Someone using your computer

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The Seattle Times answers an interesting query from one of its readers. "I am the only one using my computer. I turn off my computer around 11 p.m. For the past month I have been receiving a pop-up that says: Other people are logged onto this computer. Shutting down Windows might cause them to lose data. Do you still want to continue shutting down? I have McAfee security and I'm running Windows XP. Do I have anything to be concerned about? Barbara Logue

A: Yes, I'd be concerned. It's a little difficult to diagnose your specific problem, since there's a lot of information I'd need that's not in your letter. You don't say what specific McAfee product you're using and whether you're also running a firewall. And you don't mention whether you're connected to a network or the Internet.

But let's stick to the basics. The message you're getting tells you that someone has logged in to your computer using a user account other than the one you used to log in with. That person could be logging it at your keyboard, elsewhere on your network or over the Internet.

The first thing I'd suggest is going to the Control Panel and clicking on the User Accounts icon to see what user accounts are listed for your computer. You should change passwords for all user accounts, though remember that you'll need to be logged in a system administrator to do so. You may want to delete any accounts other than the one you use.

Even if this step solves the problem, however, you'll want to make sure you've got a firewall running since cracking passwords is not a major hurdle to a hacker. Firewalls are designed to prevent other users from doing such things as connecting to your computer remotely.