Question I have a networking tech issue and I don't know what it is.

[couldntthinkofausername]

On November 23rd of last year when I got home from a college class I attended, I noticed that my internet was super sluggish and I was unable to connect to websites. A few days after that, I was browsing Reddit using the Reddit Is Fun app on my Android smartphone and was mysteriously logged out of my Reddit account.

When I logged back into my Reddit account using the Reddit Is Fun Android app, I noticed that unlike before I was mysteriously logged out of my account, subreddits that have a lot of subscribers looked like ghost towns (What I meant by that is they didn't look active. When I would visit a subreddit that has a lot of subscribers, I would notice that a new submission was posted very recently to the time I visited it and the post after that one would be a post that was posted several hours ago, say 15 hours ago leaving a gap of missing posts. I experience this problem when I am browsing Reddit using the Reddit Is Fun smartphone app and when I am browsing Reddit using the Reddit website).

Another thing I noticed when I logged back into my Reddit account via the Reddit Is Fun Android app is that, unlike before, one of the settings that I had turned on in the app's settings menu was turned off.

Since November 23rd of last year, my wireless home internet has been acting weird. To give you an example of what I meant when I said that my wireless home internet has been acting weird, every social media profile & page I visit on every social media site don't show the most recent posts that are posted to them and there are posts missing from them.

Another thing I have been experiencing since November 23rd of last year is a lot of broken images on the web.

When I opened the console that is in one of my installed web browser's Inspect Element tool to see what the hell is going on, I saw an error message that said "Blocked by cors policy". By the way, I should note that when I viewed the console on each of the webpages that were acting weird, I keep seeing that same error message.

A few days later, I visited one of my favorite forum sites (I am not talking about this one. I am talking about another one.). When I visited the forum site, I tried viewing a thread that was on it. When I tried visiting a thread that was on it, I was taken to a page that said that said that the site was down for maintenance. When I saw that error message, I tried logging on to the account of mine that I have on the site to see if I could view the thread while logged in.

After I l entered my login credentials while I was logged in, I was taken to a page that mentioned something about cross-site request forgery. When I saw them say the phrase "cross-site request forgery" on that page, I said to myself, "I am being hacked."

After I saw that page that said "cross-site request forgery", I downloaded, installed, and ran the packet sniffing computer program Wireshark. The reason why I did that is so I could find out what the hell is going on. When I ran Wireshark, I saw a site called hostland.ru on there. To give you more details about me seeing that hostland.ru site on there, Wireshark said that it was making a request and the type of request that it was making was a DNS request (In other words, Wireshark was saying that hostland.ru was intercepting my web browsing.).

I was puzzled when I saw Wireshark mention the site hostland.ru. The reason why I was puzzled was because I live in the United States. Another reason why I was puzzled was because from November 23rd to the day I saw Wireshark mention Hostland.ru, I didn't visit a Russian website.

By the way, in case you are wondering what kind of website Hostland.ru is, then it is a website for a Russian web hosting service. Also, the reason why me finding out that Hostland.ru made a DNS request in regards to my web browsing is interesting & concerning to me is because of the hacking Russia has been doing as of late.

Another thing that has been happening to me since November 23rd of last year is that I now see transexual pornography on the recommendations part of the porn sites I visit. No offense to the LGBT+ community but I do not watch transsexual pornography and no one else in my house watches transsexual pornography.

Plus, since November 23rd, I now only see pictures of transsexual porn when I search "porn" on Google Images. Again, no one in my house watches transsexual pornography. Also, since November 23rd, I have been served internet ads about LGBT+-related stuff. That tells me that I am being hacked.

Lastly, when I browse the web, I now see an exclamation mark instead of a padlock on my web browser's ui and see "connection is not secure" when I click on the exclamation mark.

By the way, in case you are wondering, all that weird behavior is happening on all of my devices.

I ran antivirus scans using pretty much every antivirus program/app out there and those antivirus programs/apps told me that they did not find any viruses on my devices.

