General Question

MilkyWay's avatar

Weird stuff on the computer that's not mine. What gives?

Asked by MilkyWay (13897points) September 22nd, 2012

When I go into search history, a couple of dodgy videos come up. I looked at their properties and it shows me they were viewed only a couple of minutes ago, which is impossible as I was watching a documentary at the time… how is this possible?

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12 Answers

Jeruba's avatar

(1) Someone is sharing the computer with you. (That’s the impression I got here. )
(2) The computer’s clock could be set incorrectly.
(3) The time stamp could be coming from another time zone.
(4) Something else.

MilkyWay's avatar

How can someone share a computer with me?
The clock and time zone is fine. As I said, it was just a couple of minutes ago… whilst I was on the computer :/

Jeruba's avatar

Someone besides you is using it when you’re not on it. Is that possible?

What I’m saying about the time stamps and time zones is that the history records you’re looking at take their time stamps from someplace. If they’re not using the same time source that shows the time locally on your computer, they could have been viewed x hours ago, and it just looks like it was a few minutes ago.

Haven’t you ever received e-mail messages that say, like 3:00 a.m. when your friend wrote them at 8 in the evening? or that show a time that’s in the future for you? Different time sources, or different offsets from UTC.

WestRiverrat's avatar

Hackers can get in and use your computer from a remote site. If you leave the pc connected to the internet when you are away, they can use it when you are not there.

LuckyGuy's avatar

Do you have the software logmein? That allows remote access. Google has a version too. Where did you get the computer? It might have a “feature” like that preloaded.

creepermax's avatar

Hey it could just be that website! I’d still look at the registry and scan for a virus or something. You could just disable your web history and hope this whole thing blows over – cheers!

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newtscamander's avatar

Is it your Youtube history you’re looking at?

MilkyWay's avatar

My browsing history, but all the videos are from Youtube.

newtscamander's avatar

But you do have a Youtube account?
If you have, and have used it on another computer, the person using that computer is the one responsible for the additional videos…at least that’s what it’s like with my Youtube account; because I remained logged in on my grandma’s PC, I can now see what videos she and everyone using her computer can use….I have to say, my cousins do watch some quite disturbing music videos from time to time!

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