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How to disable access to my neighbour's wireless network?

Posted: 09-23-2008, 10:31 PM
taxidrivemovie@gmail.com
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Hi all...

here is the deal: I have a router which is programmed to allow my kids
to roam the internet wirelessly at certain times of the day. That part
works like a charm, unfortunately there is a number of neighbours in
my area with open wireless connections.
As you might imagine, once my router starts preventing them from using
the net, all they have to do is discover a ton of open access points,
connect to them and keep going.
I'm curious if there is a way of preventing them from accessing other
wireless networks and only be able to connect to our router in the
house...

thanks
Alex
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Responses to "How to disable access to my neighbour's wireless network?"

barman58
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Re: How to disable access to my neighbour's wireless network?
Posted: 09-23-2008, 11:06 PM

Hi Alex,

not a specific answer to you question but one option would be to
utilise Vista's built in parental controls which, because it's
implemented at the system level will stop the child logging onto the
computer outside of permitted hours and thus not be able to access the
Internet.

Also as its user based, with a little work you can control the hours to
suit the age of the child concerned.

it also allows you to set up blacklists or whitelists to actually
control what they can or cannot see when they are on-line

Type "parent" into the start search to invoke the problem or help and
parental for assistance.


--
barman58

Regards,
*Nigel*
the beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not
understand.,- frank herbert
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taxidrivemovie@gmail.com
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Re: How to disable access to my neighbour's wireless network?
Posted: 09-24-2008, 11:55 AM
Hi Nigel...

you know, that's actually not a bad idea.
I know our oldest one likes to sneak computer time late at night when
we're all asleep. This might actually work better than me trying to
stop him from accessing our neighbour's networks.

Thank you for the suggestion, I had no idea Vista had that built in.

Alex
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Sooner Al [MVP]
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Re: How to disable access to my neighbour's wireless network?
Posted: 09-24-2008, 12:19 PM
As noted by Nigel there really is no way to block access to your neighbors
network. His suggestion of Vista "Parental Control" software is really the
best solution. Make sure your kids only have standard accounts (not admin
accounts) and that your admin accounts are protected by strong passwords.

http://www.microsoft.com/protect/you...d/checker.mspx

You also might look at the free SteadyState tool to further lock down your
PCs.

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/win...rental+control

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro...s/default.mspx

Good luck...

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows - Desktop User Experience)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...
How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375

<taxidrivemovie@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:273e45b6-ef6e-416f-adce-4e7b917ba31d@8g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
> Hi Nigel...
>
> you know, that's actually not a bad idea.
> I know our oldest one likes to sneak computer time late at night when
> we're all asleep. This might actually work better than me trying to
> stop him from accessing our neighbour's networks.
>
> Thank you for the suggestion, I had no idea Vista had that built in.
>
> Alex
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taxidrivemovie@gmail.com
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Re: How to disable access to my neighbour's wireless network?
Posted: 09-25-2008, 03:07 AM
On Sep 24, 7:19*am, "Sooner Al [MVP]" <Soone...@somewhere.net.invalid>
wrote:
> As noted by Nigel there really is no way to block access to your neighbors
> network. His suggestion of Vista "Parental Control" software is really the
> best solution. Make sure your kids only have standard accounts (not admin
> accounts) and that your admin accounts are protected by strong passwords.
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/protect/you...d/checker.mspx
>
> You also might look at the free SteadyState tool to further lock down your
> PCs.
>
> http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/win...spx?=&qu=paren....
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro...redaccess/defa...
>
> Good luck...
>
> --
>
> Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows - Desktop User Experience)
>
> Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
> mutual benefit of all of us...
> The MS-MVP Program -http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
> rights...
> How to ask a questionhttp://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375
>
> <taxidrivemo...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:273e45b6-ef6e-416f-adce-4e7b917ba31d@8g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
>
>
>
> > Hi Nigel...
>
> > you know, that's actually not a bad idea.
> > I know our oldest one likes to sneak computer time late at night when
> > we're all asleep. This might actually work better than me trying to
> > stop him from accessing our neighbour's networks.
>
> > Thank you for the suggestion, I had no idea Vista had that built in.
>
> > Alex- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Al, Nigel ...

funny thing happened today. I went to try out the Parental Control
thing and noticed that I'm not the administrator anymore (when I
initially set up the laptop, I set myself as administrator and my kids
and standard users). Turns out that my 12 year old cracked my
password, then made himself an administrator and me a standard user.
There was a bit of head scratching going on as I had no idea how my 12
year old could crack it....turns out that he was able to determine my
password from my password hint (I left in for my own benefit in case I
forgot). My hint was "Panavia" ... so he tried typing in "Tornado" and
voila! (Panavia Tornado is an european fighter jet). I never gave him
too much credit in the past but now I'm impressed! Better watch them
kids, they're actually smarter than you think!
Needless to say my password has been changed and I left no hints
whatsoever. LOL.

Thank you for your suggestions. I'll get on it right away.

ALex
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Sooner Al [MVP]
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Re: How to disable access to my neighbour's wireless network?
Posted: 09-25-2008, 11:10 AM
LOL... Great story and a lesson learned...

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows - Desktop User Experience)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...
How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375

<taxidrivemovie@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:45c06476-ab61-4d3d-9406-d29655789798@m3g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...

Al, Nigel ...

funny thing happened today. I went to try out the Parental Control
thing and noticed that I'm not the administrator anymore (when I
initially set up the laptop, I set myself as administrator and my kids
and standard users). Turns out that my 12 year old cracked my
password, then made himself an administrator and me a standard user.
There was a bit of head scratching going on as I had no idea how my 12
year old could crack it....turns out that he was able to determine my
password from my password hint (I left in for my own benefit in case I
forgot). My hint was "Panavia" ... so he tried typing in "Tornado" and
voila! (Panavia Tornado is an european fighter jet). I never gave him
too much credit in the past but now I'm impressed! Better watch them
kids, they're actually smarter than you think!
Needless to say my password has been changed and I left no hints
whatsoever. LOL.

Thank you for your suggestions. I'll get on it right away.

ALex

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barman58
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Re: How to disable access to my neighbour's wireless network?
Posted: 09-24-2008, 06:32 PM

glad I could be of help, the thing about system based parental control
is that with that bit of work and strict use of user and password
controls, the parent can take back control and protect the kids from
themselves

as for the neighbour's complete lack of security one way to drop a hint
is to drop a text file on their desktop explaining that it could be a
virus, but that's me just being an old evil system admin :devil:


--
barman58

Regards,
*Nigel*
the beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not
understand.,- frank herbert
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Paul Montgomery
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Re: How to disable access to my neighbour's wireless network?
Posted: 09-24-2008, 06:55 PM
On Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:32:20 -0500, barman58 <guest@unknown-email.com>
wrote:
>glad I could be of help,
[snip]

You forgot to quote what you replied to. Most of us don't use that
quasi-forum you're using that sucks most of its users/messages from
Microsoft servers.
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