I also changed my home wifi network's DNS server's IP address to the Google Public DNS IP address to see if doing that will stop my tech devices from acting up (By the way, the Android smartphone I use to l talk on the phone act up the way I said it acts up when I am connected to my home wifi network and when I am disconnected from my home wifi network & is connected to my cellphone carrier's mobile data network.). I changed my home wifi network's DNS server IP address to the Google Public DNS IP address so I could see if that would cause me to no longer have that problem when I am using my home wifi network and doing that did not fix the problem.






Here are my device's specs: I own a lot of tech devices. I own too many tech devices to find out what exact operating systems are installed on each of them. If you are wondering the reason why I own a lot of tech devices, then it is because I use the old smartphones I own and no longer take on the phone using as mini computers. The smartphone I talk on the phone using has Android 11 on it.



As for the two laptops I own, one of them has Windows 10 on it and the other one has Ubuntu on it. As for the smartphones I own, most of them are Android smartphones and two of them are iphones (The iphones I own have the ios operating system on them. I forgot the exact versions of the the ios operating system that they have on them.).




If I could take a guess as to what is going on with my devices, then maybe they are being hit by a cross-site scripting attack.


Even though I guessed that I might be a victim of a cross-site scripting attack, I would like for you guys to tell me if you think I am wrong and it is something else I am being hit by. Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[Ralston18]

"By the way, in case you are wondering, all that weird behavior is happening on all of my devices. "

What is common to all of your devices? Maybe that favorite Forum website?

I suggest doing some additional reading regarding XXS.

For example:

XXS Types

https://brightsec.com/blog/xss/

The objective being that the preceding two links (and quite a number of others that I found) may help you narrow down the root problem.

You may read something that you had not thought of or perhaps disregarded or otherwise did not realize as being relevant.

Also you have little or no control over what ads get served up to you via websites.

If I search "copper pipes" then sooner or later ads for tobacco pipes may start appearing.....

Focus on cleaning up one particular tech device. Shut down all others as much as possible. The effort may help discover the root problem and an applicable solution.

Continue to use Wireshark to monitor/mention "Hostland.ru". Shutdown all devices except one device. Monitor. If not mention of "hostland.ru" then turn on another device. Keep watching and allow some time between adding more devices. When Wireshark starts mentioning "hostland.ru" again then the last device turned on may be the culprit in some way.

Tedious and time consuming but that is the nature of such things.

Also on any Windows systems: look in the Host file for references to that "ru" website. Or other websites that you do not recognize.

https://www.howtogeek.com/784196/how-to-edit-the-hosts-file-on-windows-10-or-11/

 

[couldntthinkofausername]

Ralston18, the thing that is common to all of my devices is that they are all connected to my home wifi network.


As for the Host file on my computer, I looked in there and I did not see any references to the Hostland.ru website in it.



To give you an idea of what I am dealing with in regards to the problem I am having with the social media posts, I uploaded a picture to free no-signup image sharing website Imgbb of a screenshot of how the r/Michigan subreddit looked like for me two days ago. Here is the link to the picture that I uploaded to that site: https://ibb.co/XXXXX [Moderator note: redacted.) that is basically how Reddit has looked for me since November 23rd of last year.


Notice the nine hour gap between the post that says "Michigan GOP gubernatorial candidates eager for Donald Trump's endorsement." and the post before it?


A few weeks ago, when I logged into my Gmail account and looked at the "activity on this account page", I found out that a hacker has logged into it.


Sometimes when I am browsing the web on the Android smartphone that I use to make phone calls with, the Amazon smartphone app that was preinstalled on my Android smartphone as an advertising thing when I bought it opens up by itself like a hacker is controlling my Android smartphone remotely.


When I browse webpages, characters from the Wingdings font-family sometimes show in spots of them where emojis are supposed to show. Also, when I am using smartphone apps on the Android smartphone that I use to make phone calls with, I sometimes see characters from the Wingdings font-family on spots of the screen where emojis are supposed to show.


