Unusual message displayed before Windows login screen?

[Priestess]

I had my PC powered on, but I went to do a few chores, and the computer went into sleep mode. When I came back and went to log back into my desktop, there was a strange message next to a wireframe globe icon saying, "What's the matter? Chicken?". I have never seen any message displayed on that screen, so I took a photo of it and sent it to a friend. He didn't know what it was, and said I should go back to that screen and click on it. I couldn't even get my computer to go back to the screen with the image that displays the time and date, before the login screen with my email address where I put in my password. I had to power off my PC and power it back on. When I got back to the screen described above, there was no longer a message there. Is anyone familiar with this issue, or what could be causing it?

I reinstalled Windows 8.1 a few days ago, and upgraded to Windows 10 because I was afraid my ex was stalking me, which is why I'm asking this question in the first place. I'm scared!

Links to photos of this issue are attached, since I'm not incredibly tech savvy, and my description of my issue may be confusing.

 

[BadActor]

First thing I would do is run several different virus scans and check to make sure remote assistance is disabled. You're using a legitimate copy of Windows, right?

 

[lakimens]

Wow, this must be a prank..
Why are you so scared?

 

[Priestess]

First thing I would do is run several different virus scans and check to make sure remote assistance is disabled. You're using a legitimate copy of Windows, right?

Yes. This is a legitimate copy of Windows 8.1 Pro, upgraded to Windows 10.

 

[Priestess]

Wow, this must be a prank..
Why are you so scared?

He threatened to slit my throat if I ever left him. He pointed a loaded gun at me. I'm seeing a lawyer in a week to file for a divorce and a protective order. This is serious.

 

[USAFRet]

Wow, this must be a prank..
Why are you so scared?

He threatened to slit my throat if I ever left him. He pointed a loaded gun at me. I'm seeing a lawyer in a week to file for a divorce and a protective order. This is serious.

1. Lawyer and police
2. Full wipe and reinstall of the system

If he had access and skill to cause that message to appear, no telling what else is in there.
Full wipe and reinstall.

 

[tsnor]

Very sorry to read this post. Good Luck to you. If your ex placed this message for you then:
1. He likely had physical access to your computer. If he shouldn't have had physical access then reconsider locks/keys, or other ways into your dwelling. Make the court aware of the message. Good decision to take a picture.
2. If he has the skill to generate the message he may also have installed software called a "keylogger" that can capture anything you type on the computer including passwords to online banking, the words you type in an email, etc. These programs may not show up in a virus scan because they are not viruses. A clean install of Win10 is something you can do at home and will wipe out anything bad on your PC, but will also lose your saved email, photos, music, browser bookmarks, etc. Essentially you download win10, put on a usb stick that is 8gb or larger, boot off the usb and your PC is cleaned up to factory new, losing all programs and data you have installed. Post if you need instructions or google for them. Windows will remember your win10 key.

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

Might show pictures you shared with us to your lawyer, to add to any pile of evidence you may have.

 

[USAFRet]

Very sorry to read this post. Good Luck to you. If your ex placed this message for you then:
1. He likely had physical access to your computer. If he shouldn't have had physical access then reconsider locks/keys, or other ways into your dwelling. Make the court aware of the message. Good decision to take a picture.
2. If he has the skill to generate the message he may also have installed software called a "keylogger" that can capture anything you type on the computer including passwords to online banking, the words you type in an email, etc. These programs may not show up in a virus scan because they are not viruses. A clean install of Win10 is something you can do at home and will wipe out anything bad on your PC, but will also lose your saved email, photos, music, browser bookmarks, etc. Essentially you download win10, put on a usb stick that is 8gb or larger, boot off the usb and your PC is cleaned up to factory new, losing all programs and data you have installed. Post if you need instructions or google for them. Windows will remember your win10 key.

I wouldn't even accept just a reinstall of the OS.
Wipe the drive(s) fully with DBAN, then install the OS.

 

[Priestess]

Very sorry to read this post. Good Luck to you. If your ex placed this message for you then:
1. He likely had physical access to your computer. If he shouldn't have had physical access then reconsider locks/keys, or other ways into your dwelling. Make the court aware of the message. Good decision to take a picture.
2. If he has the skill to generate the message he may also have installed software called a "keylogger" that can capture anything you type on the computer including passwords to online banking, the words you type in an email, etc. These programs may not show up in a virus scan because they are not viruses. A clean install of Win10 is something you can do at home and will wipe out anything bad on your PC, but will also lose your saved email, photos, music, browser bookmarks, etc. Essentially you download win10, put on a usb stick that is 8gb or larger, boot off the usb and your PC is cleaned up to factory new, losing all programs and data you have installed. Post if you need instructions or google for them. Windows will remember your win10 key.

Thanks! The strange thing is, I just formatted my SSD and HD 3 days ago and reinstalled windows 8.1, then upgraded to windows 10. I have no idea why this message is coming up at all. I've disabled remote access to my pc, and I'm changing the password to log in (my email password) right away.

That's all I can think of doing until my brother is around to help. He does IT governance, I'm pretty sure he can help. I have Windows 10 on a flash drive, but for some reason I can't boot from USB. Something to do with UEFI? It's not even recognizing that drive. This is all incredibly strange.

