What is he doing on my WIFI ??

[mattwasp]

Depends what he's doing.. but his machine's MAC might be in the routing info (but I'm rusty on how NAT works so I might be wrong)

For email the actual machine name is recorded though.

 

Shout some buzzwords like 'mudkips' at him and if he laughs he's up to no good

[carlton68]

Gawguy,

 

easiest way to know why your room mate cut the wifi and uses a lan cable is ASK him, or let your girlfriend ask him.

 

The most likely reason I can think of: the wifi wasn't that stable and this can be annoying when downloading big files. Solution: get hard-wired again. That's what I'd bet my money on.

 

How's your setup, or has been up to now?

Cable modem with just one lan-port, hooked up to that lan-port a wireless access point that doesn't offer additional lan-ports. Right?

[gawguy]

Gawguy,

 

Solution: get hard-wired again. That's what I'd bet my money on.

 

Would this be a solution to my security? Maybe I can do it? Run a LAN cable to my machine rather than use WIFI. Will he be able to use WIFI when I do that? Do you have to shut down WIFI to use direct LAN? But read my next comment.

 

How's your setup, or has been up to now?

Cable modem with just one lan-port, hooked up to that lan-port a wireless access point that doesn't offer additional lan-ports. Right?

I guess this is what it is. The provider came in and hooked it up. I imagine it's the simplest configuration. So...can I get a wireless lan-port that offers additional lan-ports and thereby make my use more secure?

 

As I said, this guy is a techie and financially marginal. I do a lot of banking online. I want to KNOW my passwords are not being stolen.

 

I am going to ask him, but the problem with "just ask him" is that I don't think I can verify what he says. However, from the comments here as to why he would use a cable, I am already more comfortable with the whole thing.

[zzzz]

You can make sure he does not have access to your computer through the home network by using password protection and disabling network filesharing. Also make sure your computer is password protected.

[krml]

Or if you wanted to you could make the router only allow the MAC address of your computer. This way whether it is "wired" or not he would not be able to use your router.

[carlton68]

zzzz is right, disable sharing your files via the network and choose a good password for your computer. Doesn't matter if you use lan or wifi, provided wifi is encrypted (WPA or WPA2).

 

[shygye]

Look for a wireless router WITH a 4-port ethernet switch. Then you can be wired and he can be wireless.

[gawguy]

zzzz is right, disable sharing your files via the network and choose a good password for your computer. Doesn't matter if you use lan or wifi, provided wifi is encrypted (WPA or WPA2).

When you guys talk about a password for my computer, I assume you mean a Windows Password? I have one, also the HD is locked. I run XP w the firewall on and AVG free.

 

I looked into WPA but I think the problem was that the router or modem would only do WEP. Is that so much weaker?

 

Since you mentioned the hardware, let me verify: I think Comcast supplied me with a cable modem and a WIFI router. Are those the correct terms?

 

Thanks for all the info.

GG

[The_Munchmaster]

Probably downloading porn and having a

[keekwai]

If you ever left your PC for a few minutes without locking the desktop (requiring a password to reopen) you should be more concerned that your roomie installed a keystroke logger than worrying about your passwords being intercepted via network traffic.

 

Also if your PC is physically available while you're away from home it's a simple matter to boot from a CD that has an operating system on it like Knoppix or UBCDforWin and copy files off your PC. If you have your browser save passwords these can be recovered this way. Also resetting the password or creating an admin accouunt to have full access to the PC is an easy task with the tools available.