The Conservative Cave

The Help Desk => Computer Related Discussions & Questions => Topic started by: JohnnyReb on September 27, 2012, 05:31:04 PM

Title: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: JohnnyReb on September 27, 2012, 05:31:04 PM
Bought son a new to him used laptop. Sony with new CD ROM, new hard drive, AC adaptor and charger, files wiped clean, windows 7, firefox, carrying case and 100% 90 day warranty on everything BUT any virus work. It's clean and doesn't look used at all...$210. How'd we do? He needed "word" and "power point", it's on there.

Thanks for all the advice last week on purchasing him a NEW laptop...decided to get him something to get him through high school. We'll get him a new laptop next year when he starts college.

Now a WII-FII question. We got home and he discovered he can hook to the internet by someones WII-FII....is that illegal?

 
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: rich_t on September 27, 2012, 05:37:54 PM
Bought son a new to him used laptop. Sony with new CD ROM, new hard drive, AC adaptor and charger, files wiped clean, windows 7, firefox, carrying case and 100% 90 day warranty on everything BUT any virus work. It's clean and doesn't look used at all...$210. How'd we do? He needed "word" and "power point", it's on there.

Thanks for all the advice last week on purchasing him a NEW laptop...decided to get him something to get him through high school. We'll get him a new laptop next year when he starts college.

Now a WII-FII question. We got home and he discovered he can hook to the internet by someones WII-FII....is that illegal?

 

Technically, yes that is illegal.
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: BigTex on September 27, 2012, 05:38:29 PM
Bought son a new to him used laptop. Sony with new CD ROM, new hard drive, AC adaptor and charger, files wiped clean, windows 7, firefox, carrying case and 100% 90 day warranty on everything BUT any virus work. It's clean and doesn't look used at all...$210. How'd we do? He needed "word" and "power point", it's on there.

Thanks for all the advice last week on purchasing him a NEW laptop...decided to get him something to get him through high school. We'll get him a new laptop next year when he starts college.

Now a WII-FII question. We got home and he discovered he can hook to the internet by someones WII-FII....is that illegal?

 

$210 is not to bad for a stopgap laptop and yes hooking into a neighbors wi-fi for internet is illegal but if they arent smart enough to secure it with a password they probably wouldnt be smart enough to catch and report yall.
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: Kyle Ricky on September 27, 2012, 07:08:30 PM
No, it is not legal. But if the neighbor is too stupid to secure his wireless, then he deserves to have some bandwidth stolen from him.

The thing you have to look at as well is that there is no way for your neighbor to prove that you were using their wi-fi because the ip you get will be a internal; ie, 192.168.1.whatevernumberisnextinline. There is no info on the kind of computer or where it was.
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: rich_t on September 28, 2012, 05:33:02 AM
No, it is not legal. But if the neighbor is too stupid to secure his wireless, then he deserves to have some bandwidth stolen from him.

The thing you have to look at as well is that there is no way for your neighbor to prove that you were using their wi-fi because the ip you get will be a internal; ie, 192.168.1.whatevernumberisnextinline. There is no info on the kind of computer or where it was.

The router will know the MAC address of the laptop.
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: Kyle Ricky on September 28, 2012, 07:47:14 AM
The router will know the MAC address of the laptop.

Yes, but there are ways to spoof it. So you will be untraceable.
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: rich_t on September 28, 2012, 02:56:44 PM
Yes, but there are ways to spoof it. So you will be untraceable.

It's still illegal Kyle and nobody deserves to be stolen from.

Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: Kyle Ricky on September 28, 2012, 02:59:20 PM
It's still illegal Kyle and nobody deserves to be stolen from.