Are some flash drives "not good enough" to install Windows on? This is a 32GB flash drive with nothing on it except windows 10.

Edited to remove redundant statements made in panic.

 

[Priestess]

Very sorry to read this post. Good Luck to you. If your ex placed this message for you then:
1. He likely had physical access to your computer. If he shouldn't have had physical access then reconsider locks/keys, or other ways into your dwelling. Make the court aware of the message. Good decision to take a picture.
2. If he has the skill to generate the message he may also have installed software called a "keylogger" that can capture anything you type on the computer including passwords to online banking, the words you type in an email, etc. These programs may not show up in a virus scan because they are not viruses. A clean install of Win10 is something you can do at home and will wipe out anything bad on your PC, but will also lose your saved email, photos, music, browser bookmarks, etc. Essentially you download win10, put on a usb stick that is 8gb or larger, boot off the usb and your PC is cleaned up to factory new, losing all programs and data you have installed. Post if you need instructions or google for them. Windows will remember your win10 key.

I wouldn't even accept just a reinstall of the OS.
Wipe the drive(s) fully with DBAN, then install the OS.

Any advice if my 32GB flash drive with only windows 10 on it won't seem to work? I'll definitely try that. I've gone into the bios and tried to boot from USB, it recognizes that I have the flash drive in, but never boots from the flash drive when I select it. It always just goes back into the BIOS. I have an Asus P8Z77-V PRO/THUNDERBOLT motherboard. Not sure if that matters. Just thought I'd mention it in case it does.

 

[rgd1101]

quote from back to the future?
http://www.bttfscripts.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

did you install some themes?

 

[USAFRet]

Any advice if my 32GB flash drive with only windows 10 on it won't seem to work? I'll definitely try that. I've gone into the bios and tried to boot from USB, it recognizes that I have the flash drive in, but never boots from the flash drive when I select it. It always just goes back into the BIOS. I have an Asus P8Z77-V PRO/THUNDERBOLT motherboard. Not sure if that matters. Just thought I'd mention it in case it does.

Either an improperly constructed USB drive, or plug it into a different USB port.

 

[Priestess]

Very sorry to read this post. Good Luck to you. If your ex placed this message for you then:
1. He likely had physical access to your computer. If he shouldn't have had physical access then reconsider locks/keys, or other ways into your dwelling. Make the court aware of the message. Good decision to take a picture.
2. If he has the skill to generate the message he may also have installed software called a "keylogger" that can capture anything you type on the computer including passwords to online banking, the words you type in an email, etc. These programs may not show up in a virus scan because they are not viruses. A clean install of Win10 is something you can do at home and will wipe out anything bad on your PC, but will also lose your saved email, photos, music, browser bookmarks, etc. Essentially you download win10, put on a usb stick that is 8gb or larger, boot off the usb and your PC is cleaned up to factory new, losing all programs and data you have installed. Post if you need instructions or google for them. Windows will remember your win10 key.

I wouldn't even accept just a reinstall of the OS.
Wipe the drive(s) fully with DBAN, then install the OS.

Any advice if my 32GB flash drive with only windows 10 on it won't seem to work? I'll definitely try that. I've gone into the bios and tried to boot from USB, it recognizes that I have the flash drive in, but never boots from the flash drive when I select it. It always just goes back into the BIOS. I have an Asus P8Z77-V PRO/THUNDERBOLT motherboard. Not sure if that matters. Just thought I'd mention it in case it does.

UPDATE: I think Microsoft is unintentionally alarming me with their use of buzzwords in some kind of a preview feature. Accidental trolls? It's scary to someone going through my situation, but there's no way they'd do it on purpose. Here's a new message that came up that seemed kind of fishy at first too. My thoughts are now that I may have been freaking out over nothing for the past several hours, and I'm just not familiar with the OS. I feel pretty stupid right now. Does anyone else have messages like this come up on this screen? Thoughts?

Also, I have nothing to hide in the divorce, and all my evidence files are backed up in multiple email accounts. I also have friends storing them in the event that something happens to those accounts, or to me.

 

[Priestess]

Very sorry to read this post. Good Luck to you. If your ex placed this message for you then:
1. He likely had physical access to your computer. If he shouldn't have had physical access then reconsider locks/keys, or other ways into your dwelling. Make the court aware of the message. Good decision to take a picture.
2. If he has the skill to generate the message he may also have installed software called a "keylogger" that can capture anything you type on the computer including passwords to online banking, the words you type in an email, etc. These programs may not show up in a virus scan because they are not viruses. A clean install of Win10 is something you can do at home and will wipe out anything bad on your PC, but will also lose your saved email, photos, music, browser bookmarks, etc. Essentially you download win10, put on a usb stick that is 8gb or larger, boot off the usb and your PC is cleaned up to factory new, losing all programs and data you have installed. Post if you need instructions or google for them. Windows will remember your win10 key.

I wouldn't even accept just a reinstall of the OS.
Wipe the drive(s) fully with DBAN, then install the OS.

Chosen as best answer because this is definitely what I'm doing once the divorce is finalized. Thanks for your concern, and sorry if my lack of knowledge about the OS and those messages made anyone worry for me. They're probably just buzzwords. Oh... life. Definitely using DBAN then installing the OS with my brother's help, after this "storm" ends. Thank you so much!