I recently had my email hacked (because of Xbox/Fifa situation) and was using this email/pass for two poker sites as well. As a result, My s/n's on these sites were hacked into on two separate occasions. The first time it happened I changed all email/pass's on all sites, and purchased Avira. I obviously thought this would solve the issue. I was then hacked into again because i stupidly started using an email that was a backup/recovery email address to my original (didn't know second email was linked). Avira also didn't pick up on anything unusual.

I guess what i'm trying to find out is if my computer needs to be taken to a repair shop to get looked at. Any advice would be appreciated, Thanks.

1. Make backups.
2. Go on a safe computer, preferably not in your household and create a bunch of new email addresses you'll be using from now on.
3. Any password you can remember in your head is technically to weak. Use http://www.keepass.info/ from now on to be safer.

You also want to do a fresh install of windows imo, but you can also just follow the malware sticky and let Gabe check it out.

3rd time's a charm. Use 1 password for your poker acct and use this password for no other program on your comp.

ty, lots of help. Can i do a install of windows w/o the disk? (i have vista fwiw)

Use one computer only for poker. And since you've been hacked, buy a new computer. I would never feel safe otherwise.

Use your other computer (preferablely on a different network) for 2p2 and the rest of the web

What type of computer? Usually you can just factory restore them. Try calling the company who made the comp to assist u.

lol
Replacing your harddrive would be a lot cheaper and that would still be overdoing things.

Replace your Hardrive and Re-install windows...put some good antivirus and get RSA.

No reinstall without the disk in your case. There is ways to create one out of a running system but that isn't such a great idea in your case.

This would be a perfect opportunity to get rid of vista tho.

this

Keepass does the trick here, you only need to remember one password and can use a different for every application/account.

What should i replace it with and how?

If you're planning on staying with windows as operating system, it's the cheapest option to get a full retail license of windows 7 now instead of a cheaper OEM/SB version as for future upgrades you'd be able to just buy the upgrade license instead of paying the full price with every new version.

You will receive a installation DVD. You put it in the drive and click "ok" a couple of times to install it in a couple of minutes.

I've always wondered why a password like cheeseisgouda2323 wouldn't be as secure as anything.

depends what you mean by as secure as anything. obviously it's more secure than "password" but not as secure as a random alpha/numeric/symbolic string.

Main reason you dont want an easy to remember password is becuase most people use really obvious ones so they wont forget them (birthday, maiden name, pet name etc, favourite activity etc). Then they will use the same easy to remeber password for everything.

Though, most people lose their accounts through other methods not password cracking, (phishing being the primary one for online accounts, and keyloggers for your machine, bank details etc). Very rarely is your information "hacked" (if it is, often you cant do anything about it because the company hosting your info ****ed up ie/ sony about once a month or so ;P).

Wireless network passwords on the other hand are fairly easy to "hack" depending on the encryption, all you need is to be smart enough to use google. If you have wep it doesn't really matter what password you use since it's usually only the difference between a few minutes or 20. Wpa/2 should have alpha/numeric/symbolic and should be relatively long. Short phrases, numbers, or dictionary/ 1337 speak are breakable.

But short of your neighbor being cheap or someone with a vendetta against you, it's unlikely you will get targeted by a random.

credentials? this is by and large untrue.

edit: well let me rephrase that. you could easily be attacked by a random, and you seem to paint a picture of "don't worry so much because there's not much you can do and there's not much of a chance of getting hacked." a lot of the facts in your post are correct, but i think you draw the wrong conclusions with them.

op,

1) change your email. no matter how long you've had it, etc. if someone gains access to your email, then they have everything. change your bank acct #s, change your ids & pwrds for other sites, change your email with every entity that you do business with.

2) send out an email to all of your contacts letting them know that you have been hacked and that they should not accept email from your current email address. let them know that you will be changing your email address, and that you will contact them from your new email address.

3) what is avira doing for you? for all you know, the culprit has already emailed aim asking for your pwrd to be reset (deleted the sent & reply email), logged onto aim as you and started asking your friends for money or other personal info. you've stated they signed onto two poker sites as you, so what else are they signing onto as you? avira cannot protect you once the thieves have already assumed your identity; it's not like they're going to send a virus to your computer to monitor you when they already have all of the personal data located within your email.

4) in the future be sure to change your pwrd regularly. i change my pwrd monthly to any and all sites/accounts that are even the least bit important to me. some random site that forces you to sign up for and you might use one or two times, then i'll use a dummy pwrd i.e. i have to create account for hbo.com to play a true blood game or some nonsense like that. however, anything important i'm changing monthly, and for things like email/bank accts more often. be smart about this.

getting attacked by a random, very likely, look at your spam folder. getting "hacked" by a random, not so much. Stupidity or carelessness is the reason most people lose their passwords/ info etc, not hacking or password cracking. A strong password wont protect you from this. The only password that might regularly get hacked is your wifi one and that's usually only if you have a cheap neighbour (talking from a personal standpoint, if you're a major company obviously you should be more worried about network security).

im not saying a good password isnt a good idea, im saying you should be more worried about checking the validity of the site your entering it into (especially if you've received it from an email) or the downloads you click install without thinking.

I use fairly moderate alpha/numeric passwords for most things. They are strong enough for most cases, but not some completely random string. I have never been hacked, partly due to luck I'm sure, but mainly because I use different passwords for accounts and email, I don't enter my details into every page I see, I know it is statistically impossible to win a million dollars every week if you dont enter, I'm quite happy with my dick size and I have a no-Nigerian policy when it comes to my banking.

did you reinstall windows vista with an "alternative" copy?

did you replace vista with a new OS?


are you still having problems? if it were me, i'd be inclined to do a windows system restore to some point prior to when i suspected i was hacked (caution: this will erase any programs that you've downloaded since that point in time). then i would backup any files that i wanted to save to an external hard drive. after that i would just wipe the hard drive and load a new OS. in addition to the steps that i and others have already listed itt.

keep us updated on what's going on op. it's very difficult to help someone when they abandon their own thread :P

In addition to whats been said I'd suggest that you make your new email address at gmail and enable 2-step verification so they send you a code by text when you want to log in and you use this in addition to your new long password generated by keepass. I personally would want a separate poker only email address too.