Yes, it is illegal. But if someone isn't going to secure their connection, then it is their loss.
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: BigTex on September 28, 2012, 03:07:30 PM
It's still illegal Kyle and nobody deserves to be stolen from.



leaving your wi-fi open is like leave your car running with the doors open and unattended 24 hours a day. Maybe they dont "deserve" to be stolen from but its going to happen.
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: Kyle Ricky on September 28, 2012, 03:10:58 PM
I have my connection secured pretty good. To set up my Whole-Home-DVR with Directv I had to give the password and such to the tech to install it so I can get on the net with my tv. After he left I changed it all immediately. I won't give all the information but I will say that I named my network 'The FBI Surveillance Van'  :-)
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: rich_t on September 28, 2012, 04:19:42 PM
Yes, it is illegal. But if someone isn't going to secure their connection, then it is their loss.

So...  If I leave my door unlocked it's ok for someone to just walk in and steal from me?

IMO theft can very rarely be justified.
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: Kyle Ricky on September 28, 2012, 04:21:12 PM
So...  If I leave my door unlocked it's ok for someone to just walk in and steal from me?

IMO theft can very rarely be justified.

Well, just walking into a house with the door open is some what different. But I get your point.
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: Thor on September 28, 2012, 10:32:02 PM
The router will know the MAC address of the laptop.

EXACTLY!!! It keeps a log of all of the mac addresses connected to it for some length of time.
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: Thor on September 28, 2012, 10:32:53 PM
I have my connection secured pretty good. To set up my Whole-Home-DVR with Directv I had to give the password and such to the tech to install it so I can get on the net with my tv. After he left I changed it all immediately. I won't give all the information but I will say that I named my network 'The FBI Surveillance Van'  :-)

 ::)
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: BigTex on September 28, 2012, 11:05:12 PM
So...  If I leave my door unlocked it's ok for someone to just walk in and steal from me?

IMO theft can very rarely be justified.

Lets put it this way. if you left your front door wide open and then advertised to anyone who would listen that you would be out of town for a month, would you expect your stuff to be there when you got back? It wouldnt be justifiable that your stuff got stolen but you would hardly be an innocent victim. 
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: LC EFA on September 29, 2012, 05:12:03 AM
So...  If I leave my door unlocked it's ok for someone to just walk in and steal from me?

IMO theft can very rarely be justified.

Used to be that I could go away for a week and leave all my windows open and front door open.

If one of the neighbours spotted that the door was open they'd close it for me.

I'd be insane to do that these days - and that's a really sad indictment on what our society is devolving into.

IMO it is caused in no small part by the "You didn't secure it - so you deserve to have it stolen" mentality. It's really not all that different from the mindset that brings about the claim that women who wear revealing clothing "invite" or even "deserve" sexual assault.
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: rich_t on September 29, 2012, 03:45:14 PM
Used to be that I could go away for a week and leave all my windows open and front door open.

If one of the neighbours spotted that the door was open they'd close it for me.

I'd be insane to do that these days - and that's a really sad indictment on what our society is devolving into.

IMO it is caused in no small part by the "You didn't secure it - so you deserve to have it stolen" mentality. It's really not all that different from the mindset that brings about the claim that women who wear revealing clothing "invite" or even "deserve" sexual assault.

 :hi5:
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: freedumb2003 on September 29, 2012, 05:21:39 PM
Used to be that I could go away for a week and leave all my windows open and front door open.

If one of the neighbours spotted that the door was open they'd close it for me.

I'd be insane to do that these days - and that's a really sad indictment on what our society is devolving into.

IMO it is caused in no small part by the "You didn't secure it - so you deserve to have it stolen" mentality. It's really not all that different from the mindset that brings about the claim that women who wear revealing clothing "invite" or even "deserve" sexual assault.

From what I gather Franksolich has no locks on his doors (or doesn't use them).  How do I ping him to ask (besides PM)?
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: freedumb2003 on September 29, 2012, 05:22:12 PM
I have my connection secured pretty good. To set up my Whole-Home-DVR with Directv I had to give the password and such to the tech to install it so I can get on the net with my tv. After he left I changed it all immediately. I won't give all the information but I will say that I named my network 'The FBI Surveillance Van'  :-)

I love that name!
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: Kyle Ricky on September 29, 2012, 07:05:47 PM
I love that name!

