated software, although those are obviously always suspect. Even programs downloaded from a legitimate website can do undesirable things on your system, so choose what you .exe wisely and with due consideration. No matter how much anti-virus stuff you have, a "clean" prognosis is never 100%, and one of the best ways to reduce security risks is to screen everything that you allow to execute code on your system with elevated permissions.

You might find Panda Cloud Cleaner quite useful too after you have run Malwarebytes, KiNgBrAdLeY7. If you can, give it a shot my friend, please. :)

REDVWIN

Just a shot in the dark, but here's some advice on files to look for...
https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2014/may/international-blackshades-malware-takedown/could-your-computer-be-infected-by-blackshades