How to tell if you've been hacked.
Security regime for personal electronic devices, and how to check for hacking.
Make sure Windows is up to date. Are you using older versions of Windows? Down to Windows 7 is still OK, in fact madTECH Computers Business IT support still recommends Windows 7 for stability and third party software compatibility. Check Windows update. If Windows is out of date it is more susceptible to hacking.
Other software updates. For example Java. Verify your java version here: https://www.java.com/en/download/installed.jsp
Don’t accept Facebook, LinkedIn or Skype contact requests from people you don’t know. For the men out there, this means if a hot girl sends you a friend request and you have never met here before, and she has no profile, or a very sparse profile, then chances are it’s a phishing attempt, and she wants you for your credit card info, not your looks or your sense of humour! No doubt if there is a friend request from an attractive girl with no information on her profile, it is an attempt at hacking on your profile.
Open Task Manager and check background and active processes for any unexplained programs running.
How to run Task Manager from Windows 10 (same as Windows 7 and 8)
Right click the task bar at the bottom of your screen and choose task manager
Scroll through the running processes and investigate what is running in the background. Any you are unsure about; end the task or consult a professional to see what the process does. Alternatively, Google the task to see what it does.
To end the task, right click it and choose end task. You can also right click the process and choose open file location and it will show where it is on your hard drive.
How to tell if you have been hacked.
Go to your router and login and make sure the firewall is enabled. Check ping requests, DOS attacks and failed log in attacks. Then check the blocked MAC address list to get details including the city of the blocked device.
Go to task manager and check the running processes on your device. Some dodgy running processes on your device might look like normal looking windows processes, so you will need to enter them in an independent process library database : http://www.processlibrary.com/en/ and it will tell you if the process is a Trojan virus.
Only thorough investigation will tell you what processes are malware.
Chrome has its own task manager to investigate the same way. In Chrome’s own Task Manager, you can immediately identify which websites or extensions consume most of your memory and CPU power. Right-click the title bar of any Chrome window and select Task manager or simply click SHIFT + ESC. Google also offers Stats for nerds; click the respective link in the bottom left of its Task Manager.