Dumb question..... modem on or off at night

11 years ago

We have cable service and I have heard pros and cons about turning the computer AND modem off at night in order for hackers or whatever from entering the computer and doing harm.

If the computer and SurgeMaster is turned off and the Modem left on, can my computer be entered by others and malicious things happen?

Or can malicious stuff wait at the door and enter as soon as I turn the computer on the next morning?

Last night the last thing I did was run a Norton quick scan and then this morning I turned on the computer and did another quick scan. Low and behold there were 3 tracking cookies.

When did the tracking cookies land on my computer?

Does turning off the modem at night prevent the above?

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (9)

owbist
11 years ago
No questions are dumb questions If the computer is turned off no one can enter.

As long as Norton is kept up to date and scheduled scans are run you are most likely very safe. If you feel you may have visited any doubtful web sites then do a scan and soon as you are finished to give yourself peace of mind.

Tracking cookies are harmless data packets, here at Gardenweb your cookie allows you to be kept signed in, clear out the cookies and the next visit here requires you to sign in again.

For myself it can go months without cleaning up the hard drive which includes removing cookies, I use Ccleaner to do that job and I also instruct Ccleaner to leave selected cookies in place. These include anywhere that I need to log in or places I go on regular basis.

Mostly my computer, modem and router all stay on 24/7 but that is a personal choice for each of use with no real right or wrong.
emma
11 years ago
That is not a dumb question, thanks for asking it. I have often wondered about it. I turn it off at night, it's a habit I started years ago when resources were a problem. It's not necessary now, but maybe it saves a little electricity. I have never turned the modem off.
Related Discussions
Dumb question about harvesting mixed greens
Q
Comments (8)
Posts show up after you RELOAD OR REFRESH the pages. Usually (internet browser dependent) you see a different color text for threads that have new messages posted vs. older threads with no new posts. If you post a new message, you have to click on the PREVIEW and tghen SUBMIT MESSAGE to get it to SAVE to the forum. Once there, you simply go back to the main thread page and REFRESH. It should show new posts in any threads. To find old posts, doing simple searches on a couple of key words is best. For instance if you wanted to see things about harvesting greens, you would type in the search window the words 'harvest greens', and it should bring up threads with that text in them. I grew just 'gourmet salad greens' last summer. I planted twice, the first ones planted the end of May lasted until August. By then some of them were sending up flower and seed stalks which I pluck off. I planted a small amount of seeds again in mid August and had more greens, mostly bib, red leaf, and several other gourmet type greens. All made a great salad. I do not spray anything and not much was chewed or damaged. I picked so much I was gving away many 2 gallon bags packed tightly with them. I would not use any cutters, but instead snap off the tender leaves near their bases. The leaves were rinsed off and placed in small batches into a salad spinner to get excess water off them. They remained quite crisp for nearly 4 days in the fridge if bagged. I only pick the larger leaves of most. A few days, and new leaves show up and the previously smaller ones are now bigger and are picked. Depending on the type of greens, you should be able to pick almost every other day once they start to come in. I had about 20 locations where I put in several different kinds of seeds in the same spots, so each location had a nice selection to choose from. All matured quite well together.
...See More
dumb question?
Q
Comments (5)
Gatormom is right. As the oranges freeze on the tree ice crystals that form inside the cells of the orange will pierce the juice pulp "sacks" causing the sacks to leak once the oranges thaw. Once that happens the oranges can no longer hold the juice inside and while you won't see the oranges leaking they are losing the moisture inside and in a week or two when you cut them open they are dried out. On the positive side unripe oranges from say Murcott or Valencia oranges can still be used. Pick them before a freeze or even right after a freeze and juice them. Freeze the juice in ice ube trays for cooking or other uses. To me unripe oranges taste a lot like lemons and can be used where you would use lemon juice.
...See More
Newbie here...dumb bean questions
Q
Comments (2)
Hi Rick, Chances are your garden will grow and you'll do well. It's hard to diagnose without a picture. But as long as your beans have leaves and keep growing new ones, you should be okay. Let me tell you one of the most common problems people face when transplanting from indoors to out: they neglect to "harden their plants off." You see, any light the plants receive while indoors, is lacking the UV rays of outdoor sunshine. These are the same rays which cause people to tan... and to burn. Plants also burn, only when they burn they generally turn white or brown. So, when you move plants from indoors to outdoors you should give them, say... an hour of direct sunlight on the first day and perhaps two on the second day, moving up to four or five hours. I think, once they can take four hours, they're good to go for an entire day. Another way to harden them off is to set your plants in a place with filtered shade, and then gradually move them out to where they receive more and more sun. This is good for the busy working person, who can't wait around to move plants from one location to another. The dark spots on your tomatoes and peppers are probably botritus (sp?) a common fungal disease. This one hits when there are extended periods of very high humidity and cool temps. As long as those conditions don't last too long your plants should recover just fine. Hang in there. Hang around here. Gardenweb is a good place to get advice and encouragement. George Tahlequah, OK
...See More
Kale...probably a dumb question
Q
Comments (12)
Tomatoes and peppers will be good for a while yet. Cukes should come out definitely in the near future, because they are a major host for pickleworm, and once the pickleworm comes it's game over till the fall when the weather cools down and the humidity drops. It usually appears around the end of May. Peppers will take more heat than the tomatoes will. The only tomatoes that produce all summer down here are everglades/currant types. Other tomatoes will stop making fruit when the night temps stay above 80. You can get the plants to continue and sometimes they'll bear fruit again next season, but most people just start over with new plants because the first year is the best for bearing. But yeah, you need to think backwards from everything you learned about gardening up north. Down here you start your seeds in the late summer for fall planting, and winter is our most productive time. ETA U of F has an excellent guide to veggie gardening in the different parts of the state: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/topic_vegetable_gardening and http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/vh021 Another good guide is http://www.growables.org
...See More
mikie_gw
11 years ago
cookies came from something on your computer that went online and got them when you first started it up... like a messenger or the messenger advertising.. or something. Woulntt hurt to do maybe a malwarebytes full scan to make sure that something isnt a big deal.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
11 years ago
I never turn off my modem, router, or computers unless the weather is bad or I am going out of town.
Pooh Bear
11 years ago
Unless the power goes off for a long time I leave mine on.
I have a battery backup for short power outages.
I can't remember the last time I turned my computer off.
To save power I turn my monitor off when I'm not using it.