As for what I said about the problem of social media posts being missing for me on social media sites, not only are social media posts missing for me but content in general has been missing for me since November 23rd of last year.


Since this incident first started on November 23rd of last year, when I search for Reddit posts on Google, Google tells me an incorrect date for when the Reddit posts I searched for was posted.




Given that I visited two tech help sites on the web before posting on this one about my tech issue and asked for help on them about it only to be told by the folks on those two sites that they didn't know how to solve my tech issue, it seems whatever I am dealing with is sophisticated.




I will clean up one particular tech device and shut down all others as much as possible (The reason why I am taking a while to do it is because I have been busy.) like you said to do. After doing that, I will reply to this thread and let you know that I am finished.

 

[couldntthinkofausername]

Ralston18, I meant to say "nine hour gap of missing posts" instead of "nine hour gap". I have since corrected that mistake.

 

[Ralston18]

First of all, I am not going to click or otherwise go to that picture link you provided.

Second, I am going to and I have redacted the link so no one else can do so.

When it comes to politics, etc. you may have been the victim (and may still be) of some form of attack or other malfeasance.

We do not want to spread that.

Start by running all AV and anti-malware software available to you.

Look for apps, processes, services, etc. that you do not recognize. Find out what they are. If not expected or legitimate - uninstall.

Post what you find if unsure.

Go to all of your online accounts to change passwords. Use different and strong passwords.

Cancel, quit, or otherwise remove yourself from anything you no longer participate in and/or post. Start with social media sites....

I am not sure (full disclosure) about the specifics regarding what has been happening.

However, I do suspect that somewhere, somehow some malware has gotten into your system.

Run Windows Security and other AV/malware software to clean out possible infections.

Then we can go from there.

 

[couldntthinkofausername]

Ralston18, I am confused about the part of your post where you talk about politics and malfeasance. r/Michigan is not a political news subreddit. It is a subreddit that talks about news regarding what is going on in Michigan (Michigan is the state that I live in.). I was not trying to talk about politics on this awesome site. I was just using that post about Michigan GOP gubernatorial election as an example. Can you explain why you mentioned politics and malfeasance?

 

[bill001g]

Partially the ibb.co site was the source of a fairly large virus. I am unclear if someone hijacked the site or if they allowed one of their advertisers to inject virus. This is why you have to be very careful about "free" sites. This is also the primary reason I run adblockers because some companies even if they themselves are legit do not carefully screen the people they allow to advertise on their platform.

 

[Ralston18]

@couldntthinkofausername

I did not view the link as an attempt to talk politics.

The details within your post clearly indicate something amiss.

Not at all uncommon for people to post links (sometimes even unknowingly) here (Tom's HW) and elsewhere that are potentially dangerous no matter the website or topic.

Who knows what could have happened to the picture you uploaded. Social Media sites are often quite hostile. Especially political sites.

Redacting the link was simply a preventative action.

I would not click such a link anywhere and it seemed prudent to ensure that the link was out of temptation's reach for others not so careful.

Present objective is to get your network devices cleaned of any potential infections or malware.

Or otherwise determine what is happening or has happened to your network.

 

[couldntthinkofausername]

Partially the ibb.co site was the source of a fairly large virus. I am unclear if someone hijacked the site or if they allowed one of their advertisers to inject virus. This is why you have to be very careful about "free" sites. This is also the primary reason I run adblockers because some companies even if they themselves are legit do not carefully screen the people they allow to advertise on their platform.

bill001g, I didn't know that ibb.co was the source of a virus. Bruh, thank you for telling me. Due to the college that I go having a memory usage limit when it comes to putting attachments in emails that are sent using their .edu email addresses, I was uploading screenshots of homework questions I am stuck on to the ibb.co website, putting links to them in the emails I was sending using my .edu email address, and was sending emails about homework questions I am stuck on with the links in them without knowing what you told me about the ibb.co website. Thank you for telling me.


