How do I know if my computer turned itself on or if a person did?

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  1. Posts : 57
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit
       #1

    How do I know if my computer turned itself on or if a person did?


    Hello everyone, I have a desktop PC and running Win 7, I recently noticed that there is no hibernate button, where it should be, I realized that desktop PC's are not laptops and that I had to make a shortcut with the code " C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe powrprof.dll, SetSuspendState 0,1,0 " to be able to hibernate my desktop PC.

    After I had made the shortcut, I tested it. The shortcut worked and my computer hibernated. I was happy that it worked, but a new problem arised. The problem was that my computer could in a way "turn its self on". I googled around and found out to to prevent it from happening, I applied my new knowledge to the PC and it seemed to be working great now... or so I thought.

    The computer also didn't require a password on start up, after hibernation. (I thought this was weird, but I didn't worry about it too much..... I should have worried)

    Anyway now that you know what page i'm at, this is my problem: When I left yesterday for a friends house, I hibernated my PC and took my internet cable with me (my PC had no internet connection), but when I arrived home it was on, I instantly thought that my brother turned on my PC. I was angry at him, I went online and googled "How to know if someone has been on your computer", I found an article scrolled down a bit and found a program (Inbuilt with windows) called "event viewer".

    I then opened "event viewer" I went to, Windows logs then application. I found some dates and times, I found when I left home at '1:10 PM' the logs stopped here (this is when my computer was hibernated).
    I then found when the logs started again, It said '8:10 PM', I got home at '9:00 PM', I thought that my brother either turned on my PC and was snooping around for an hour, or that my PC turned its self on.

    So here are my questions:

    1: Can I check if my computer turned its self on, or if my brother did it.

    And

    2: Can I check if my brother was reading any of my Skype conversions, and if he was snooping around.

    Thanks you everyone for reading my post/thread, And if you have any solutions to my problem, THAT WOULD BE GREAT :) !

    PS. I have fixed my problem with the password not being required on boot.

    PPS. I have a second windows 7 installed on a dual boot

    PSS. If you are unsure about anything that I have said, Please reply asking about anything. I would really like to get some decent help with my problem
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 30
    7x64 ultimate / 7x64 pro / Some linux x64 distro
       #2

    You can check if the computer was turned on by looking at Windows's logs if i'm right.
    If logs says it was turned on, then someone did turn it on.
    Things can take the computer out of sleep, but i don't think it can take the computer out of hibernation <-- (To be verified, unsure about this part)

    if you're afraid someone will touch your computer, you can crypt the whole system drive, and it will fix the problem, your brother will have to re install windows to use the computer if you don't turn it on for him.
    It will also fix anything that could be used to remove the user's password and acces the computer.

    You can log off Skype when you quit, if you're concerned about security, don't use auto login (will also fix one of your problems).

    Regards
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 504
       #3

    This suddenly struck my mind after reading this all: Once I had set an option called something like ''Auto power on, on AC supply'' in the BIOS to Enabled. This option powers on the system automatically when AC power is supplied, no need to press the power button.

    Then I disabled it later, but the system still continued to automatically power on whenever AC was supplied. I had to re enable that option and then disable it again in order to make it work.

    I know this is pretty much unrelated to your problem, but can your problem be somehow related to something similar? Check your BIOS to find anything similar if it's there.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 57
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Thanks for your help, but sorry It really didn't help me much :(


    Magissia said:
    You can check if the computer was turned on by looking at Windows's logs if i'm right.
    If logs says it was turned on, then someone did turn it on.
    Things can take the computer out of sleep, but i don't think it can take the computer out of hibernation <-- (To be verified, unsure about this part)

    if you're afraid someone will touch your computer, you can crypt the whole system drive, and it will fix the problem, your brother will have to re install windows to use the computer if you don't turn it on for him.
    It will also fix anything that could be used to remove the user's password and acces the computer.

    You can log off Skype when you quit, if you're concerned about security, don't use auto login (will also fix one of your problems).

    Regards
    Hello Magissia, thank you for replying to my post, but unfortunately you really didn't help me much. I already know everything that you said, I knew about the skype auto login, and encryption. I know where to find in the windows logs in "event viewer"the time that my PC shut down and started up, but what I do not know is how to tell if someone turned on my PC or if the PC turned its self on. (I wonder if "event viewer" even records if the PC turned it self on or if the button on my tower was pressed to turn it on)
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 57
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit
    Thread Starter
       #5

    nilank said:
    This suddenly struck my mind after reading this all: Once I had set an option called something like ''Auto power on, on AC supply'' in the BIOS to Enabled. This option powers on the system automatically when AC power is supplied, no need to press the power button.

    Then I disabled it later, but the system still continued to automatically power on whenever AC was supplied. I had to re enable that option and then disable it again in order to make it work.

    I know this is pretty much unrelated to your problem, but can your problem be somehow related to something similar? Check your BIOS to find anything similar if it's there.
    Thanks for your help nilank, but you said it yourself "I know this is pretty much unrelated to your problem". And your right, it didn't help at all, sorry to say. Thanks for taking an interest in my question.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 5,440
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
       #6

    This might sound too obvious but why not ask you brother if he touched your PC? Also when you go out shut down your PC!
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 57
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit
    Thread Starter
       #7

    I knew some one was goin to ask this -_-


    mitchell65 said:
    This might sound too obvious but why not ask you brother if he touched your PC? Also when you go out shut down your PC!
    I knew someone was going to ask this -_-, YOU DON'T KNOW MY BRO, He was put on this earth to mess with people. And I try to ask him seriously but he responds in a way that I can't make sense out of.

