For the past few years (since around 2013) I've been experiencing some persistent problems with all of my devices – mostly my old desktop and laptop, as well as my current laptop. The biggest problems were lag and pen problems, but there were also odd unexplained things like files disappearing and reappearing. I'd been concerned that these problems could be the result of someone hacking my devices, and have been looking for advice on whether or not this was a serious possibility, and if so what actions I might be able to take.
A basic summary with a few examples of the types of issues I've experienced with all my devices, as well as how I've tried to address them. These issues don’t necessarily happen every day; I can’t predict when they’re going to happen.
Old desktop (PC, Quadcore Intel):
· Has become very slow, to the point where I could no longer use it
· It would seem okay for a while, then go through a series of updates, then become bad again. Or the other way around: it would be bad for a while, then go through updates and be fine again for a while. I've tried disabling auto updates but it still updates automatically. So I enabled the updates again (update: )
· Black DOS window would sometimes pop up for a second during Windows startup
· When drawing in Photoshop using Wacom tablet, the pen would sometimes become unresponsive and make it difficult to draw. I've tried reinstalling the Wacom driver several times, and redownloading the driver from the Wacom website.
· Due to the problems I've experienced, I decided to keep the desktop disconnected from the internet. I had it this way for about a year (2015-2016). During this time, I noticed no problems. Eventually I've had to connect it to the internet again, and the problems returned.
Old laptop (Asus 2008-9?):
· Also became very slow, to the point where I could no longer uses it. In one instance it took about an hour just to type and send an email, with more than a minute lag while typing, while no other programs were running in the background.
New laptop, bought this year (HP 2 in 1 convertible. This is one of those with pen you use to draw on screen):
· Seemingly not as bad the desktop and old laptop, but still problematic
· Would start to get noticeably very hot while I was drawing, sometimes to the point where I had to stop drawing for awhile.
· I've consulted HP support and they tried to reinstall the OS using the recovery software that came pre-installed in the laptop. It turned out that this software had somehow gotten corrupted and couldn’t run anymore. They had no explanation for how the software could have gotten corrupted. I also noticed that the bar that indicates how much space is used by the recovery partition became more “full” after a while. ( [*** ] → [******** ] )
· So HP support had to reinstall Windows from the MS site. Afterwards, things seemed okay for a while, but then the pen started acting up, similar to what I used to experience when using the Wacom tablet on my old desktop. It got even worse, where the pen would make streaks in the opposite direction of where I was drawing.
· A month back, when opening Clip Studio Paint on this laptop, sometimes a small window would pop up for a second saying “connecting to network.” This happened for a couple of weeks, but has stopped for now. I've confirmed from a friend that that doesn't happen to her when she opens her Clip Studio Program.
· Once I noticed that the screen resolution had been set much lower without my having done anything to change it. After I changed it back, the menus on my Antivirus program were suddenly very small. I reinstalled the program a couple of times, to no effect. Finally I had to have a remote session with antivirus support who were able to do a complete wipe and get it back to normal.
· A few times there’s been lag while typing but not as bad as on the old laptop.
iPad:
· A bunch of her photos were copied from my photo library to my Drop Box app (not by me)
iPhone:
· My contacts list disappeared, only to reappear again after a few days.
· My phone automatically calls my cousin several times, once when the phone was lying on the table and not touching anything. This only stopped happening after I removed my cousin from my favorites list.
Misc:
· Sometimes I would transfer photos from my ipad onto a folder on my desktop, sort the photos into different folders, then delete the original folder. Then weeks later the deleted folder would reappear with all the unsorted photos still in it.
· Once I downloaded a TV series on her old laptop, then transferred the files to my desktop, then the new laptop. Then when I looked at it, a bunch of the files were missing. I checked all the copies I had, including my USBs and external drive, and the same files were missing. Then a few weeks later, on the USB I had already checked, I found the folder with the series and all the files were complete.
Measures taken
Desktop and old laptop:
· As mentioned, disabled auto updates but they still happen
· Installed paid internet security program as well as Malwarebytes and Super Antispyware. Sometimes these would be disabled upon startup for no apparent reason. After I enabled them, they would get disabled again.
· Repeatedly reformatted Windows using licensed disks, many times
· Remote desktop sessions with Microsoft Windows support. This has been done several times and in subsequent sessions it had to be escalated to higher level technicians. They would be able to fix the problems for a while, but it would come back.
New laptop:
· Installed paid VPN and antivirus. It would somehow be disabled at startup. I had to have it fixed remotely by Antivirus support twice, but the problem would come back.
· As mentioned, remote sessions with HP support where they reinstalled my Windows.
