Networks·41,399 discussions

wireless security problem

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my PC picks up neighbours wireless networks, is it possible to stop the wireless card from showing those named networks?- they are a bit annoying….

My partner tried to connect to one of the neighbors networks by accident once and the PC said it had gained `limited or no connectivity`, with `manual connect` anotated, would that network now have my wireless MAC address?

we use wind XP pro

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Clarifications

In reply to wireless security problem

Clarifications

Does a stranger know your wireless MAC address?

In reply to wireless security problem

Windows is built to search for all wireless networks’ SSIDs that are in range. The way to not broadcast a computer’s SSID is to modify its setup in the router. So you can set your computer to not show your SSID to others, but you can’t stop them from showing their SSID (unless you can login as admin to their router – if they’re using a default password or no password, which is immoral, and also probably illegal in the UK). If you are connected to their wireless network, you can probably see the “All Users” folder and any other folders they have made public, and they can see yours. Once you disconnect, I don’t believe your MAC address is stored on their computer. My advice: don’t connect to the neighbor’s network without permission.

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