why do mac users......

[Original Poster]

Why do mac users turn and leave on there broadcaster ... they are sending out a wireless signal to connect to ... most of them being WEP why? is it a standard on thing? it annoys me ... I am sitting in a cafe right now and Im so restrained

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

What do you mean? I've never heard of being able to broadcast a wireless signal from a Mac.

All I can think of is that whoever you're near may have a 3G Router or some other type of Wi-Fi Hotspot device.

[Glassed Silver]

What do you mean? I've never heard of being able to broadcast a wireless signal from a Mac.

All I can think of is that whoever you're near may have a 3G Router or some other type of Wi-Fi Hotspot device.

You can actually share your internet connection or create a general purpose network to connect to via WiFi from a Mac.

Glassed Silver:mac

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

So you can. I've never seen that option before.

Well, at least you now know it's not default behaviour SPEHosting. :o

[cooky560 Veteran]

It's more worrying from a networking point of view that of ML the firewall is still off by default :p

[f0rk_b0mb]

Yeah I use this with my friend's laptop all the time instead of letting him on my network. They leave them on because they are ignorant to the fact that Macs can get viruses and can be hacked. I always turn mine off when I'm done with it.

[SMELTN]

never knew this existed. How do I turn it on/off? Where is the option, and why is the useful? If you have net access so does the person next to you right?

[PNWDweller]

Go to your Sharing Preference Pane and then Click on the Internet Sharing, the rest should be pretty easy. :)

[123456789A]

It's more worrying from a networking point of view that of ML the firewall is still off by default :p

No worry at all. Can't hack Mac. /s

[Stetson]

never knew this existed. How do I turn it on/off? Where is the option, and why is the useful? If you have net access so does the person next to you right?

You turn it on and off in Preferences -> Sharing. It's useful when the only available network is wired. One person can connect to ethernet and then share that connection via WiFi.

I don't see why anyone would have that turned on in a cafe though.

[PNWDweller]

By the way- I used to use it for my Xbox 360 when I had one. Sometimes you need to have an internet connection supplied to a device and don't have a wireless router (like I did at the time). :)

[Shadrack]

Why do mac users turn and leave on there broadcaster ... they are sending out a wireless signal to connect to ... most of them being WEP why? is it a standard on thing? it annoys me ... I am sitting in a cafe right now and Im so restrained

Why do you assume that all Mac users do this?

[Ryoken]

Why do you assume that all Mac users do this?

Because he's not a Mac user.. non-mac users all like to make assumptions of Mac users :p

[Original Poster]

Because he's not a Mac user.. non-mac users all like to make assumptions of Mac users :p

who says im not a mac user :p im an all rounder baby! YEA!

also its more the fact im sitting in my room and can see atleast 6 macs broadcasting ...fine it might not be EVERYONE with a mac but still WHY JEBUS

[+Gl1tterUnic0rns Subscriber²]

who says im not a mac user :p im an all rounder baby! YEA!

also its more the fact im sitting in my room and can see atleast 6 macs broadcasting ...fine it might not be EVERYONE with a mac but still WHY JEBUS

with these "6 broadcasting macs" do a screenshot for us and post it (this is going somewhere..)

[Matthew S.]

who says im not a mac user :p im an all rounder baby! YEA!

also its more the fact im sitting in my room and can see atleast 6 macs broadcasting ...fine it might not be EVERYONE with a mac but still WHY JEBUS

>.> Have you used AS/400 before....? -.- it's part of my daily nightmare (work...)

[.Neo]

Internet Sharing is always off by default. As far as I know you can choose witch method you want to use to secure the signal with.

Why exactly does this annoy you?

[Original Poster]

Internet Sharing is always off by default. As far as I know you can choose witch method you want to use to secure the signal with.

Why exactly does this annoy you?

because its a security hole a massive one... im connected to the same network as these people... its hard to explain the network setup but if hackers get in they have the ability to hide behind this person no authentication needed ... once you are in a network you can **** with it easily

[Glassed Silver]

because its a security hole a massive one... im connected to the same network as these people... its hard to explain the network setup but if hackers get in they have the ability to hide behind this person no authentication needed ... once you are in a network you can **** with it easily

Tell them to use another subnet (if possible) and to encrypt their traffic.

I don't know about the legal side of things, but I guess you could tell them that they are major threats to the infrastructure and going with anything less than WPA2 is ridiculous.

Oh and maybe the network admin will sort this out, that is unless they hear you and accept what you say.

If they don't, well, the admin probably will fix this pronto lol

PS: if you don't know the people's names as their SSIDs they chose don't ring a bell for you, you might want to consider putting a flier in your house, which should be a good hint to anyone thinking about doing that in future.

Glassed Silver:mac

[SMELTN]

>.> Have you used AS/400 before....? -.- it's part of my daily nightmare (work...)

AS/400 nightmares here at well. Thats what we use at work full time so yeah I know your pain.

[Matthew S.]

AS/400 nightmares here at well. Thats what we use at work full time so yeah I know your pain.

The only nice this is I don't have to do DBA at work.... just data entry...

[Leonick]

because its a security hole a massive one... im connected to the same network as these people... its hard to explain the network setup but if hackers get in they have the ability to hide behind this person no authentication needed ... once you are in a network you can **** with it easily

Don't think you have to worry about that, if this internet sharing works like internet sharing usually does anyone connecting to one of these sharing laptops they'll be in a WiFi network with just that laptop, it won't pass them on through to the next network. Technically I guess you might be able to get past that as well but he won't get on to the actual network you're on.

[Shadrack]

Don't think you have to worry about that, if this internet sharing works like internet sharing usually does anyone connecting to one of these sharing laptops they'll be in a WiFi network with just that laptop, it won't pass them on through to the next network. Technically I guess you might be able to get past that as well but he won't get on to the actual network you're on.

I don't think the OP has so much of a problem to solve as a bone to pick.

[.Neo]

because its a security hole a massive one... im connected to the same network as these people... its hard to explain the network setup but if hackers get in they have the ability to hide behind this person no authentication needed ... once you are in a network you can **** with it easily

What? As long as you have your Mac set up properly everyone needs authentication to get access.

[Shadrack]

What? As long as you have your Mac set up properly everyone needs authentication to get access.

It is also not-at-all trivial to disable said authentication.