wifi security

[xxconfusedxx]

hi all, im wondering if there is a way to monitor who is usuing my wifi internet connection? software wise or is there something in vista that can tell me?

iv heard that on win7 you can restrict the number of allowed connections, does vista do this?

im worried about it

tia all

[Huderon]

I don't use one of their hubs, just the modem and my own router. However http://help.virginmed...elfservice.controller gives the basics of connecting to the hub with wireless.

http://help.virginmed...CLE&ARTICLE_ID=322889 is about the more advanced settings - it's not exactly comprehensive, but it does tell you how to access the router and look at the settings and does link to some pages on how to do some things on the hub.

Looking at the screenshots on that page, the hub seems to support two networks, your own and a guest one which is there to allow your visitors to connect to the net while making sure they can't access any of the machines on your network.

Once you get access to the hub itself (connect your computer to it directly with the cable which is supplied with the hub), you will be able to look at the logs and change various settings if you wish.

Now for the fun bit. When the hub was set up initially, you were given a passphrase or password which you need to enter on any device which is going to connect via wireless. That should be enough to prevent strangers from using your connection, but if you want something more memorable or if you think whatever one was set up for you isn't safe enough, you can change it on the Wireless Settings page. Just remember that the hub is case sensitive - if you use a mix of upper and lower case characters and forget which are which you won't be able to connect to the net and will have to go back into the hub and change it again. (The one I use is something the kids hated me quoting it to them when they were younger, and they would never remember the case and punctuation anyway.)

If you wanted to go belt-and-braces, you could use MAC address filtering to restrict which computers, game consoles, phones or whatever can use your connection. However, with a decent passphrase, you probably don't need to go that far.