Three to four wireless signals?

I got a new laptop and when I went to connect it (for the first time) to a wireless signal there were four signals to connect to. The first one on the list was mine from a Linksys router that's in the den (which read unprotected) and the rest of the signals were "Protected." Where are these other signals coming from?

 

Wireless hotspots, and other wireless networks around you.

 

We do you live? So we can park outside and use your unprotected wifi.

 

Add WPA Security to your Linksys Wireless. It's not save having open networks any more.

I can pickup over 8 AP where I live.

 

I can see 11, many unprotected (which is a BAD BAD BAD thing to not do)...

It is illegal to connect to someone else's without their permission, so connect only to yours.

 

It's not illegal to go on a network you 'accidentally connected to'. If they cared so much, they would protect it. It's only illegal if you loiter on private property for it. If you can get it at your house, at your convenience, then it's not. Average joes, and maybe many experts, won't know you're on their wifi anyway. It's hard to tell. You'd have to log the webpages and stuff. All those options are turned off by default when you buy a router. So yeah, you are 99.9% not going to get caught if you did.

 

I can "see" 18 networks, 1 unprotected 11b network.

 

Just make sure that your network is protected so your neighbours can't get on. Yeh just places around you - you don't live in Mountain View by any chance do you - Google have a big, big wireless network which is supposed to cover the whole city.

Yes as the guy above said do let us know where you live, I'm always looking for free wireless when I'm on holiday.

 

i currently living in cyprus and they guy next door to us have an unprotected wireless network and guess what i'm on now in my living room?

 

How do I make it secure? do i do it through the laptop? or at the PC where the router is located? and is it a catchphrase and password I use?

 

Did your router come with a cd?
If that the case insert it in a pc that is hardwired to your router and follow the steps it is quite easy to do. You can also do it by entering the roter's ip (in most cases it's 192.168.1.1 for linksys) in your web browser but that is a little bit more complicated.

Good luck.

 

And then you get people like me. I've got two wireless nodes running in my home office, the second one is unencrypted and relegated to a second VLAN, so it's essentially free unencrypted 802.11b access to anyone that wants it, and completely unable to connect to my private network I primarily use it for my Wii and so on, since it's easier to deal with it unencrypted, and also for guests, so I don't have to put my WPA password out more than I have to.

So come on over. The AP is called Pita_Net

 

No Disc, my sis old man said he configured it manually (about a year ago)
But I fu_ked it up by going into network wireless set up wizard and entering a network name, now my laptop doesn't even show any signal. system restore did nothing to fix it. Now I'm lost.

 

I got the signal back and working. But it still reads "Unsecured" so I'll have to figure it out in the morning. LATER!

 

If you keep it unsecured, the RIAA can't say crap about your "downloads".

Here's a short guide on how to secure your wireless network:
http://www.jiwire.com/linksys-wrt-54g-setup-usability.htm

To access your router's configuration page, go to your internet browser and type 192.168.1.1 in your address bar. Type in your credentials. The default should be no username and password is 'admin' if you're using a Linksys router.

 

If you setup WPA on the router you are required to add the pass key to your NB. It's easier for novice to delete the existing connection and add it back in, entering the pass key when prompted. One it is setup, you can hide the SSID if you like.

 

What the F is RIAA?

 

In order to setup the WPA on the router do you need a disc? If so I don't have one. Also, if you can recommend a good router I'd rather Just buy a new one. Then I can give back this router to my sis old man.

 

The setup is within the routers firmware. Just login as admin and progress to the wireless section.

Select WPA (TKIP or PSK) then enter a security key. Then delete the location off of you NB and re-connect to it. It will then prompt for the key. Enter it and you should be on your way.

If you NB is connecting to open networks automaticly, you need to disable this, bad security. The setting is a advanced setting from the Wireless Network section of ZeroConfig.

 

I was better off asking Elvis for help. Just kidding, dudes. I got everything working A O K!

 

I have several unsecured neighbors. Three of which SSID's are Linksys.
I connect, type in 192.168.1.1, and enter "default" login ID and "admin" password and I am now in their router's configuration screens.
When a family member is on my desktop and I need full bandwidth on my laptop, I go to one of the neighbors that is sitting idle.
Heh, to make sure the connection was optimized I even updated their firmware for them. I also set them up for "G-Only".
And yes I am a snoop. I can view their family photos and videos. Anything in their "Shared" folders. People are curious. Some are worse. They can ruin your router by downloading the wrong firmware or interrupting it during installation.

So, secure your router. WPA-2, AES, Shared Key.

 

I don't bother putting in a WPA, anyone can access mine, and previously (when I was younger, and thought my parents could moniter my internet usage through our router) I used a neighbors internet to do more 'risky' things .

All in good fun though, I've thought about others changing my routers settings (user is admin and pass is just blank (like always)), but if ever that happens I'll just reset it, and hopefully it wont happen again.

Only downside (that I can think of (other then them getting your data if you have it for public access)) is that they could slow your speeds. That's almost made me put up an encryption.