I never clean cookies, temporary files, or any of that stuff.
Unless of course there is a problem involving cookies.
But that has rarely happened to me.

Pooh Bear

Here is a link that might be useful: What Your Computer Does At Night
emma
11 years ago
Pooh Bear Thanks for the smile.
krissie55
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks for your responses.

I prefer to turn off the cable and computer at night, but DH would rather the modem be left on.

In the past I had a problem with "China" and "Russia" attacking/trying to get into my computer on a daily basis as well as some other places. I was able to search the IP addresses and found where they were located. Now that I have Norton and have two IP addresses to get through I do not seem to have a problem.

I was afraid if the modem and/or computer was left on that someone could hijack and use my computer.

Someone did hijack and use my Yahoo Email address. They sent emails to many people as well as to my husband and my regular email addresses. I do not use my real email address or name when signing up on sites. I never used my husband's or my regular email addresses on the Yahoo Email. Changing the password corrected that.

The Yahoo incident made me think someone had invaded my computer rather than just hijacking my Yahoo Email only.
westom
11 years ago
Due to how a modem and computer work, they must get their software (malware) into your machine to access it via your modem. Two common way of doing that are via a website you visit (therefore malcious tracking cookie or some other software is downloaded). Or via e-mail that contains an attachment with malicous software.

These malwares are sometimes only detected when your anti-malware software is executed in its 'full mode'. Often, that software takes hours to locate and remove all such malware.
minnie_tx
11 years ago
Pooh Bear
Thank you Thank you Thank you
I had this link years ago and lost it

Dumb question..... modem on or off at night

Comments (9)

owbist

emma

Related Discussions

mikie_gw

ravencajun Zone 8b TX

Pooh Bear

emma

krissie55
Original Author

westom

minnie_tx

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Dumb question..... modem on or off at night

Comments (9)

Related Discussions

krissie55Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

krissie55
Original Author