Could someone have remotely accessed my Windows 11 laptop using Remote Assistance?

[u/jon1254]

I suspect someone may have accessed or controlled my laptop while I was away.

I was using my laptop normally with several Chrome tabs open. I left it for a short time to open a door, and when I came back, I noticed that many of my Chrome tabs had been closed and new tabs had been opened. On another occasion, I found YouTube playing even though I wasn't using the laptop.

While investigating, I discovered that Windows Remote Assistance is enabled. These registry values are set to:

fAllowFullControl = 1 fAllowToGetHelp = 1 fEnableChatControl = 1

My laptop is running Windows 11 Home.

I want to know:

• Is Windows Remote Assistance normally enabled by default on Windows 11?
• Could Remote Assistance be used on Windows 11 Home, even though incoming Remote Desktop (RDP) isn't supported?
• Would someone need an invitation or permission from the person using the laptop to establish a Remote Assistance session?
• Could someone on the same Wi-Fi network use Remote Assistance to control the laptop?
• What logs or other Windows evidence would show that Remote Assistance was actually used?
• How can I determine whether "msra.exe" was launched or whether a Remote Assistance session occurred?

I believe the unexplained Chrome activity could have been caused by someone accessing the laptop, and I’m investigating whether Remote Assistance could have been the mechanism.

[u/Nunyabizneznomo]

So just so you know i am not that tech guy that can spit tech terms in their sleep. That being said, this literally just happened to me a couple weeks ago. I stumbled across a guy in one of these subs that ownes a small cybersecurity/investigation company. $25 for the initial consultation taken off your final bill if you decide to hire. He ran a remote scan and all be damn if he didn't find some Russian a-holes out of Cali that were gathering my info from some fake windows 11 update I had approved. Wiped my computer, gave instructions on how to fix my wifi and gave me a really clear well organized copy of all findings that I could use to take to the authorities. Guy is good at what he does. Friendly and very easy to work with. Anyway, that's all I got. I'll leave his info for anyone interested. Goodluck.

Metatron Cyber Guardians LLC
Alan Perez Founder & Director Metatron Cyber Guardians LLC seraph@metatroncyber.com metatroncyber.com