As for this tech issue I am dealing with, it is a doozy. When I searched on Google that I am experiencing missing social media posts, I received search results saying that either I hid the posts or the posts were deleted by the social media sites that I use (both are not true). As for the Wingdings font thing, I searched that up too and I didn't see any search results about it at all.


Man, the last virus that I had wasn't anywhere as bad as this one. I had that one 5 or 6 years ago. That one was the Cyberpolice ransomware virus. All that one did was basically held the stuff on my Android tablet ransom until iTunes gift cards was paid. As you could imagine, I did not pay the hackers behind it. I instead did what a tech help website told me to do to fix the issue.



Aside from me being mad at the hacker who caused me to have the tech problems that this thread is about, I am also mad at the developers behind the web browsers I am using for having the consoles on them just print an error message (That error message about the cors policy blocking elements on the pages I am visiting that I am telling you about.) and not tell the user a way they can fix the error.


The developers behind those browsers having the consoles on them just print an error message (That error message about the cors policy blocking elements on the pages I am visiting that I am telling you about.) and not tell the user a way they can fix the error causes confusion.



I bet you and Ralston18 never experienced a person come to your forum saying that they had the same problem I am having before I did.


Oh! I almost forgot to say this but as of today, I think I have somewhat of an idea in regards to what is going on in regards to my devices: Today, I logged into my Gmail account again and went back to the page that is titled "activity on this account". When I went to that page, I found out that there was another session happening for my account on another device using the same IP address as mine.


When I saw that, I said to myself "That's strange.". When I left that webpage and went to a page that I visited to try to fix the tech issues of mine that this thread is about, I was told to look at my router's logs. When I looked at my router's logs, I saw an event in it that said "received packet with own address as source address" (I should note that I didn't put some of the information that was in the message in the quote in fear that it might be related to my IP address and doing so might cause me to dox myself.). When I Googled the event that I saw in the logs, I found out via a page I saw in the Google search results that it means that my IP address is being spoofed. I agree with the webpage I saw in the Google search results because of what that "activity on this account" page told me today.



With that being said, as for the problem I am experiencing with the porn sites, I think l what is going on is a hacker is probably browsing them at the same time I am browsing them and is changing the sexual orientation setting that is on them to trans while me and them are both waiting for the homepages of them to load.

 

[couldntthinkofausername]

Ralston18, when I visited Control Panel on my Windows laptop and looked at the list of programs that are installed on it, I saw a program that looks suspicious and was never installed before by me on it. The program that I saw is named Browser Assistant and is made by Realistic Media Inc. Is Browser Assistant by Realistic Media Inc. a malicious program?

 

[Nigel Spike]

You may want to read this, found by googling "Browser Assistant".

 

[couldntthinkofausername]

You may want to read this, found by googling "Browser Assistant".

Nigel Spike, I removed the Browser Assistant virus from my Windows laptop using the information in the article at the link in your post and I am still experiencing the tech issues this thread of mine is about. With that being said, I am performing virus scans on my other devices right now to see if anything on one of them are causing the tech issues this thread of mine is about.

 

[couldntthinkofausername]

Ralston18, I would like for you to do something for me: Go to the r/Youshouldknow subreddit on Reddit, sort the posts on there by "new", scroll down to the post that is titled "YSK: the ABCDEs of melanoma" (By the way, to make it easier for you to find the post, let me tell you that it was posted 10 hours ago.), take a screenshot of that post along with the post that was posted before it, and post the screenshot in this thread. The reason why I want you to do that is because I want to see if you are experiencing the same thing I am seeing on your end in regards to what was posted before that post that says "YSK: the ABCDEs of melanoma" (By the way, in case you are wondering what I am seeing on my end in regards to what was posted before that post that is titled "YSK: the ABCDEs of melanoma", I see a post that is titled "YSK If doesn't have to be hot or even very sunny to get sunburn. Always check the UV index and use protection/precautions when going outside in Spring-Autumn" that was posted 20 hours ago.). The reason why I want you to do that for me is because I haven't gotten the chance yet to go to a friend's house, get on their computer, and see if I am the only one who is experiencing the social media posts problem.



