Unknown Computer on Wireless Home Network

Stephanie H · Joined: 09 Nov 2007 Posts: 3

I have two computers, a Gateway desktop and a Toshiba laptop, connected on a
Netgear wireless network. This set-up is in our home. I went to the Network
and Sharing Center and noticed there is an unknown computer on my network. I
tried to click on it and delete it, but that option is not available. How do
I find out who this is? How do I get rid of the unwanted computer? Has this
person invaded my system even though all firewalls and McAfee systems are on?

Archived from group: microsoft>public>pocketpc>wireless

Peter Pan · Joined: 15 Aug 2007 Posts: 13

Stephanie H wrote:
> I have two computers, a Gateway desktop and a Toshiba laptop,
> connected on a Netgear wireless network. This set-up is in our home.
> I went to the Network and Sharing Center and noticed there is an
> unknown computer on my network. I tried to click on it and delete it,
> but that option is not available. How do I find out who this is? How
> do I get rid of the unwanted computer? Has this person invaded my
> system even though all firewalls and McAfee systems are on?

By any chance is one of your 'puters a tablet, and has windows tablet pc
edition on it? My laptop is, and shows as two devices..... In my case, seems
it uses the screen as a seperate device that shows on the network as an
unknown device....

Stephanie H · Joined: 09 Nov 2007 Posts: 3

No. That's not it. In the Network and Sharing Center in Control Panel, I
selected the option to View Computers and Devices on my network. When doing
this, an unknown device appears named "Megan." We only have two computers in
our house connected to the Netgear wireless network. These computers are
named "Home" and "Laptop." So, I was surprised to see a third computer appear
named "Megan." Now, I'm trying to figure out if I have a neighbor named Megan
who somehow is showing up on my network? If this is the case, is my system in
any danger? Do I need to take any extra precautions or activate any
additional programs to ensure the safety and security of our computers?

"Peter Pan" wrote:

> Stephanie H wrote:
> > I have two computers, a Gateway desktop and a Toshiba laptop,
> > connected on a Netgear wireless network. This set-up is in our home.
> > I went to the Network and Sharing Center and noticed there is an
> > unknown computer on my network. I tried to click on it and delete it,
> > but that option is not available. How do I find out who this is? How
> > do I get rid of the unwanted computer? Has this person invaded my
> > system even though all firewalls and McAfee systems are on?
>
> By any chance is one of your 'puters a tablet, and has windows tablet pc
> edition on it? My laptop is, and shows as two devices..... In my case, seems
> it uses the screen as a seperate device that shows on the network as an
> unknown device....
>
>
>

mike · Joined: 15 Aug 2007 Posts: 151

Stephanie H wrote:
> No. That's not it. In the Network and Sharing Center in Control Panel, I
> selected the option to View Computers and Devices on my network. When doing
> this, an unknown device appears named "Megan." We only have two computers in
> our house connected to the Netgear wireless network. These computers are
> named "Home" and "Laptop." So, I was surprised to see a third computer appear
> named "Megan." Now, I'm trying to figure out if I have a neighbor named Megan
> who somehow is showing up on my network? If this is the case, is my system in
> any danger? Do I need to take any extra precautions or activate any
> additional programs to ensure the safety and security of our computers?
>
> "Peter Pan" wrote:
>
>> Stephanie H wrote:
>>> I have two computers, a Gateway desktop and a Toshiba laptop,
>>> connected on a Netgear wireless network. This set-up is in our home.
>>> I went to the Network and Sharing Center and noticed there is an
>>> unknown computer on my network. I tried to click on it and delete it,
>>> but that option is not available. How do I find out who this is? How
>>> do I get rid of the unwanted computer? Has this person invaded my
>>> system even though all firewalls and McAfee systems are on?
>> By any chance is one of your 'puters a tablet, and has windows tablet pc
>> edition on it? My laptop is, and shows as two devices..... In my case, seems
>> it uses the screen as a seperate device that shows on the network as an
>> unknown device....
>>
>>
>>
you have at least two problems.
Someone accessing the web for who knows what purpose.
Someone accessing your computers for who knows what purpose.
Enable the security measures in your router to keep people out of your
router. Enable the security measures in your pc's to keep people out of
them.