I thought it would be something good to freak the neighbors out...  :lmao:
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: Thor on October 01, 2012, 03:17:29 PM
I have my connection secured pretty good. To set up my Whole-Home-DVR with Directv I had to give the password and such to the tech to install it so I can get on the net with my tv. After he left I changed it all immediately. I won't give all the information but I will say that I named my network 'The FBI Surveillance Van'  :-)

Had to steal something stupid from Facebook, huh? Couldn't think of anything a little more original?
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: Texacon on October 01, 2012, 04:09:58 PM
It wouldn't matter what I named my network.  You can't see my router.

KC
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: rich_t on October 01, 2012, 05:13:33 PM
It wouldn't matter what I named my network.  You can't see my router.

KC

You have an invisible router?  Cool. 

 :tongue:
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: Eupher on October 01, 2012, 06:01:46 PM
Used to be that I could go away for a week and leave all my windows open and front door open.

If one of the neighbours spotted that the door was open they'd close it for me.

I'd be insane to do that these days - and that's a really sad indictment on what our society is devolving into.

IMO it is caused in no small part by the "You didn't secure it - so you deserve to have it stolen" mentality. It's really not all that different from the mindset that brings about the claim that women who wear revealing clothing "invite" or even "deserve" sexual assault.

Spot on.

Kyle Ricky - I am in no way any sort of computer expert, but stealing is stealing. Justifying it in the manner that LC describes is just that - justifying thievery.

Bitchslapped for being an ass.

LC - h5.

Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: Texacon on October 01, 2012, 08:13:46 PM
You have an invisible router?  Cool. 

 :tongue:

Heh. Yeah and it's really hard to tell if its unplugged!

I don't let my router transmit the SSID. It just seems like the right the to do.

KC
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: Kyle Ricky on October 01, 2012, 11:43:42 PM
Had to steal something stupid from Facebook, huh? Couldn't think of anything a little more original?

Didn't get it from Facebook. I was going to name it "Star Ship Enterprise", then thought that was too corny. Even though I am a huge Star Trek fan.


Kyle Ricky - I am in no way any sort of computer expert, but stealing is stealing. Justifying it in the manner that LC describes is just that - justifying thievery.

Bitchslapped for being an ass.



I am honored. I finally got a bitch slap from Eupher.  WOot! :-)
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: RobJohnson on October 01, 2012, 11:53:10 PM
Yes, it is illegal. But if someone isn't going to secure their connection, then it is their loss.

I have left wi fi unprotected from passwords to help out any neighbors that wanted to connect. No worries from a nice guy like me.
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: Kyle Ricky on October 01, 2012, 11:55:56 PM
I have left wi fi unprotected from passwords to help out any neighbors that wanted to connect. No worries from a nice guy like me.

There are people who do that. Which is a good gesture. But you have to be careful. If they do anything illegal while on your connection, you can be held liable for it.
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: RobJohnson on October 02, 2012, 12:05:32 AM
There are people who do that. Which is a good gesture. But you have to be careful. If they do anything illegal while on your connection, you can be held liable for it.

I've never been much of a parnoid person and let things roll as they roll.

Compared to what I do for a living. Things are much more dangerous around my workplace.
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: Kyle Ricky on October 02, 2012, 12:09:48 AM
I've never been much of a parnoid person and let things roll as they roll.

Compared to what I do for a living. Things are much more dangerous around my workplace.

I guess that could be right. But in any case, I like to be cautious.
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: RobJohnson on October 02, 2012, 12:21:19 AM
I guess that could be right. But in any case, I like to be cautious.

I hope someone steals my identity.  :rofl:
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: Kyle Ricky on October 02, 2012, 12:23:13 AM
I hope someone steals my identity.  :rofl:

 :lmao:
Title: Re: Laptop and WII-FII question.
Post by: Lacarnut on October 02, 2012, 01:05:52 AM
I hope someone steals my identity.  :rofl:

and leaves you a few million.  :-)