- We open configuration in Windows
- Let’s go to the last section: update and security
- In the menu on the left we look for “Windows Security”
Here, we check that all aspects are activated:
- Protection against viruses and threats
- Account protection
- Firewall and network protection
- Application and browser control
- Device security
- Etc.
Make sure everything is green and that there is no pending action.
Events viewer
It is a very useful tool for detecting errors in the system, notices or informational events that many users are unaware of but which in certain circumstances can be of great help. In this specific case, the Windows Event Viewer can confirm with complete accuracy if someone has used our equipment, it will even tell us the day and time the PC was turned on.
And it is that at the moment that Windows starts or a program is executed on our PC, a new entry is registered in the event log. Therefore, it is enough to turn on our computer and go to the Windows Event Viewer to check if events have been registered since the last time I turned off the PC and the moment in which I turn it back on.
The steps are the following:
- We look on the computer for “Event viewer” in the task bar
- We open it
- We go to the left side of the screen
- We will see several options
- Custom views
- Windows logs
- Application and service logs
- Subscriptions
- We choose “Windows Registries”
- It will open with new options
- App
- Security
- Installation
- System
- Forwarded Events
- The one that interests us is “System“
- Tap on her
You will see everything related to your computer. This will load in the central panel the list of registered events with detailed information at the bottom and a series of tools or actions that we can use to filter or create custom views. Therefore, once we are seeing the events recorded in the system, it will be enough to check whether from the moment we turned off the equipment the last time and the moment we turned it on, there is an event log. If so, then that means that the equipment has been used by someone, being able to know the day and the exact time the PC was turned on and off.
Also, from the Event Viewer actions, we can filter to find the system events, which are the ones that will give us clues of when it started and shut down, as well as create custom views That they facilitate that work for us every time we want to see that type of information.
Recent file or document modifications
How to know what has been opened or what changes have been made.
Access to a document
If we want to know if someone has touched a document that we have on the computer, we can check it thanks to the Office version history. We can see the changes of a file. We will not be able to know who it is, but we will be able to know if someone has touched something in your absence and without your permission. It’s simple:
- We open the file or Office document that we want to check
- Click File in the top left menu of the program
- Tap Information in the menu that appears
- Once here, open “Version history”
This will only help us in the case of Office but you can see it to consult
Recent files
It can be an annoying option in many cases but we can activate it to serve as a spy if someone has improperly touched our computer. Recent files are shown in Start and we can configure it to appear here “all recently opened items from the list of shortcuts in Start or on the taskbar and in the quick access of the file explorer”. We must activate it from the configuration.
- Open Settings on your Windows computer
- Among all the options, choose “Personalization”
- Go to “Start” in the sidebar, in the section menu
Once here you will see a series of options with switches that we can activate and deactivate. Find “Show recently opened items …” and activate the switch under this option. When you have it activated, you will see in Start everything that has been “touched” in the last moments of using your computer. You will be able to see if something does not fit you or if there is a folder, file or program that you have not used and has been opened.
Check your browser history
One of the best options is check browser history Although it will depend on the one you use that we have to follow some steps or others. It is NOT an infallible option since someone may access your computer and not even browse the Internet but simply look at the different folders but we can check if there is any kind of suspicious activity that shows us that something strange is happening if there are pages that we we have not visited.
The steps are practically identical in any browser: we must touch on the three lines or three pointss that appear in the upper right corner of the screen and from there a menu will open drop down with options that will allow us to go to “history”. This is the case in Chrome but also in Edge or Mozilla Firefox. Also, we can do it with a combination of keys: we just press Control + H on the computer keyboard and automatically opens the history.
The normal thing is that we do not find anything because if someone has entered our computer they will have previously deleted the websites visited or “gossiped”. But we can consult it in case there is something we suspect or if that person is not insightful enough to erase the tracks.
How to protect yourself
And if we discover that someone is spying on us, what do we do? We can report in case we discover that there is an unknown person accessing through some type of malware but if it is a person in our own home (like our father, mother, brother …) it is best to protect your computer or your files more sensitive so that no one can access.
The best thing to do if someone is using your computer without your permission is to go to Windows settings and choose a password for each user there is. Thus, others will not have access to the content.
If it could be that someone in your own home is accessing your computer, choose a password for your profile. We can do it in any version of the operating system and it will only take a few minutes to have more security on the PC.
- Open Settings on your computer
- Here, look for the Accounts section
- You will see several options
- Your information
- Email and accounts
- Login options
- Get access to work or school
- Family and other users
- Synchronize settings
- We choose the option: Login options
- Here we will see a series of sections
- Windows Hello face
- Windows Hello fingerprint
- Windows Hello PIN
- Security key
- Password
- Choose the last one: password
- Tap on “Add”
- choose a password
- Confirm by writing it one more time
- Add a “start password”
- Follow the steps to set up the account
Make sure it is difficult to guess and you will be more protected.