Do I Need to Worry?

jimsteranko

jimsteranko

jimsteranko

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Joined
8 May 2008
Posts
14
Greetings!
I've just bought a new laptop to replace ye olde PC which has gone claws-up after 7 years or so.

It came equipped with "WLAN 802.11 a/b/g/n". Please forgive my ignorance as I'm not familiar with wireless in the slightest.

Problem: If I go to Start -> Connect to then I can see both myself (down as "connected") and a bunch of others, e.g."Graham", with either "Security-enabled network" or "Unsecured network" against them.

Is this anything to worry about? The reason I ask is that my download speed has dropped phenomenally in the afternoons and evenings recently. Should I be "secured" too? If so, how do I do it? (Vista Ultimate 32, btw).

Apologies again if this is rather silly to some but it is quite worrying.

Thanks,

Jim
 
We need to clear a few things up here.

Do you have a wireless router installed in your property and does it have encryption installed?

With regards the networks that you see (Graham etc) these are the networks that are visible to your wireless device on your laptop. If any of these are unsecured but not actually your network then you can connect to them in theory but this is illegal.

EDIT: Jst notice your comment asking if you should be "secured". Yes you really should setup your router with WPA2 encryption. Your manual will explain how this is done, but it is not a difficult task. If you can tell me type of router you have I'll try and take you through it.
 
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Swordfish, Thanks!

The thing is, there is no router! This is just a laptop bought from the local Sony shop and connected to the same broadband that my old PC used. I suppose I'm just a little worried or edgy about something I'm not familiar with...

Jim
 
Right, so you because you are using a modem (?type) you have a direct connection and therefore no wireless network available to you.

You dont have to worry about anyone connecting to your laptop wieless unless you set it up so that other can use it this way. It's not set up by default so there is nothing to worry about.

As you now have a laptop I'd suggest you get a router and give yourself the flexability that a laptop allows you.

Remeber that if you connect to any of the unsecured networks, even if you get permission from the people who pay for the network, it is illegal.
 
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No ISP in this country (as far as I am aware) allows the use of the Broadband supplied to one address to be used at another unless you get sepcific aggreement from the ISP invloved.

EDIT : On thinking I do recall that BT were inviting people to do this so as to create a WAN Hotspot but people would still need to pay BT to connect to it.

LINK
 
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