XP - security

[gonzilla]

Hi,

I have a friend who had her boyfriend (a non-mutual friend) "redo" her computer. From what I can tell, he did a clean install of XP Pro and set up her DSL, Firewall and pretty much everything else on her PC (I can only go on what she has told me so far as I have not accessed the computer)

After he had installed everything, my friend overheard this guy talking to another non-mutual friend - something to the effect of "Does she know that now you can do..." and the boyfriend basically cut off the conversation and didn't want to tell her what they were talking about - changing the subject right away.

My question is - what kind of things can this guy do now with XP that he couldn't with Win9x or Win 2000? Or maybe it has nothing to do with XP, just the fact that he set the whole thing up himself. I'm not thinking things like hacking in necessarily because he could just as easily go over to her house and log in to gain access and there is nothing of great importance on her PC.

What might he be talking about?

Thanks in advance.

 

[wolluf]

Suggest you collect more facts and then ask a specific question.

 

[gonzilla]

I kind of thought that would be a the case - just hoped someone would be able to give some clues first.

I'll ask her some more information and get back here.

Thanks.

 

[mjinks61]

If I were to hazard a guess as to what he might have done, If in fact he did anything at all, I would assume some sort of monitoring software such as "ice remote spy" or some such spying software.
These types of software can do screen captures at user set intervals, and log everything that goes through the keyboard.

They also run hidden from the user. It doesn't show in the processes, or installed programs lists.

One quick question, is he the insecure and suspicious type?

Good luck, and Happy Computing

 

[linney]

A couple of links to read.

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Markus+Jansson+security

Microsoft TechNet Security - Columns

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/columns/security/default.asp?frame=true