By the way, in case you are wondering how I am coming along with finding out what is causing the tech issues this thread of mine is about, so far I have found a virus on one of my laptops, removed the virus in hopes of me no longer experiencing the tech issues that this thread of mine is about, and found out that removing the virus did not stop the tech issues this thread of mine is about from no longer happening. With that being said, I am in the process of performing virus scans on my other devices in hopes of finding a virus on one of them, removing the virus, and hopefully, putting a stop to the tech issues that this thread of mine is about.

 

[nigelivey]

Just back up important docs etc and format and reinstall your OS, way too much drama here.

 

[couldntthinkofausername]

Guys, I haven't forgot about this this thread. I should be finished preforming the rest of the anti-virus scans on my other devices sometime before the end of this month. The reason why I am taking so long is because I have been busy. When I am finished preforming the rest of the anti-virus scans on my other devices, I will let you know if they detected any viruses. Thank you for the help you have so far provided me with in troubleshooting this doozy of a tech problem.

 

[couldntthinkofausername]

Just back up important docs etc and format and reinstall your OS, way too much drama here.

Nigelivey, I backed up my important docs and formatted & reinstalled my os. After doing that, I am still experiencing my tech problem. I have no idea where to go from there.

 

[Ralston18]

Take a "time out" from Reddit.

Use other sites to search for information - not Reddit.

Not sure if you still have account access or not but that is moot for the time being.

Uninstall Reddit and any Reddit related software, links, etc. from all devices.

(May even be worthwhile to close/delete your Reddit account. I recommend doing so. Later you can create a new account with a new user name, stronger password, authentication, etc.. Keep the account secure and do not share account information with anyone.)

Run AV and malware scans on all devices.

Wait a few days and then, if truly necessary and required, install Reddit on only one one test device. Keep the test device minimal and make no other changes beyond installing Reddit.

Preferably a test device that can be easily scanned and if an infection of some sort is found then can be wiped thereafter.

Do all Reddit related activity on that test device. Determine if there are any problems, original or otherwise.

Again, give it a few days to determine what, if anything, starts happening regarding the test device, your wireless network, etc.

Make notes and keep track of what develops. Having some specific history may prove helpful.

 

[couldntthinkofausername]

Take a "time out" from Reddit.

Use other sites to search for information - not Reddit.

Not sure if you still have account access or not but that is moot for the time being.

Uninstall Reddit and any Reddit related software, links, etc. from all devices.

(May even be worthwhile to close/delete your Reddit account. I recommend doing so. Later you can create a new account with a new user name, stronger password, authentication, etc.. Keep the account secure and do not share account information with anyone.)

Run AV and malware scans on all devices.

Wait a few days and then, if truly necessary and required, install Reddit on only one one test device. Keep the test device minimal and make no other changes beyond installing Reddit.

Preferably a test device that can be easily scanned and if an infection of some sort is found then can be wiped thereafter.

Do all Reddit related activity on that test device. Determine if there are any problems, original or otherwise.

Again, give it a few days to determine what, if anything, starts happening regarding the test device, your wireless network, etc.

Make notes and keep track of what develops. Having some specific history may prove helpful.

Ralston18, a second before you posted that reply, I was messing with my final device (it is a laptop). Like I was doing with the device I was talking to Nigelivey about at 5:39 am, I had performed a factory reset on it. The reason why I had factory reset on the device I was talking to Nigelivey about is because I had lost the password to it and factory resetting devices removes viruses off of computers since they remove every single file that is on a computer off of it.


With that being said, as of right now, there are no viruses on both of the two computers I was talking about. Even though there are no viruses on both of the two computers I was talking about, I am still experiencing the tech issue where every active social media page I go to looks like a ghost town.


