I only just found out that you can have a wireless network without an access point! I can read this forum when I’m having a cup of tea in the park now 
Sorry if this is obvious to most people. It just struck me that, if it took me this long to realise maybe other people might not have realised either!
uhhh.. what? 
while reading in the park.. your laptop wireless card is still accessing an acess point SOMEWHERE..
otherwise you’d be offline.
The ad-hoc wireless networking!
Just be careful that if you do setup an adhoc network to make sure you bolt enough security onto it to sink a battleship.
My boss bourght his wife a laptop with wireless on it and she was using it unsecured at a net cafe. Some kid saw the unsecure connection and wiped her entire HDD and I was meant to feel sorry for her and him!
I just call it justice for him buying his wife a fancy laptop with school funds 
Terrible thing that isnt it? When you stumble across an unsecured wireless connection :thumbup:
[QUOTE=ultimababe]
Terrible thing that isnt it? When you stumble across an unsecured wireless connection :thumbup:
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I work in a school full of them…
No matter how many times you tell them…
Ah well it could be worse they could write thier passwords on postit notes and stick them to thier laptops… oh wait… they do that as well…
As it curently stands where I live, you can get free wireless internet access at most petrol garages. Whether they intend this or not I have yet to ask.
[QUOTE=Dash Smashing]
while reading in the park.. your laptop wireless card is still accessing an acess point SOMEWHERE..
[/QUOTE]
yup, the one in my room 
(I live opposite a park, hence being able to make tea and take it outside) Its not an access point though, just another wireless card which was the point I was making, I didn’t know you could do that :dunce:
Thanks for the tip about security, I read some horror stories about airports on friday when I found out about ad-hoc networks. There was one about a guy who found out he could access the businessman in front of him’s computer as administrator cause he didn’t have a password set.
When I read a little more about this I decided it was far fetched cause it was unlikely the businessman was running an ad-hoc network and thats the only way the “hacker” (he didn’t actually hack him - merely pointed it out to him) could have gained access.
However, I started wandering just now. What happens if the hacker started a network? would the businessmans computer automatically join the network? If so is there anyway to turn that off?
oh whoops actually as I write this I’ve just remembered a minute ago, when I set up an unsecureed conection I had to “OK” it before it connected so I guess thats ok? You can probably tell but I’m new to this :laugh:
Wireless networks canbe setup in a number of different ways. too many for me to remember.
The most comman way it is setup for public access is a simple unsecured broadcasting AP. Any wireless device that is close enough will be able to see it and connect to it. Adhoc networks can be setup in the exact same way, meaning that if the businessman had unknowingly, setup an open connection anyone would be able to connect to him. As for having full administrator access… Thats debatable. It could be possible that his entire laptop has set to allow ‘everyone’ full access but that would be a very stupid thing to do. However saying that I know many ‘so called’ professionals who setup wireless networks in this manner.
When setting up a wireless network under XP SP2 your given along list of options, from the simple and easy to the downright confusing. Wireless has a major fault, and thats that you don’t need to plug in to anything to access it.
[QUOTE=Redoaks]
Wireless has a major fault, and thats that you don’t need to plug in to anything to access it.
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lol! I havn’t seen too many options but I havn’t put sp2 on computer either (It wasn’t compatible with something I used - hmm which is now broken anyhows..)
Yeh about the story it seems weird that the businessman would have a ad-hoc network already set up… unless he used it in a meeting and forgot to turn it off…?
This is the story:
Adhoc is a cheap way of quickly setting up a roaming office network. However many of those who claim to know what they are doing are not telling the whole truth.
Security protocols can confuse the entire setup. The last netowrk I setup like this refused to work with the security features turned on, all because of a simple typing error
But its hard to see your typing error inside ******************
unsecured wireless networks are teh bomb! coughs nice files there nextdoor neighbour…