wifi security

Is it possible some way to browse the local machine of an unsecured network?

I live on a large estate with many houses and up until about a week ago, my
network was the only one visible around here. Then last week a new Belkin
connection turned up. It has one bar and I am able to connect to it. I
have no intention of using their connection but as a good neighbour I want
to warn them about the perils of an unsecure network and offer to secure it
for them. However there are a LOT of houses on this estate.
What I thought was maybe I could drop a note on their desktop to find and
hopefully read.
I could narrow down the local search using my PDA and wandering about
waiting for the strength to get to its peak, but even then there would still
be too many houses.

Am I wasting my time and effort trying to help them out here? If I did
manage to find a way to get a note on their desktop would I be liable for
criminal charges?

beck@none declared for all the world to hear...
> Is it possible some way to browse the local machine of an unsecured network?

If you know that at least one drive has been shared on the machine you
intend to browse, yes it should be.

> I live on a large estate with many houses and up until about a week ago, my
> network was the only one visible around here. Then last week a new Belkin
> connection turned up. It has one bar and I am able to connect to it. I
> have no intention of using their connection but as a good neighbour I want
> to warn them about the perils of an unsecure network and offer to secure it
> for them. However there are a LOT of houses on this estate.
> What I thought was maybe I could drop a note on their desktop to find and
> hopefully read.

You would not be able to access the desktop (if they are running XP).
The best you could get would be the my documents folder, but then again
this assumes that they have shared the drive. If they are dim enough to
be running an unsecured wireless router then they aren't going to know
what network drive sharing is all about.
--
Regards
Jon

"Jon" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) et...
> beck@none declared for all the world to hear...
>> Is it possible some way to browse the local machine of an unsecured
>> network?
>
> If you know that at least one drive has been shared on the machine you
> intend to browse, yes it should be.
>
>> I live on a large estate with many houses and up until about a week ago,
>> my
>> network was the only one visible around here. Then last week a new
>> Belkin
>> connection turned up. It has one bar and I am able to connect to it. I
>> have no intention of using their connection but as a good neighbour I
>> want
>> to warn them about the perils of an unsecure network and offer to secure
>> it
>> for them. However there are a LOT of houses on this estate.
>> What I thought was maybe I could drop a note on their desktop to find and
>> hopefully read.
>
> You would not be able to access the desktop (if they are running XP).
> The best you could get would be the my documents folder, but then again
> this assumes that they have shared the drive. If they are dim enough to
> be running an unsecured wireless router then they aren't going to know
> what network drive sharing is all about.

Yes that is very true. I guess there is nothing I can do about it and let
them sit in their own unsecured area. I think its a shame because I would
hate to think somebody could do something illegal via their connection.
If there were a few houses around here I would have no problem in knocking
on their doors and asking, but there has to be over 200 houses on this
estate plus 6 large blocks of flats, plus with the signal being very weak it
could even be further afield on the next estate, so really it is all a
pointless exercise even trying.

It was worth asking though, thankyou for the information.

On 3 Jan 2007 "Beck" <beck@none> wrote:

>"Jon" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message

>> beck@none declared for all the world to hear...

>>> What I thought was maybe I could drop a note on their desktop to find and
>>> hopefully read.

>> You would not be able to access the desktop (if they are running XP).
>> The best you could get would be the my documents folder, but then again
>> this assumes that they have shared the drive. If they are dim enough to
>> be running an unsecured wireless router then they aren't going to know
>> what network drive sharing is all about.

"on their desktop" would mean they're "wide open" to anything being dumped
on the PC. I'd have thought that, unless the default these days is to not
have Microsoft's Messenger *service* enabled, it would be possible to "pop
up" an alert box, if one could find the IP of a PC on their LAN. That may
be awkward - (a) depends on a "ping" working, and (b) PC must be "on", but
it might be possible to do. (Look for "WotWeb" - may be handy in future!)

>Yes that is very true. I guess there is nothing I can do about it and let
>them sit in their own unsecured area. I think its a shame because I would
>hate to think somebody could do something illegal via their connection.
>If there were a few houses around here I would have no problem in knocking
>on their doors and asking, but there has to be over 200 houses on this
>estate plus 6 large blocks of flats, plus with the signal being very weak it
>could even be further afield on the next estate, so really it is all a
>pointless exercise even trying.

I suppose you could "ping" their router (whose address will be given to you
when you connect) so they might see activity on the wireless link (it'd not
be enough to justify action - you're not trying to use their internet link,
and your intention is to notify them of their lack of security), but IANAL,
so maybe it would be worth a letter to your local paper... someone may then
pay attention to the fact that "wide open" wireless networks are not a good
idea, and it might even get back to the owner whose network you "see" :->

on 03/01/2007, Beck supposed :
> Is it possible some way to browse the local machine of an unsecured network?
>
> I live on a large estate with many houses and up until about a week ago, my
> network was the only one visible around here. Then last week a new Belkin
> connection turned up. It has one bar and I am able to connect to it. I have
> no intention of using their connection but as a good neighbour I want to warn
> them about the perils of an unsecure network and offer to secure it for them.
> However there are a LOT of houses on this estate.
> What I thought was maybe I could drop a note on their desktop to find and
> hopefully read.
> I could narrow down the local search using my PDA and wandering about waiting
> for the strength to get to its peak, but even then there would still be too
> many houses.
>
> Am I wasting my time and effort trying to help them out here? If I did
> manage to find a way to get a note on their desktop would I be liable for
> criminal charges?

