Edge web searches show on a user's computer, who is doing this?

[computertechguy]

The client called me and said they have noticed a few times when they get in the office, they have seen web searches in the Edge browser. They leave their computer running because they use anydesk for remote access. I changed the anydesk password to something completely different just now.

Any thoughts on this?
Windows 11 on a domain. No one else seems to have this issue.

 

[britechguy]

Can you please clarify what you mean (or they mean) by the phrase "have seen web searches"?

All of the following is shared across devices in Edge if Edge is logged in and "the full boat" of profile syncing options is on:

 

[computertechguy]

Web searches are prefilled in the browser that the user never did, their account is NOT synched in Edge.

 

[Philippe]

The cleaning lady/guy

 

[britechguy]

The cleaning lady/guy

Since the computer is left running, and no mention is made at all about whether it's locked while doing so, that's entirely possible.

If anyone walking by can wake the thing to the desktop, all bets are off.

 

[timeshifter]

Web searches are prefilled in the browser that the user never did, their account is NOT synched in Edge.

so would it be more accurate to say the the auto-fill or auto-complete entries are not something the user would have searched for?

If there are searches going on they would show up in their history. Maybe look at the history to see where and when they went places.

 

[frase]

I am more curious of what the web searches entail, just me?

 

[Markverhyden]

The client called me and said they have noticed a few times when they get in the office, they have seen web searches in the Edge browser. They leave their computer running because they use anydesk for remote access. I changed the anydesk password to something completely different just now.

Any thoughts on this?
Windows 11 on a domain. No one else seems to have this issue.

Definitely a chupacabra infestation. Need to call in the big guns for this one.

Seriously though. Had the Edge session be terminated when they left? Meaning the app was not running and no autostart has been configured? It's never a good practice to leave a computer for any length of time with any browser running. Sharp black hats might be able to hijack a legit iFrame from a third party on a legit website. Happened to me a long time ago.

 

[computertechguy]

I am more curious of what the web searches entail, just me?

They were insignificant. Nothing to alert any flags.

 

[computertechguy]

Definitely a chupacabra infestation. Need to call in the big guns for this one.

Seriously though. Had the Edge session be terminated when they left? Meaning the app was not running and no autostart has been configured? It's never a good practice to leave a computer for any length of time with any browser running. Sharp black hats might be able to hijack a legit iFrame from a third party on a legit website. Happened to me a long time ago.

The irony to this is that the person doesn't use Edge, and they asked others, and no one used that computer. Here's a thought: they have a microphone connected, could the microphone invoke edge for a search?

 

[timeshifter]

Maybe look at the history to see where and when they went places.

?

 

[britechguy]

?

What's the confusion? Open the browser history and you can see exactly what websites were visited and when that visit occurred.

If someone's walking up "in the middle of the night" and the computer is accessible to them, the history log will pretty clearly indicate when they did whatever web browsing they were doing. Where: what sites. When: what time. Collectively: when they went places.

You can't really do anything more sophisticated without that baseline information.

 

[timeshifter]

I’m not confused. I’m simply asking @computertechguy again what the history shows. You just explained what I was thinking already. It’s equivalent to not making sure something’s plugged in when it won’t turn on. It’s the first thing I’d check.

 

[fincoder]

Aren't search requests predicted as you type normally anyway? The prediction is based on the aggregate of all the users of that search engine in the world.

 

[Markverhyden]

Aren't search requests predicted as you type normally anyway? The prediction is based on the aggregate of all the users of that search engine in the world.

Yes and no. No one really knows how they do those things. But I do remember you can opt out of the predictive stuff. It will also use history stored under your browser account if you are logged in with it.

 

[John Kennedy]

If I understood the OP correctly, the user leaves the computer, the computer is locked while they are away, and when they come back to the computer there is an Edge tab open with a search performed (by whatever is the default search). Is that correct? If so, I have a person that told me that was happening to them. They lock the computer, come back later, and there's a search for something random in Spanish. She doesn't speak spanish. I was wondering if it was some kind of search being run through a microphone as well.

 

[frase]

If I understood the OP correctly, the user leaves the computer, the computer is locked while they are away, and when they come back to the computer there is an Edge tab open with a search performed (by whatever is the default search). Is that correct? If so, I have a person that told me that was happening to them. They lock the computer, come back later, and there's a search for something random in Spanish. She doesn't speak spanish. I was wondering if it was some kind of search being run through a microphone as well.

OP never stated if system was locked down when AFK.

In regards to the Spanish may be this guy..."The Tequila Guy!"

 

[Howie Johnson]

If it's not a coworker using ye olde "password on a postit under the keyboard", then on a Domain I would suspect the "funny" IT staff.