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    I have a network in my small business of 2 XP machines and a Vista laptop. I recently installed a Dell wireless router. The laptop is connected through wireless and the XP machines are hard wired and do not have wireless cards. All looks fine on the laptop (I can see the wireless network as connected and the LAN as disconnected), but if I hit the Network-Details button in OneCare on the XP machines, it shows the wireless network right down to the SSID and WPA key - this is the only network that is shown. Eveything is working OK, but I am curious as to why I am seeing this. I do not use the OneCare circle management feature, and none of the machines is designated as a hub.
    Monday, March 24, 2008 11:36 PM

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    I believe you will find that the router you installed is fully plug and play and was queried by OneCare.

    Would your router be the Dell listed on this page?

    http://onecare.live.com/standard/en-us/prodinfo/aplist.htm

    Dell - WX-5565D - firmware rev. 5.1.1.6

     

    OneCare checks the router to make sure that you have secured it.

    -steve

    Tuesday, March 25, 2008 12:56 AM
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    I believe you will find that the router you installed is fully plug and play and was queried by OneCare.

    Would your router be the Dell listed on this page?

    http://onecare.live.com/standard/en-us/prodinfo/aplist.htm

    Dell - WX-5565D - firmware rev. 5.1.1.6

     

    OneCare checks the router to make sure that you have secured it.

    -steve

    Tuesday, March 25, 2008 12:56 AM
    Moderator
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    Steve,

     

    No it is not this Dell router - it's actually one that is a few years old now that I used to use in my home network. I did check this list previously as I wondered where the info was coming from and suspected the router, although I would not have thought that the query would be made at all if there was no wireless capability detected on the machine and OnCare hadn't offered to do the secure setup. The only other place the info would be available is on the laptop with the wireless card, but XP shouldn't know that with no Network Discovery (although I do have the responder on the XP machines). I don't know if Vista can get that level of detail using Network Discovery anyway.

     

    Like I said, no biggy, just a little strange.

     

    Keith

    Tuesday, March 25, 2008 2:37 PM
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    Steve,

     

    Please ignore last post. My router IS the model mentioned - I was looking at the wrong number. So you have answered the question, although I still do not think this ought to work in this way !

     

    Keith

     

    Tuesday, March 25, 2008 2:43 PM
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    I can easily explain why it works this way. Most broadband ISPs currently offer a wireless router with a firewall at this point instead of a modem. The problem is that some of these users don't currently need or have a wireless PC, so they simply leave that portion of the configuration at defaults, which is almost always unsecured.

     

    This is one of the common home user mistakes, which is exactly why OneCare added the wireless security portion. If it didn't have the ability to secure the wireless from any PC, anyone who didn't have a wireless PC would remain unprotected and could still be attacked through the wireless connection. To prove this is common, simply drive down any residential street with a wireless laptop looking for networks to attach to, in most areas at least 10-25% will be unsecured.

     

    OneCareBear

    Tuesday, March 25, 2008 3:28 PM
    Moderator