am i being hacked???

Hi all,
I've been running XP-Pro for a couple of months now without any security updates installed, I am connected to the net via a broad band modem which is generally connected 24/7 - 'as i download a lot using Kazaa lite'
The other day my whole system seemed to slow down and as both my anti virus programs could not find any viruses on the system i started to worry a bit - thinking - could be a hacker???
I have zone alarm fire wall, AVG anti virus, and just recently installed Norton-2003 full package.
I have now installed the security updates and my system is very usable but seems to be just as slow, I initially did not install the security up dates as i remember the last time that i installed them it seemed to slow the system down.
Can anyone please inform me on the following -

Have i made a grave error by not installing them initially, and what are the chances of been hacked?

Am i right in thinking that these updates slow the system down when installed?

How can i check to see if there are, or has been any hacking going on

If i have been hacked, would i have been too late by installing the updates after a hacker has had access to my system?

Go easy on any tech-stuff! im very new to all of this

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

skylark

Did it start slowing down when you installed Norton? It may just be that Norton requires a lot of resources which takes away from speed on other processes. As for if you've been hacked, probably not if you've been running your firewall and it's properly configured, but you never know. Just keep an eye out for anything weird. Peace.

Forgot to mention, im using ad-aware 6, i dont know if it is just me being paranoid, but recently it does not find any were as many spyware bugs as it used to. Could this be any thing to worry about?
thanks again
skylark

:) Doesn't sound like a good way to surf the net, or safe.
Hey, i get me a chance to promote my tut.
You might want to read through this tutorial

And also the other's on securing windows. Mine is a very basic one, and shouldn't be at
all too technical to understand.

Will post some links for online scanners,when i get, be back soon.

Thanks for the reply,
i think it was before i installed norton, but i will uninstall it and see if it makes a difference.
about the actual security updates, is it necessary (wise) for them to be installed, and by having them does it make a difference to the speed of things or would this just my imagination

:)How much RAM have you got?
How many services are running in the background?
How many of them are you using, can you turn some off?


It is better to have a slow machine than one that stops completely.
I would say surfing the net without AV, Firewall, would be like driving a
car at 200mph (americans) round ocean cliffs with no hands! Don't do it!

online scanners

http://www.symantec.com/cgi-bin/securitycheck.cgi

http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/licence.php

http://www.pandasoftware.com/actives...f=EN-PR-AS-107

http://www.kaspersky.com/scanforvirus

Try these to see if anythings on your box that shouldn't be.....

Thanks for all the info....
I enabled xp built in fire wall, and ive downloaded spybot
Ive got - 768 ram
services running - 44, but i dont know what i can and cannot turn off
ive got AVG and Norton at the mo.. and my fire wall is Zone alarm.
Is this sufficient to protect my computer, or is it vital that i have the xp security updates too.

Yes, it's wise to install security updates when available.
Unfortunately sometimes a patch gets released that will slow down your system. This is usually fixed some time later if MS receives alot of complaints about it.

:) You MUST have all the critical updates installed. Have you updated
any security updates from M$????? If not best you do. Also if you are
using Internet Explorer ,DONT download Mozilla instead.
Is that 768 MB of RAM??

For your Services that you can change/disable, go to

blackviper

I have virtually done what is recommended there, and have not noticed any
problems at all.

its 768 MB's
what is Mozilla, and why should i not use it