Neighbor keeps inserting his wireless router into my network infrastructure?

Anonymous
2011-08-10T13:09:02+00:00

neighbor keeps adding his router to my network infrastructure. Not sure how this is happening. Have deleted network profile and re installed with just my router, added/changed passwords, and within a few days here is this other router listed in addition to mine as part of the network infrastructure again. How do I prevent this? How much of a security risk is this vs. just really annoying? I have cable internet, and a Linkseys modem and wireless router.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Internet and connectivity

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Anonymous
2011-08-17T15:29:17+00:00

If someone hacked into your router, they could well have hacked into your computer also and you may have something running in your computer that is doing this.  Its very hard to diagnose over this forum.  But if you are losing bandwidth, it suggests hacking.  And that is illegal and it might be used for illegal purposes, so if you knew it was someone hacking, you can contact local law enforcement, as it is more than someone accessing your internet capability (such as might be the case if you had an unsecured network).  This is robbery by tampering with your system, so that is clearly not kosher.  They could also be using your bandwidth for illegal purposes and the cops would come after you, as its your account.

I would scan your systems for malware and viruses.  Then also go to Start | Run and type msconfig and see what programs are running at startup and its possible there is a program that is resetting the "Belkin thing" or is opening a back door to your system.  For diagnostic purposes you might also try turning off the wireless features completely and just running the router hard-wired and then see if you get the "Belkin thing" coming back in. 

Its likely someone very close to you as the wireless signal doesn't transmit over the entire neighborhood.  It could even be someone in their vehicle out on the street.  If you are friendly with the neighbors, you can ask them.  Otherwise I'd ask law enforcement for their advice.

steve

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-08-22T22:21:35+00:00

    This is fascinating.  I wish I had the problem so I could figure it out.  You might check Device manager and Event Viewer just for the heck of it to see if there is anything there.  And go to Services and see if there is a non-MS service that looks weird that is set for automatic.  You might also boot to Safe Mode and see if the networking there is the same.

    steve

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-08-22T22:41:23+00:00

    Actually I tried the netsh wlan show all suggestion from Gordon's post and discovered something.  The MAC address on the rogue 'Belkin Wireless Router' matched the one from one of the SSID's in the neighborhood network named Belkin_N+_D67D40.  I am still trying to determine if there are any processes associated with the rogue router but now think that this would indicate that the rogue router is not part of my network but just parallel to it.  What i cannot get my head around is why Windows is allowing it to come up in the network infrastructure for my network if it is a parallel network in my neighborhood and why i get connection drops.  Maybe my wireless card on the laptop needs to be reconfigured.

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-08-22T23:05:49+00:00

    I've got a complicated test you can do to check if something is interposed, but try this as a simple test.  Log on to the router and change the channel that it is using for the wireless.  My guess here is maybe the networks are conflicting because they are using the same channel (hence the bandwidth drop), although they are not really connected.  Again, its a guess, but just about anything is at this point.

    steve

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  4. Anonymous
    2011-08-23T01:43:02+00:00

    You may be right, the radio type for both is 802.11n, the channel the Belkin is using is 1 and I've changed the netgear to default to something other than that channel.  Unless the Belkin channel swaps that's all i can do right now.  I will monitor to see if there are any drops after the change.  Still trying to work through all of the processes just in case there are any out of the norm.

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