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

[taxidrivemovie]

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

 

[taxidrivemovie]

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

 

[Sooner Al [MVP]]

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/yourself/password/checker.mspx

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

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/search.aspx?=&qu=parental+control

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/sharedaccess/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

 

[Paul Montgomery]

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.

 

[taxidrivemovie]

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/yourself/password/checker.mspx

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

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/search.aspx?=&qu=paren....

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/sharedaccess/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









- 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

 

[Sooner Al [MVP]]

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


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