Help please

[dondasch]

This is my first time using this website and I hope that someone has some insight on what I need to do in my situation. Here goes:

Yesterday I went through my normal shutdown procedures on my operating system (Windows ME) when I heard a strange noise, which is usually indicative of an error. Sure enough, when I turned the screen back on I saw the following horror:

The following user \\KOROMA\\ is connected to your computer. Do you wish to disconnect? Yes/No.

Needless to say that I clicked yes as quickly as possible and am hoping that I have not been hacked but it appears I may have been. I checked the firewall I use (ZoneAlarm) and didn't see any evidence to alert me, but a friend tells me it is possible that a hacker could have put some sort of virus program on my PC.

The only thing I can think that may have happened is that somehow I may have disabled my firewall or it may have been disabled. Can anyone help me out on what I can do to see if I have, in fact, been hacked?

Thanks

[Unregistered]

First of all, don't turn off your screen until the pc is off.

Secondly, the strange noise was, hopefully, coming from your speakers, right? Otherwise, you've got a much bigger problem than being hacked (hardware failure).

Third.
The message you saw indicates that another person connected to your computer through Microsoft shared drive feature.
Zone Alarm, while a great piece of software, is not overly useful in default configuration (as is any software).
If I remember correctly, ZA doesn't monitor local requests. You, my friend, have become a victim of a trust issue.

You haven't specified anything about your box (PC), other than it's a WinME.
Is it on a network? Are there two or more computers sharing an internet connection? Is there a wireless connection? Is that a small network? Few computers in your house? Are you a student on campus?

Without knowing those things, I couldn't even begin to tell you how to prevent future problems.

Maybe, there's another computer in your house, that's considered trusted by your PC, and you simply didn't recognize the name?

Damage control.

Have a friend install avast! (alwil software; search for it) virus scanner on a laptop and scan your PC by connecting to it via Cat5 cable.
If that sounded like a bunch of Chinese, download Avast!, install, run a scan.

Any additional info, feel free to contact me @ UnODir_@_HotPop.com (without underscores, of course).
I'll be glad to help.
(Even if it's just an email asking who the heck am I and where does my knowledge come from).
Later!
Al.