Belkin ADSL Modem/Router

[chamois]

A friend of ours recently bought a Belkin ADSL Wireless Modem Router and he's asked me a question which has had me scratching my head for the last couple of days.

His PC is connected via an ethernet cable to the modem/router while another PC in the house uses a wireless key. His ISP is Tiscali Broadband.

At the moment the unit is using all the default settings/admin passwords with no changes made from the factory settings. I'm trying my best to persuade him of the dangers he's putting himself in to no avail as yet.

Now for the question: He's asked me if it's possible for him to check on his PC if someone else in the neighbourhood was using his broadband connection. He was thinking in particular of something on one of the status pages at 192.168.2.1 confirming that someone else was there.

Initially, he thought that it would show on networking tab on Windows Task Manager, but he's never seen anything there other than his own internet activity.

The only other thing I can add is that he's found the facility on the PC with the key showing that a next-door neighbour is connected to the web via a BT "Homehub" and that the neighbours system is locked/secured. The neighbours signal strength is obviously less than his own.

Would anyone have any ideas about this please. Thank you.

[fo3nix]

in the 192.168.x.x pages you'll find a page listing the connected hosts, as their MAC addresses. This will tell you who is connected to the router.

[Ethel]

On my Linksys status page there is a log facility - it shows all internet activity as it happens - the web pages that are being accessed.

Monitor that and he will soon see, if his status page has the same logging facility as the Linksys.

[wideboy]

Network Magic is a great program and has a nice user interface (there's even now an Apple Mac Beta). You get the full version for 30 days.

http://www.networkmagic.com/

[chamois]

Thank you all. The advice has been very useful.

He's found that page on the 192.168.2.1 pages fo3nix. The MAC addresses are shown on the DHCP Client List page and there was an intruder there for a few hours last night. I think he's now realised the importance of security.