--
Return address is VALID!

r_z_aret · Joined: 15 Aug 2007 Posts: 2774

On Fri, 9 Nov 2007 07:08:01 -0800, Stephanie H
wrote:

>I have two computers, a Gateway desktop and a Toshiba laptop, connected on a
>Netgear wireless network. This set-up is in our home. I went to the Network
>and Sharing Center and noticed there is an unknown computer on my network. I
>tried to click on it and delete it, but that option is not available. How do
>I find out who this is? How do I get rid of the unwanted computer? Has this
>person invaded my system even though all firewalls and McAfee systems are on?

I set my wireless routers and access points to filter by MAC address.
That means you need to find the MAC address for each client computer's
wireless card, and enter each of those in the appropriate table on the
router. Definitely a nuisance to set up, but effective.

If you are not likely to add computers, you could hide the SID on the
wireless access point. I'm not convinced this adds enough security to
be worth the nuisance.

Definitely use the highest level of encryption available. WEP is
rather widely believed to be easily hacked, so try not to use it. WPA
is considered secure.

-----------------------------------------
To reply to me, remove the underscores (_) from my email address (and please indicate which newsgroup and message).

Robert E. Zaret, eMVP
PenFact, Inc.
20 Park Plaza, Suite 478
Boston, MA 02116
www.penfact.com

Stephanie H · Joined: 09 Nov 2007 Posts: 3

Thank you. Do you have any instructions on how to set my wireless router and
access points to filter by MAC address and how to set up WPA encryption? Or a
web site I can reference?

"r_z_aret@pen_fact.com" wrote:

> On Fri, 9 Nov 2007 07:08:01 -0800, Stephanie H
> wrote:
>
> >I have two computers, a Gateway desktop and a Toshiba laptop, connected on a
> >Netgear wireless network. This set-up is in our home. I went to the Network
> >and Sharing Center and noticed there is an unknown computer on my network. I
> >tried to click on it and delete it, but that option is not available. How do
> >I find out who this is? How do I get rid of the unwanted computer? Has this
> >person invaded my system even though all firewalls and McAfee systems are on?
>
> I set my wireless routers and access points to filter by MAC address.
> That means you need to find the MAC address for each client computer's
> wireless card, and enter each of those in the appropriate table on the
> router. Definitely a nuisance to set up, but effective.
>
> If you are not likely to add computers, you could hide the SID on the
> wireless access point. I'm not convinced this adds enough security to
> be worth the nuisance.
>
> Definitely use the highest level of encryption available. WEP is
> rather widely believed to be easily hacked, so try not to use it. WPA
> is considered secure.
>
>
> -----------------------------------------
> To reply to me, remove the underscores (_) from my email address (and please indicate which newsgroup and message).
>
> Robert E. Zaret, eMVP
> PenFact, Inc.
> 20 Park Plaza, Suite 478
> Boston, MA 02116
> www.penfact.com
>

V Green · Joined: 15 Aug 2007 Posts: 322

Go to the router mgfr's web site.

Or find the CD that come with it - the manual
is usually a .PDF on there.

"Stephanie H" wrote in message@microsoft.com...
> Thank you. Do you have any instructions on how to set my wireless router and
> access points to filter by MAC address and how to set up WPA encryption? Or a
> web site I can reference?
>
>
>
> "r_z_aret@pen_fact.com" wrote:
>
> > On Fri, 9 Nov 2007 07:08:01 -0800, Stephanie H
> > wrote:
> >
> > >I have two computers, a Gateway desktop and a Toshiba laptop, connected on
a
> > >Netgear wireless network. This set-up is in our home. I went to the Network
> > >and Sharing Center and noticed there is an unknown computer on my network.
I
> > >tried to click on it and delete it, but that option is not available. How
do
> > >I find out who this is? How do I get rid of the unwanted computer? Has this
> > >person invaded my system even though all firewalls and McAfee systems are
on?
> >
> > I set my wireless routers and access points to filter by MAC address.
> > That means you need to find the MAC address for each client computer's
> > wireless card, and enter each of those in the appropriate table on the
> > router. Definitely a nuisance to set up, but effective.
> >
> > If you are not likely to add computers, you could hide the SID on the
> > wireless access point. I'm not convinced this adds enough security to
> > be worth the nuisance.
> >
> > Definitely use the highest level of encryption available. WEP is
> > rather widely believed to be easily hacked, so try not to use it. WPA
> > is considered secure.
> >
> >
> > -----------------------------------------
> > To reply to me, remove the underscores (_) from my email address (and please
indicate which newsgroup and message).
> >
> > Robert E. Zaret, eMVP
> > PenFact, Inc.
> > 20 Park Plaza, Suite 478
> > Boston, MA 02116
> > www.penfact.com
> >

r_z_aret · Joined: 15 Aug 2007 Posts: 2774

On Sat, 10 Nov 2007 13:19:00 -0800, Stephanie H
wrote:

>Thank you. Do you have any instructions on how to set my wireless router and
>access points to filter by MAC address and how to set up WPA encryption? Or a
>web site I can reference?

