Hi there,
My Comodo security (antivirus, firewall) says everything is fine, but if the internet connection is left on, the computer will switch itself on. So I don’t leave the internet connection on. Is there anything else can I do to get this to stop?
With thanks,
Ambs
Hi Ambs,
Sure you check what Lt.ganda suggested. (Hi Lieutenant, Cool new avatar! 
)
At the same time can you be more specific about “switch itself on”
Sorry for saying this but some users may use this term when it is “waking up”,
meaning that computer is not physically powered off.
If the computer is oi Stand by or Hibernating first things to check would be settings of your Network card and the BIOS. Both have settings related to “Wake Up on LAN” (WOL).
Sure it is possible to switch power of PC On remotely (remote control or even by phone call) but for that you need some additional hardware to be involved.
So what is actually going on there?
You are switching power OFF pressing power button.
You are leaving your modem/router On (many users are never switching that off)
…and all of a sudden you computer comes alive and booting up?
Is that happening?
Anyway try disabling WOL first irrespectively
My regards
I had a similar issue with a laptop some time in the past. The cause of the issue turned was never determined, but:
On a Hewlett Packard 8200 Series Laptop:
When fully powered off, by power button, and Wake-on LAN disabled;
The computer would start itself again after a certain period of time, exactly ten minutes to the second.
I had BIOS password configured so no harm could be done, BUT:
This issue started immediately after I had engaged in some dubious and shady ‘enterprises’ (above and beyond your standard warez downloading, bit torrent etc.) so to speak upon the internet, over a year after I had first purchased the laptop. After multiple formats, and multiple probes with windbg, rootkitunhooker, and gmer, and every anti-virus and anti-malware product under the sun, NO issue was revealed. But a definite issue existed, for the computer, coincidentally, to start attempting to ‘turn itself on’ (a computer does nothing that is neither intended programming or an artifact [glitch] thereof). I never got to try the machine hooked up to a different internet connection to see if it changed the behavior.
This put a strong scare in to me. I changed ISPs, threw the old PC out, and bought a new one to be completely safe. I disengaged from any grey-area behavior, and the problem never resumed.
I know this measure seems a bit drastic - and may have been completely uncalled for and pure coincidence - and likely was since nothing ever came of it beyond my draconian corrective measures. But I was, and am, extremely paranoid - to the point where I tend to stay away from security software made by companies incorporated in the same country in which I intend to use it.
My advice to you, if you have been doing anything… shady, is to quit, and get a new PC. I leave you to draw the same conclusions I did.
_< isn’t it too much?
why not just reinstall OS then?
Well, reinstalling the system may not work.
The problem is definitely a hardware problem. The story about “doing wrong things with warez” was interesting and we should not do such sort of things at all… but when power is Off malware will not work… until the power is on :).
If you don’t have faulty BIOS; faulty power supply; faulty switch; faulty power on/off on motherboard (check those jumpers); remote control and hardware to switch it on (should be on “stand by”); wake up on keyboard; connection alive AND mentioned WOL; - computer will not switch it’s power On by itself
So, all that has to be checked. Say, if you have switch on Power supply and that little green lamp inside PC is always alive and you have one of those faulty things you may have a problem.
Switch Off power supply and test that; disable all power management in BIOS; do BIOS upgrade. If you did not perform that read the history of BIOS update changelog. I am sure you will find that some issues with Power-on self-test (POST) and Power States G0, G1 and S1-S5 states bugs were addressed and fixed… and so on.
If you reinstall and leave hardware problem you will have it again with fresh system.
=======
Finally, a bit OffTopic, but about reinstallation. When you don’t have problem as described.
With some rootkits you can reinstall the system … but on another new fresh and shiny hard drive only, because the old hard drive with that rootkit cannot be reformatted… and has to be thrown away, sadly enough
Cheers
ow that’s comforting >_<
where’s the OP btw? ???
hope she doesn’t get scared and throw her PC yet 88)