Consider changing the SSID to a meaningful phrase. I expect the router
login will be generic: admin/password; admin/admin

Even though you might like to be thanked, I wouldn't suggest leaving
any trail back to you.

"NoNeedToKnow" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On 3 Jan 2007 "Beck" <beck@none> wrote:
>
>>"Jon" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>
>>> beck@none declared for all the world to hear...
>
>>>> What I thought was maybe I could drop a note on their desktop to find
>>>> and
>>>> hopefully read.
>
>>> You would not be able to access the desktop (if they are running XP).
>>> The best you could get would be the my documents folder, but then again
>>> this assumes that they have shared the drive. If they are dim enough to
>>> be running an unsecured wireless router then they aren't going to know
>>> what network drive sharing is all about.
>
> "on their desktop" would mean they're "wide open" to anything being dumped
> on the PC. I'd have thought that, unless the default these days is to not
> have Microsoft's Messenger *service* enabled, it would be possible to "pop
> up" an alert box, if one could find the IP of a PC on their LAN. That may
> be awkward - (a) depends on a "ping" working, and (b) PC must be "on", but
> it might be possible to do. (Look for "WotWeb" - may be handy in future!)
>
>>Yes that is very true. I guess there is nothing I can do about it and let
>>them sit in their own unsecured area. I think its a shame because I would
>>hate to think somebody could do something illegal via their connection.
>>If there were a few houses around here I would have no problem in knocking
>>on their doors and asking, but there has to be over 200 houses on this
>>estate plus 6 large blocks of flats, plus with the signal being very weak
>>it
>>could even be further afield on the next estate, so really it is all a
>>pointless exercise even trying.
>
> I suppose you could "ping" their router (whose address will be given to
> you
> when you connect) so they might see activity on the wireless link (it'd
> not
> be enough to justify action - you're not trying to use their internet
> link,
> and your intention is to notify them of their lack of security), but
> IANAL,
> so maybe it would be worth a letter to your local paper... someone may
> then
> pay attention to the fact that "wide open" wireless networks are not a
> good
> idea, and it might even get back to the owner whose network you "see" :->

Actually you have given me an idea with regards to the local paper and
something I did not even consider before.
We have a village paper who I photograph for. I can easily get them to
write an article about wireless and make a point of stating that there are
open networks in the village and people need to get the secured. I can even
put in my email address so they can email me about it.
Thankyou :-)

"Jono" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed). ..

>
> Consider changing the SSID to a meaningful phrase. I expect the router
> login will be generic: admin/password; admin/admin
>
> Even though you might like to be thanked, I wouldn't suggest leaving any
> trail back to you.

No I could not do that, they may not know what is going on and incur
phonecall charges to their isp support.
I think I will try the local media route as I suggested in my other post to
NoNeedToKnow.

Beck explained :
> "Jono" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed). ..
>
>>
>> Consider changing the SSID to a meaningful phrase. I expect the router
>> login will be generic: admin/password; admin/admin
>>
>> Even though you might like to be thanked, I wouldn't suggest leaving any
>> trail back to you.
>
> No I could not do that, they may not know what is going on and incur
> phonecall charges to their isp support.
> I think I will try the local media route as I suggested in my other post to
> NoNeedToKnow.

OK. Leave a "note" in the router - perhaps in the section that allows
for the Service Provider's name to be stored.

"Beck" <beck@none> wrote in message
news:459bfcb1$0$8718$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Is it possible some way to browse the local machine of an unsecured
> network?
>
> I live on a large estate with many houses and up until about a week ago,
> my network was the only one visible around here. Then last week a new
> Belkin connection turned up. It has one bar and I am able to connect to
> it. I have no intention of using their connection but as a good neighbour
> I want to warn them about the perils of an unsecure network and offer to
> secure it for them. However there are a LOT of houses on this estate.
> What I thought was maybe I could drop a note on their desktop to find and
> hopefully read.
> I could narrow down the local search using my PDA and wandering about
> waiting for the strength to get to its peak, but even then there would
> still be too many houses.
>
> Am I wasting my time and effort trying to help them out here? If I did
> manage to find a way to get a note on their desktop would I be liable for
> criminal charges?
Very honest of you. Connect to the system. Go to a site to check IP
numbers, make a note and see which ISP it is from by using NeoTrace.
Disconnect and contact that ISP either by email or phoning them. The more
reputable ones WILL give the user a call and tell them the connection is
wide open and as a result they are responsible for traffic.
Don't bother connecting to their PC or anything. You could always use a
WiFi detector as it will probably be a next door neighbour.

"ray" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:459c37fb$(E-Mail Removed)...

> Very honest of you. Connect to the system. Go to a site to check IP
> numbers, make a note and see which ISP it is from by using NeoTrace.
> Disconnect and contact that ISP either by email or phoning them. The more
> reputable ones WILL give the user a call and tell them the connection is
> wide open and as a result they are responsible for traffic.
> Don't bother connecting to their PC or anything. You could always use a
> WiFi detector as it will probably be a next door neighbour.

That is a good thought, thankyou. Just tried and the signal has dropped off
the scale so I do not think they are that close to me, but with lots of
houses and surrounded by trees it could well be literally 100yds down the
road. I shall try again tomorrow.