By the way, I also have been receiving ssl protocol errors. When I searched up how to stop receiving ssl protocol errors, I found out that a person receives ssl protocol errors when someone who is near their router hacks it. My neighborhood is full of Baby Boomers. No one other than me in my neighborhood is tech savvy. With that being said, no one hacked my router.


Another reason why I say that no one hacked my router is because my home wifi network is password-protected.


Also, for one entire week last month, my home wifi network was down and I was told that my home wifi network was not being hit by a ddos attack when I asked them if my home wifi network was being hit by a ddos attack.


I ran anti-virus scans on all of my devices and none of them found any viruses on them. With that being said, I am confused.

 

[couldntthinkofausername]

Ralston18, I meant to say "and I was told by my isp AT&T U-verse that my home wifi network was not being hit by a ddos attack when I asked them if my home wifi network was being hit by a ddos attack." instead of "and I was told that my home wifi network was not being hit by a ddos attack when I asked them if my home wifi network was being hit by a ddos attack."

 

[bill001g]

My neighborhood is full of Baby Boomers. No one other than me in my neighborhood is tech savvy.

You will find if you hang around this forum long enough you will find many of the most of the most knowledgeable posters are baby boomers. Many are now retired and do this forums to avoid boredom. I having worked almost purely networking for more than 20 years would be one of the best hackers if I chose to misuse my knowledge.

In any case hacking wifi is almost impossible for anyone other than the government. The one exception would be if you have turned on a feature called WPS. Some routers have this on by default. It is a massive security exposure but you have too many lazy people. It is what allows you to connect to a secure network by pushing a button on the router rather than key in the password. Many smart...ie stupid.. devices like lightbulbs only work on WPS. This would not be as big a issue if it was only worked if you push the button but it is required to work with a simple key number that is set when it is manufactured and can not be changed. A cell phone app can crack this in a couple minutes.

You want to always have WPS off in the software settings this disables both the button and the key number.

That said that does not actually give you access to the router it just gives you access to the network. Kids use it to get free internet or get around things like parental restrictions on their home router. You can not change the router config which is what you really would have to do to attack someone. There is some limited ability to try to attack devices on your network but the firewalls in the devices tend to protect you.

DDOS is something completely different. It is more vandalism than hacking. It would be like someone coming over to your house and unplugging your internet cable. Just like you can't really stop all the spam calls on cell phones you can't do anything about DDOS so it doesn't pay to even worry about it. In theory someone can ddos attack your wifi but it is easier to just spoof a disconnect all devices message if I wanted to irritate you. DDOS attacks are exactly that denial of service they have no ability to inject virus or code onto your machine.

 

[Ralston18]

This:

"I am still experiencing the tech issue where every active social media page I go to looks like a ghost town. "

What browser(s) do you use? Does the same problem occur with all browsers or just some of the browsers?

What do you mean by "ghost town"? More description and information is needed: are there missing links, pages, lists, unfilled images, and so forth....

What social media page(s) are ghost towns? List a few of them by name.

Then list any social media pages that do work/appear as expected. [Noted "every" above but I would be remiss if I did not ask about any social media sites that do happen to correctly work.]

There may be some common factor with regards to "ghost town" social media websites vs fully functioning social media websites.

Is it possible for you to go to a few of those social media websites to capture screenshots as applicable and then post the screenshots here as examples? I.e., show what you mean by "ghost town" appearance versus what is expected.

Post using imgur (www.imgur.com).

 

[couldntthinkofausername]

This:

"I am still experiencing the tech issue where every active social media page I go to looks like a ghost town. "

What browser(s) do you use? Does the same problem occur with all browsers or just some of the browsers?

What do you mean by "ghost town"? More description and information is needed: are there missing links, pages, lists, unfilled images, and so forth....

What social media page(s) are ghost towns? List a few of them by name.

Then list any social media pages that do work/appear as expected. [Noted "every" above but I would be remiss if I did not ask about any social media sites that do happen to correctly work.]

There may be some common factor with regards to "ghost town" social media websites vs fully functioning social media websites.

