unknown user

twallstr · 05-16-2005, 10:16 PM

While viewing "top" I noticed that I have three users. I can figure out myself, root, but then?
Is this something normal or maybe should be investigated, and if so how?
I have only one user account setup and I am the only one ever using the computer.

Thanks for any ideas

twallstr

Shade · 05-16-2005, 11:02 PM

What's the third user?

Take a look in /etc/passwd to see all the defined users. It's normal to see a 'nobody' or somesuch user.

--Shade

Andrew_Chapman · 05-17-2005, 12:18 AM

What is the userid of the unknown user?

twallstr · 05-17-2005, 11:33 AM

Checked with the who command and found my own login three times.
thomas :0 May 17 18:16
thomas pts/0 May 17 18:16
thomas pts/1 May 17 18:19

This would explain why "top" displays three users logged in, but why am I logged in three times?
It would be interesting to know why it is like this.

twallstr

Xris718 · 05-17-2005, 12:20 PM

because you probably spawned 3 shells. Each shell gets a userid. In your case you had 3 shells so you got 3 userids. If your worried that someone else might have used your machine recently then type in "last" command in your prompt to see last logged in users. and "w" for current logged in users