Old SSID still showing up

[Jim Marshall]

Recently switched from internet connection sharing to a hardware router for
my kid's upstairs computer (host is an XP, other pc is Win98SE). Am using
the same usb network adapter (Ashton Digital Airdash Wireless) as the access
point for the h/w router as I did when I networked thru ICS.

Have set up all security for router, including encryption, non broadcast
SSID (which is named differently than the prior SSID for the ICS network),
etc. My problem is that the prior SSID name still occasionally comes up,
both within the configuration settings for the access point on my kid's pc,
as well as on a laptop I recently purchased with a wireless card, which
found the prior SSID name and said it was an unsecured network. How can I
get rid of this, or at least make sure it is not leaking out anything from
my host pc (with the h/w router)? I also cannot see my wireless connection
icon either looking in See all connections or in the systray, and therefore
cannot view the properties.

 

[Steve Winograd [MVP]]

Recently switched from internet connection sharing to a hardware router for
my kid's upstairs computer (host is an XP, other pc is Win98SE). Am using
the same usb network adapter (Ashton Digital Airdash Wireless) as the access
point for the h/w router as I did when I networked thru ICS.

Have set up all security for router, including encryption, non broadcast
SSID (which is named differently than the prior SSID for the ICS network),
etc. My problem is that the prior SSID name still occasionally comes up,
both within the configuration settings for the access point on my kid's pc,
as well as on a laptop I recently purchased with a wireless card, which
found the prior SSID name and said it was an unsecured network. How can I
get rid of this, or at least make sure it is not leaking out anything from
my host pc (with the h/w router)? I also cannot see my wireless connection
icon either looking in See all connections or in the systray, and therefore
cannot view the properties.

Is the old SSID name a common one, like Linksys, Netgear, or
Actiontec? If so, it could be coming from a neighbor's network. I
recommend always changing the SSID from the default value to something
uniquely identifiable as yours.

Turn off all your wireless networking equipment. Wait a few minutes.
Turn on the new laptop. If it sees the old SSID name, the name isn't
coming from your equipment. If it doesn't see the old name, turn on
another piece of wireless networking equipment, wait a few minutes,
and see if the old SSID name appears.

To put the wireless network connection icon in the System tray, open
the Network Connections folder, right-click the wireless connection,
click Properties, and put a check mark in the "notification area" box.

I recommend enabling SSID broadcast. Disabling it makes it hard for
you to connect to your own network, and it doesn't make your network
more secure. Hackers can find out your SSID name even with SSID
broadcast disabled.
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

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