Is it possible for you to go to a few of those social media websites to capture screenshots as applicable and then post the screenshots here as examples? I.e., show what you mean by "ghost town" appearance versus what is expected.

Post using imgur (www.imgur.com).

Ralston18, Here is a picture of an example of how active social media pages I go to have been looking like ghost towns since November 23rd of last year:

https://imgur.com/a/14GPR9Y

View: https://imgur.com/a/14GPR9Y




The social media posts I view having huge time gaps problem I am experiencing is making it difficult to comment on posts on Reddit because if you used the social media site Reddit before, then you would know that if you comment on a post that is from 7 or 8 hours ago, then no one is going to reply to your comment.


When I notice that content is missing other than the social media posts, I see a torn paper icon. Here are two photo examples of torn paper icons being shown instead of content that are not social media posts:

https://imgur.com/a/zXCwfBd

View: https://imgur.com/a/zXCwfBd

https://imgur.com/a/gGjCwGY

View: https://imgur.com/a/gGjCwGY




Here is a picture of one of the web browsers that I use showing a padlock icon that have a slash in the middle of it indicating that my connection is not secure on its ui:

https://imgur.com/a/NcNoeXU

View: https://imgur.com/a/NcNoeXU




Also, one thing I forgot to say early on in this thread is that since November 23rd of last year, I have been seeing weird/cryptic codes on webpages when I view them on my devices. Here is an imgur url to a picture of those codes being on webpages:

https://imgur.com/a/GJWi2Un

View: https://imgur.com/a/GJWi2Un



When I was trying to visit a forum website, I was taken to a page that an error message on it saying "err_ssl_version_or_cipher_mismatch". (Here is a picture of the page:

https://imgur.com/a/jHZsKSi

View: https://imgur.com/a/jHZsKSi
)


A few minutes before I received that error message, I was logged into an account of mine on another website and when I performed an action on that site while I was logged into my account, I received an error message that said "invalid session key"



The web browsers I use are Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Dolphin, and Puffin. The problem I am experiencing is happening on all of the browsers that I use.


The social media pages that look like ghost towns for me are the r/Youshouldknow subreddit, the r/Michigan subreddit, and the r/wwe subreddit. The list of subreddits that look like ghost towns for me is too long for me to put on here given that it's the active subreddits (again, what I am talking about when I say "active subreddits" is that I am talking about subreddits that have a lot of subscribers).



Since one of you guys said that only the government can hack wifi networks, it sounds like to me that this hacker who is causing all of my tech devices to experience all of these tech issues probably stole technology from the U.S. government.


The reason I said that is because the government would not alter the date that is displayed on Google as the date a Reddit post was posted on to an incorrect date.



This mysterious tech problem I have seems gets more & more like something I am going to have to call the FBI about by the day. I was talking to someone on another website about the tech problem I have and they said that it sounds like the hacker that is causing my tech devices to have all these problems have broke my devices.


As for me showing you guys a picture of what active subreddits should look like for me when I view them, I wouldn't be able to do that because not all active subreddits have submissions posted to them using the same frequency as each other. All I know is that when I visit an active subreddit and sort the pages I see by "new", the first post I see shouldn't be a post from at least 7 hours ago.



Since that person it sounds like the hacker that is causing my tech devices to have all these problems have broke my devices, I might have the FBI find out who this hacker is and sue him/her so I can be reimbursed for all of the tech devices of mine that they broke.



The reason why I said that whoever caused my tech devices to have all of those since November 23rd of last year broke all of my tech devices is because my tech devices have been having so many tech issues since 11/23 of last year that if I would've listed them all in the first post I made in this thread, then it would've made the post impossible to read.


I don't know if I said this story in this thread but one month after I first started experiencing these tech issues on November 23rd of last year, after I was making a class project in Microsoft PowerPoint and saved it to my computer, I tried to access it from my computer and was told by the Windows os that the file was no longer on my computer.