    Thanks for reading my post tho
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 31,242
    Windows 11 Pro x64 [Latest Release and Release Preview]
       #8

    To check the cause of the last system wake from Sleep / Hibernation simply enter "powercfg -lastwake" into an Admin Command Prompt.
    you could also add a batch file containing "powercfg -lastwake >> C:\Wakeup.Log", which would create a file on the root of the C: drive with the details in each instance, to your start up folder.

    As for preventing access - Windows has security for a reason, give your brother his own ID on the system and use password login. If you create his user as a standard user he will not be able to access anything vital on your system without your password, and you could also use the built in Parental Controls to monitor and limit program access
      My Computers


  9. Posts : 1,346
    Windows 7 Professional x64
       #9

    RvB Vakama said:
    Hello everyone, I have a desktop PC and running Win 7, I recently noticed that there is no hibernate button, where it should be, I realized that desktop PC's are not laptops and that I had to make a shortcut with the code " C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe powrprof.dll, SetSuspendState 0,1,0 " to be able to hibernate my desktop PC.

    After I had made the shortcut, I tested it. The shortcut worked and my computer hibernated. I was happy that it worked, but a new problem arised. The problem was that my computer could in a way "turn its self on". I googled around and found out to to prevent it from happening, I applied my new knowledge to the PC and it seemed to be working great now... or so I thought.

    The computer also didn't require a password on start up, after hibernation. (I thought this was weird, but I didn't worry about it too much..... I should have worried)

    Anyway now that you know what page i'm at, this is my problem: When I left yesterday for a friends house, I hibernated my PC and took my internet cable with me (my PC had no internet connection), but when I arrived home it was on, I instantly thought that my brother turned on my PC. I was angry at him, I went online and googled "How to know if someone has been on your computer", I found an article scrolled down a bit and found a program (Inbuilt with windows) called "event viewer".

    I then opened "event viewer" I went to, Windows logs then application. I found some dates and times, I found when I left home at '1:10 PM' the logs stopped here (this is when my computer was hibernated).
    I then found when the logs started again, It said '8:10 PM', I got home at '9:00 PM', I thought that my brother either turned on my PC and was snooping around for an hour, or that my PC turned its self on.

    So here are my questions:

    1: Can I check if my computer turned its self on, or if my brother did it.

    And

    2: Can I check if my brother was reading any of my Skype conversions, and if he was snooping around.

    Thanks you everyone for reading my post/thread, And if you have any solutions to my problem, THAT WOULD BE GREAT :) !

    PS. I have fixed my problem with the password not being required on boot.

    PPS. I have a second windows 7 installed on a dual boot

    PSS. If you are unsure about anything that I have said, Please reply asking about anything. I would really like to get some decent help with my problem
    In the situation you describe, I don't know if there is a way to check whether or not your computer was activated by a person or program, but for any future reference you could use a keylogger.

    HTH
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 57
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit
    Thread Starter
       #10

    Sir George said:
    RvB Vakama said:
    Hello everyone, I have a desktop PC and running Win 7, I recently noticed that there is no hibernate button, where it should be, I realized that desktop PC's are not laptops and that I had to make a shortcut with the code " C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe powrprof.dll, SetSuspendState 0,1,0 " to be able to hibernate my desktop PC.

    After I had made the shortcut, I tested it. The shortcut worked and my computer hibernated. I was happy that it worked, but a new problem arised. The problem was that my computer could in a way "turn its self on". I googled around and found out to to prevent it from happening, I applied my new knowledge to the PC and it seemed to be working great now... or so I thought.

    The computer also didn't require a password on start up, after hibernation. (I thought this was weird, but I didn't worry about it too much..... I should have worried)

    Anyway now that you know what page i'm at, this is my problem: When I left yesterday for a friends house, I hibernated my PC and took my internet cable with me (my PC had no internet connection), but when I arrived home it was on, I instantly thought that my brother turned on my PC. I was angry at him, I went online and googled "How to know if someone has been on your computer", I found an article scrolled down a bit and found a program (Inbuilt with windows) called "event viewer".

    I then opened "event viewer" I went to, Windows logs then application. I found some dates and times, I found when I left home at '1:10 PM' the logs stopped here (this is when my computer was hibernated).
    I then found when the logs started again, It said '8:10 PM', I got home at '9:00 PM', I thought that my brother either turned on my PC and was snooping around for an hour, or that my PC turned its self on.

    So here are my questions:

    1: Can I check if my computer turned its self on, or if my brother did it.

    And

    2: Can I check if my brother was reading any of my Skype conversions, and if he was snooping around.

    Thanks you everyone for reading my post/thread, And if you have any solutions to my problem, THAT WOULD BE GREAT :) !

    PS. I have fixed my problem with the password not being required on boot.

    PPS. I have a second windows 7 installed on a dual boot

    PSS. If you are unsure about anything that I have said, Please reply asking about anything. I would really like to get some decent help with my problem
    In the situation you describe, I don't know if there is a way to check whether or not your computer was activated by a person or program, but for any future reference you could use a keylogger.

    HTH
    Thank you Sir George, Yes I will prob set up a key logger program, Could you link me one?
      My Computer


 
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