Automatic connection to unknown Wifi net

**BarryWoods** · 03-17-2007, 10:52 PM

Originally Posted by Jay95

Hmm, strange. Work no problems for me.

The only thing I can think of is that you can see the network but the otherside (network) can't hear you, so your requests to join the network go unanswered.

That or they have MAC filtering on with no WEP?

J

Or they're just harvesting whatever user names and passwords you have going over the connection.

**bes51659** · 03-18-2007, 07:30 AM

Good point Jay
I thought that if I only got "automatic" on the open networks I was alright. That at least some sort of handshaking had taken place. But if I try to connect on openwrt (below) I still just get automatic. And no failure message either... But what you say is that I've probably set it up ok. Good antennas and such are a different topic.

Barry:
What sensitive information is transfered at connection to open nets? I mean that is not sent on any internet connection. What if I login on hotmail via an open wireless network for instance?

Edit:
About the balloons... I, hrm, misspelled the key... Now working!

**EricE** · 03-19-2007, 02:15 PM

There are lots of time you can see a network but not have enough signal to actually connect to it. Like the other person said, you may be able to see it but it can't see you.
Once I added "Any" to the SID it works wonderfully. I even dumped wifi hopper and found that WZC was doing MUCH better than it did. I now get connects a couple of times to and from work and know where some connect points are close to work.

**bes51659** · 03-19-2007, 06:49 PM

There's hope then! Great.

I've spent the hole evening trying to get internet gateway to work. I did but stopped. And then I run "network setup wizard" that says "cannot complete the network setup wizard". "Try with different setting or manually" !!!!

Internet gateway was always a problem to me. It could not be enabled if disabled and wise versa and sometimes it was visible and sometimes not.

But all of a sudden automatic dial-up via BT worked, so its not all bad... (Sigh)

And there is no way to reset and start from scratch... really anoying. Hate to go to bed without problem solved...

Sometime I get the feeling there's bugs in windows.

**BarryWoods** · 03-20-2007, 12:37 PM

Originally Posted by bes51659

Barry:
What sensitive information is transfered at connection to open nets? I mean that is not sent on any internet connection. What if I login on hotmail via an open wireless network for instance?

Since the wireless you could be connecting to isn't a "hotspot" Panera, Starbucks, stuff like that, the owner of the wireless can do whatever he/she wants to whatever connects to them. So if you log into your hotmail account, then they could get your user name and password. Nothing worse than grandma getting porn in her mail that comes from your account. They could also try to install exploits and/or trojans to your computer.

**bes51659** · 03-20-2007, 03:11 PM

Oops. Maybe I should not log onto ftp and upload tracking data then...

**BarryWoods** · 03-20-2007, 04:01 PM

Originally Posted by bes51659

Oops. Maybe I should not log onto ftp and upload tracking data then...

As long as it's a reputable hotspot, Starbucks, Barns & Nobel, those types of places, it shouldn't be a problem. It's when you start connecting to random linksys home networks that can be a problem. The odds are that what I'm talking about won't happen, but the odds are still there. I've given up on arguing the legalities of connecting to networks, so now I just throw out what could happen if you connect to a network that the admin has bad intentions. I mean, my network isn't wide open but I still log everything that goes across it. I'm still using wep encryption for a couple older pieces of hardware so I can't upgrade to something better. I also change the password every few weeks.

**GeckoAddict** · 03-24-2007, 11:07 PM

Originally Posted by BarryWoods

As long as it's a reputable hotspot, Starbucks, Barns & Nobel, those types of places, it shouldn't be a problem. It's when you start connecting to random linksys home networks that can be a problem. The odds are that what I'm talking about won't happen, but the odds are still there. I've given up on arguing the legalities of connecting to networks, so now I just throw out what could happen if you connect to a network that the admin has bad intentions. I mean, my network isn't wide open but I still log everything that goes across it. I'm still using wep encryption for a couple older pieces of hardware so I can't upgrade to something better. I also change the password every few weeks.

Your data even at a reputable place is not safe. See a program like Wireshark (formerly ethereal) for details on wifi packet sniffing. If you're doing it over wifi, someone else can see the bits. You always want to make sure you're using some client side encryption for any username/pass combo.

**bes51659** · 03-28-2007, 12:02 PM

Windows bedevils.. Windows XP Bedevils Wi-Fi Users -

Interesting reading about windows zero configuration flaws

**bes51659** · 03-28-2007, 12:33 PM

Struggle configuring TCP/IP

D-Link DI-604's DHCP is configured to give desktop PC address 192.168.0.128 by its MAC number, and other nodes id 192.168.0.3 - 192.168.0.127. This way the entire net will act as one net without conflicts.

The wireless connection of desktop PC is then given static IP addesses according to picture.

The carputer ipconfig /all will show:

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.157
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.128
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.129
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.129
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.129

And it works!!!