The details vary from router to router. V Green provided info about
getting specifics for your router..

I suspect you will want more general help, so I'll try to provide
some.

You can usually configure a router by using a web browser to connect
to it's home page. No need for any special software. But you do need
to know the default address of the home page, the default user ID, and
the default password. 192.168.1.1, Admin, and Admin are common. If
those don't work, try variations (including an empty password), then
try resetting the router. Resetting will definitely take more than
removing power. Look for a Reset button. If you can't find a Reset
button, or reset doesn't help, you will need specific info for your
router. You will definitely want to know how to reset your router, so
you can start over when you make a mistake (I sure needed several
tries).

You'll need to collect the MAC addresses for all the devices you want
to connect. For most versions of "big" Windows, you can go to a
DOS/CMD prompt and type
ipconfig /all
to get the MAC address listed as physical address. I know less nerdy
methods exist, but I'm not familiar enough with them to describe them
in any understandable way. For Pocket PC and other Windows CE devices,
use VxIPConfig, a free utility from
http://www.cam.com/vxipconfig.html

Once you get the MAC addresses, you'll need to find a screen on your
router, and will need to limit wireless connections to only devices
with specified MAC addresses. You should be able to do that without
filtering wired connections.

At least some client devices (but not the Windows CE devices I've
seen) can limit connections by access point MAC address. For example,
on my laptop, I can choose a wireless configuration that will connect
only to my access point. Unfortunately, the Zero Configuration
Facility I've seen on Pocket PCs is promiscuous and offers no such
filtering.

To set up WPA encryption, you will need to make up a password. You may
have a choice of hexadecimal or ascii. If you do, the only difference
is convenience for you; hexadecimal uses fewer characters but will
probably be less mnemonic. The password needs to be something that no
one else is likely to guess (so try to use a few non-words and
non-alphabetic characters), but something you can at least half
remember without needing to carry it around.

I think this description is pretty clear, although it is a it terse.
I'm afraid that any attempt I make to clarify will muddy. So treat it
as you would most documentation: try to follow it, scream, stand on
your head, try again. With any luck, you'll have at least one or two
"aha" moments. But feel free to come back here so I can try again or
someone else can help.

>
>
>
>"r_z_aret@pen_fact.com" wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 9 Nov 2007 07:08:01 -0800, Stephanie H
>> wrote:
>>
>> >I have two computers, a Gateway desktop and a Toshiba laptop, connected on a
>> >Netgear wireless network. This set-up is in our home. I went to the Network
>> >and Sharing Center and noticed there is an unknown computer on my network. I
>> >tried to click on it and delete it, but that option is not available. How do
>> >I find out who this is? How do I get rid of the unwanted computer? Has this
>> >person invaded my system even though all firewalls and McAfee systems are on?
>>
>> I set my wireless routers and access points to filter by MAC address.
>> That means you need to find the MAC address for each client computer's
>> wireless card, and enter each of those in the appropriate table on the
>> router. Definitely a nuisance to set up, but effective.
>>
>> If you are not likely to add computers, you could hide the SID on the
>> wireless access point. I'm not convinced this adds enough security to
>> be worth the nuisance.
>>
>> Definitely use the highest level of encryption available. WEP is
>> rather widely believed to be easily hacked, so try not to use it. WPA
>> is considered secure.
>>
>>
>> -----------------------------------------
>> To reply to me, remove the underscores (_) from my email address (and please indicate which newsgroup and message).
>>
>> Robert E. Zaret, eMVP
>> PenFact, Inc.
>> 20 Park Plaza, Suite 478
>> Boston, MA 02116
>> www.penfact.com
>>

-----------------------------------------
To reply to me, remove the underscores (_) from my email address (and please indicate which newsgroup and message).

Robert E. Zaret, eMVP
PenFact, Inc.
20 Park Plaza, Suite 478
Boston, MA 02116
www.penfact.com

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