hacked???

[max ping]

Last night i went upstairs after being online, I know i was offline because there is a task panel issue that requires me to unplug my phone connection to the machine. I was sitting on the couch reading when i heard my machine dialing a connection! went downstairs and sure enough, it was online. It didnt seem to be doing anything, but it was online... what gives? Have i been hacked, or is there some process or error that can cause this?

thx,

max

[Art]

I'm gonna guess that there are a slew of malicious programs like viruses, trojans, and spyware that will try and "get out" or "phone home". There are also many legit (so called) programs that try and auto-update themselves. Have you installed new software lately ? If not, you might run updated virus and spyware detect/cleaners.

[max ping]

Thanks art! i believe it was indeed a spybot, i haven't run s&d for a while and it was screaming for it. it found a bunch.