Luckily, I had a copy of the project saved to my flash drive. When I made a copy of the copy of the project that I had on my flash drive and moved it to my my computer's hard drive, I worked on that copy and saved it only to upon trying to open it again later that day be told again that it is no longer on my computer like a hacker has remote access to my Windows 10 laptop and deleted it.






Another reason why I said that whoever caused my tech devices to have all of those since November 23rd of last year broke all of my tech devices is because I had factory reset all of my tech devices and after doing that, my tech devices still were experiencing all of the tech devices they have been experiencing since November 23rd of last year.


When you were looking at those two photos above that show how I am seeing torn pieces of paper icons on the web in place of web content, you saw a clock icon on the right side of the notification area.


In case you didn't know, that clock icon appearing in the notification area indicates that an alarm clock was set on an Android smartphone. I didn't set an alarm clock to go off on my Android smartphone. With that being said, that I should not be seeing that icon in the notification area on my Android smartphone.


In case you're wondering how long I have been seeing that alarm clock icon in the notification area of my Android smartphone, then I have been seeing it in the notification area of my Android smartphone since June of this year. I also have been seeing it in the notification area of my other Android smartphones too.


With that being said, me seeing that alarm clock icon in the notification area of all of my Android smartphone even though I didn't set an alarm to go off on them is proof that a hacker has remote access to my tech devices.


Like I said, all of this started mysteriously happening out of the blue on November 23rd of last year.

 

[Ralston18]

I do not know, full disclosure, what has been happening and what is continuing to happen.

What I do know is that you visit multiple websites of a political nature and that you have many devices. And as stated from your original post:

"I own a lot of tech devices. I own too many tech devices to find out what exact operating systems are installed on each of them. "

That is not good. If you do not even know what OS's are installed you have no way of knowing what AV and anti-malware to install. Or what default settings may be in place.

Especially if those devices are somehow synching or otherwise communicating amongst themselves. You get one device fixed and then it gets "unfixed" by another device that you have not yet had time to get to and to fix. Endless circle.

Set aside any thoughts of the FBI helping you find some hacker and you subsequently suing someone - that , being brutally honest, is not going to happen.

And unexpected icons, such as the cited alarm clock icon, may simply the result of some update: buggy, corrupted, or perhaps just a new default. And perhaps synching amongst devices.....

You also cited cryptic codes such as "&#x27" - not cryptic: Simply buggy code, corruption, or some webpage code that the browser could not understand or handle. All the more likely if the website is not properly designed, managed, updated, etc..

As for November 23rd, 2021 I did not note anything specifically relevant or sensible to that date.

The Powerpoint presentation: do not use Move. Use Copy instead. It can be very easy to mix up/mess up a Move. Using Copy will leave the original file in the source location. Do be sure to have backups for that source location. Verify that the backups are recoverable and readable.

Here are my recommendations:

1) Reduce your devices to a minimum. Simply turn off all but a computer or two and your cell phone. Leave them off. As for devices that you continue to use, ensure that they have AV and malware protection installed. Simplify your home network to reduce the number of possible ways for attacks, hacking, etc.. Change all logins and passwords on all devices - especially for those you chose to continue using. Ensure that the logins and passwords are random in nature and not easily associated to you.

2) Leave as many social media sites as you can. If absolutely necessary, stay with two or three social media sites that you feel you can trust. If you note continuing issues with those websites then immediately leave them as well. Start anew.

For those websites that you wish to remain active in set up 2FA and any other protections that may be available to ensure that no one can log in as "you". Again, change all passwords as well.

3) Focus on your college work. Stay away from Social Media and limit participation therein. Do not draw attention to yourself.

4) You will have to contact your college admin/IT support as to why you apparently cannot access "Rate my Professor".

That all said, I am going to close this thread to further posts.

Wait at least 2 months to get things cleaned up and cleared up. If there are any specific technical issues with your hardware and software then post accordingly.

Problems with specific websites or college related IT matters must be addressed by the applicable administrators for those websites and/or your college.

Closing this thread to further posts.