A question for people who know a lot about computers?

Question

I apologize in advance that this is very long, but I think I need to include all details. I recently visited a forum type website, which does not require registration and I did not register. I posted a few comments on several different topics. Later I went back to one of the discussions and someone had replied to me and said some mean things, but more importantly said that I am always posting on topics that I know nothing about. I found it very hard to believe that anyone would know what comments I had posted. The majority of people on sites like that don't use their real name and neither did I. As a matter of fact, I had used a few different names. So I figured there was no way that someone would be able to determine what comments I had made. Well, I asked the person to show me where I had posted and they did specify the discussions I had commented on and also said that they just love their "new internet gadget." Well, I would like to know what this means? How did this person know this? Does it mean that someone has hacked into my computer and if so, is there a way for me to determine if they have? Or what about the security on my wireless router? Even if someone got past that and was using my wireless, they would not be able to tell what I had done online would they? Or maybe someone that is affiliated with the website could tell who posted where? One weird thing I noticed yesterday was that everytime I tried to type something my cursor kept jumping around to other spots. Is that a sign of anything? Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Answer 1

No, the person probably got you cross-referenced with somebody else, as your user name might be similar. Also, if you are using a wireless mouse, it is probably that the batteries are not put in properly, or just un-install the Driver software for the device. This will probably fix it.

Answer 2

I am not sure what this gadget thing is... but in a forum it is VERY easy to know who is who... whenever you submit a post on a thread, they can see your IP number, for instance.

I don't know who told you such things, but if it was a moderator, surely has access to know your IP number (when you connect to the internet you are given an specific IP number), and also your browser can have stored "cookies" from such website, so they can know for SURE in which threads you have posted... probably the cookie stored your username, or something like that... when submitting the post all that information goes to the website, forums have also a search utility for moderators, that lets them search by IP, or by user, or even let them do a search-compare, from a post, to know which other users that IP has been using.

Again, it is easy, it is not hacking... it is considered Forum-Security.

Answer 3

Hacked into your computer from a forum? No. But your writing style could be distinct enough that someone could have guessed that "Mary" and "Jane" were the same person. Or someone who owns the site could have noted that both "Mary's" and "Jane's" posts were made from the same IP address.



Your cursor jumping around? That could be due to a number of things, but not usually due to someone hacking into your computer.



If someone got into your wireless router, it would be someone within about 100 feet of the router. Otherwise, since you have a router, they can't get to your computer from the internet. (To the internet, you have a router - your computers are invisible.)

Answer 4

it's likely they are using the same type of software a web site does, it can tell quite a lot from your broswer. but you'd have to download or allow a something into your system for someone to hack it. but just in case, get a spyware scanner up date and run it once a week or so. and run your virus scanner for full scan. takes a while.

Answer 5

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