Is it possible?

Yesterday we had a visit from grandsons, one of whom is classed (by his school) as technologically gifted. (Little !"£!£"! is too). He spent the afternoon, as they do, playing on some sort of device. Now he said that he had found an unsecured Wi-fi and that he could if he was that way inclined have done all sorts of nasties to it. We assumed that it was our neighbours as we have a modem and no router.
However when they had gone I found I could not connect to the Internet. The error message which came up said that there was an Unknown Network . In the end I did a System restore which got back our connection.
We were wondering if it was possible that somehow he had managed to change our machine in some way, even though it was in sleep mode all the time he was here and he never touched the PC.
Sorry for the long windedness, just wondered that is all if it was possible.

 

I'm not 100% sure; so I'll be reading the answers with interest.

Did you ask him?

 

No, they have gone on holiday so cannot get in touch for a few days when they get home.

 

That's a bit inconsiderate of them!

Maybe clueless1 would give a better informed answer? Have you tried PM'ing him? He's very clued with all things IT related.

 

Its possible that when he was searching for a connection that his device picked up your computer. Wouldn't have thought that it would break your connection unless he'd joined it to a network though.

 

I can't see how the little genius could reconfigure your modem or your PC if you are running through a hard-wired connection unless he got his paws on the PC.

 

Just because you have a wired link between your computer and router, doesn't mean the router is not listening to wifi. The default in most routers with wireless capability is that the wireless would be enabled.

The PC wont have been changed, and I suspect the system restore fixing it was a red herring. If anything, I bet the router either locked out all connections on detecting a suspected hack attack (lots of unauthenticated connection attempts in rapid succession), or attempted access caused the router to reallocate the IP addresses, inadvertently cutting off your computer.

But that's just a guess. Could be a number of things.

Also, if your router is standard issue from any of the big ISPs, it is very unlikely to be unsecured. Most of them are shipped already configured with the latest security. A third part after market one would be a different story though.

 

Sorry Clueless, but WE do not have a Router. The router is in next doors. We only have a Modem. He did not touch the PC as it was in Sleep mode all the time they were here and in another room.
Tried everything else before doing a System Restore, including restarting the machine, to no avail. Each time it came up saying that it was trying to connect to a Network which it could not do.
As far as I an aware this machine has no wireless faculty, though it may have somewhere on the inside without me knowing. The Modem is connected with an Ethernet cable.
I will have to ask him.

 

Go into your control panel> Network & Internet > connect to a network.

If it can do wireless you'll see it from there

 

The computer was in sleep mode though, so even if it can do wireless, most likely the wireless adapter had turned itself off. We now know there is no wireless router in the equation, just a modem, so I think it must have been a coincidence that the network broke when the kid was round.

 

Sounds like he may have had a fiddle with the wifi option and if he went into connect to a network any available wifi would be shown if you ask for 'show all'. If the laptop is hardwired into the modem, then you may have to tell you laptop to connect to your modem as it may be looking for a wifi option. There may be a password needed to connect.

 

I have emailed him so we will see what he has to say.
Thanks very much for the responses.
Made a note of the name of the Connection and Password for next time.

 

Had a reply and he says that since the PC was in Sleep mode, it would only respond to the keyboard or the mouse, so it must have been a system malfunction and just a coincidence.
Oh to be that age and that knowledgeable about technology.
Now the question is, whether I should tell our neighbours that their Wifi system is not secure.
What would you do?

 

I get annoyed by my son coming round and logging onto ebay using his password and 'forgetting' to log off.

Cheers, Tony.

 

But you were that age/knowledgable about technology: once

I remember when my mother bought a cooker with a "rotisser" grill (she was much older than my siblings and I; we were her last babies and not dissimilar in age to her grandchildren ) and I recall thinking, just how silly can she be!!!? We all helped her to understand how it worked, the settings, the temperatures (while all thinking: crikey, how thick can she be?)

Now I am firmly in the age/era she was, when I was a child. A few years ago, my sons thought I was a top notch whizz kid at computers/video games (and, yes, I'd like to think I was - by comparison ). But, test me today and I find myself (no less enthusiastic!) a little bit lacking in comparision on *that* score.

Nowadays, my "strength" isn't in IT, or video games ... but in the things the youngsters are lacking *because* of their focus on IT

So, who's cooking the pancakes tonight (and presenting them in half a dozen different ways)?
Who's sorting out my mobile update?

Horses for courses

To answer your question re: neighbours I think much would depend upon my neighbours! If you had asked me that 3 years ago, my mindset would be - let them find out the hard way!

With my current neighbours, my answer would be: tell 'em!

Why the difference? Well, that boils down to the attitude/selfishness of the neighbours concerned. I currently have traditionally "social" neighbours vs previous "me-me-me-entitlement" neighbours.