Neighbours have gained knowledge held on my computer

[tinkerbell//40]

I am very concerned as to how neighbours, computer programmers, have gained private medical information.

Only way I believe this could have occurred is they have somehow accessed my computer.

TT recently provided an updated router ...not sure if OK to include device version.

Can advice be provided as to best practice to prevent any unwanted access?

Is changing wi-fi or router password, way to go or...?

Thanks... peace of mind needed.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hello,

Ok thanks for the update and please let us know if you need any assistance.

Thanks

[tinkerbell//40]

I don't have an LED light on computer, to check what you state.

One thing that puzzles me is how improved the performance is of my computer since changing wi-fi & router passwords.

Yes I've had a few occasions when it is slower but generally it is much improved.

I'll leave this for now and get back if any further occurs.

Thanks again for all the help, appreciate it.

[Skynet_TX]

Based on your description of the behaviour it sounds more like it is your computer that is running slowly, rather than your internet connection. Does your computer have an LED that flashes to indicate hard disk activity, if so this can often be a good indication of when the machine is working hard and might run slowly, if that LED is on for a large percentage of the time then this would mean the computer was working hard, if your computer has a spinning hard disk rather than an SSD then significant disk activity can cause the machine to run noticeably more slowly. It would be totally normal for the LED to be pretty solidly lit whilst the machine is starting up, and for several minutes after start up.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Thanks for  the update tinkerbell, glad to hear that it's OK at the moment. If you do experience any further problems please let us know

Chris

[tinkerbell//40]

This morning everything is fine (see comment below to Skynet)

[tinkerbell//40]

Thanks again for offering assistance.

Nothing else connected to wi-fi at present. (had builders in so printer and music system not connected)

Can only use Wi-fi, not wired connection currently.

Estimated Speed -- 28 - 35 Mbps

Measured Speed -- 40 Mbps

Speed Test --------- 

Speed to Router -- 39 Mbps

Speed to Device - 36 Mbps download

                                - 3 Mbps upload

This seems to be normal and good speeds.

I do not leave computer on, close down overnight or when not needed or put in 'Sleep' mode.

Aware when computer is starting desktop icons can be slow to load, especially their images i.e. a pdf file is shown as pdf , before showing image of icon. This appears to be when computer is slower to do anything, although can return to normal speeds after a while. If these desktop icons load straightaway, everything seems to run fine. 

This morning everything seems fine, last night when starting after being in sleep mode. things were slower.

Attempting to keep an eye on things in an attempt to recognise what is going on.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Hi tinkerbell,

The line test is clear and your router is in sync at 39.9Mbps, how is it running at the moment?

Chris

[Skynet_TX]

Do you have any devices connected to the router via Ethernet cable, if so are those devices slow as well ?

If you go to the Service Centre what does it show for your ‘Estimated Speed’ and your ‘Measured Speed’. If you run a speed test (ideally from both a wired and wireless device so that you can compare), how close are the speed test results to that ‘Measured Speed’.

[tinkerbell//40]

Umm Rather oddly everything on computer is loading slow again, especially noticeable email, which loads titles but takes a while before can read message. Is TT having any issues again?

[tinkerbell//40]

Thanks .... should I see a 'Guest' listed in the wifi/router settings?

TT sent me a new, different type of router, as I was unable to change router settings in original router.

Is the old router details still held somewhere in 'settings'? 

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Hi tinerbell//40,

I can see that Skynet_TX has been helping you with this, please let us know if you need any further assistance 🙂

Chris

[Skynet_TX]

Yep, if you did see a slow down and want to check if anyone else is connected, then logging into your router should allow you to see the list of devices connected at that time, so you could check it was only your own devices that were listed.

[tinkerbell//40]

Noticed Guest, but all boxes showed 0, so guess nothing connected.

Will keep an eye out for any changes to speed.

[Skynet_TX]

Probably just coincidental, but there is always the small possibility that someone else was connected to the router and using some of your bandwidth to download stuff. When you logged into the router it should have displayed what devices were connected to it, did you happen to notice if there were more/different devices connected than you would expect.

[tinkerbell//40]

Browsing, opening emails and loading this page.

[Skynet_TX]

Very hard to say, what sort of things are faster, opening programs / files locally on your computer, or browsing / downloading on the internet ?

[tinkerbell//40]

Thank you, I've changed both successfully. Hope this works and doesn't cause any other problems!

Thanks again for your advice.

Flippin' heck, computer is opening everything so much faster now!

Does that mean anything?

[Skynet_TX]

Hi @tinkerbell//40,

Yes, the first thing to do would be to change your Wi-Fi password if you think there is any possibility they may have been able to connect to your Wi-Fi, the factory default password is quite short, so if you set a new one you can make it longer (and more complex), and thus more secure.

You could also change the router password too.

Be aware that there is a factory reset switch on the back of the router, holding that in for over 10 seconds will restore the router back to its factory settings, so will return all passwords back to the ones shown in the info on the back of the router.