Cannot turn off 'automatically connect' option on WIFI connections

Think I have figured this out.  I have noticed that I look down this list of networks and they are all checkmarked "autoconnect"  when I go to uncheck them they go right back to being checked on autoconnect.

For windows 8- go to control panel, network and internet, click on "change advanced sharing settings" on the left hand side, click on the "Private", then uncheck the box " turn on automatic setup of network connected devices". Also, I turned off network discovery.

Hope that helps- it completely removed all other networks other than mine.

There are really two issues here: you do want to connect automatically to secure networks you know and trust, but you don’t ever want to connect (automatically or otherwise) to unsecured networks or secure networks you do not know or trust (like your neighbor’s networks). If possible, you don’t even want to see these networks cluttering your connect dialog.

Step 1: Disable searching. In the Wireless Network Properties for the network(s) you do want to use, make sure “Look for other wireless networks while connected to this network” is unchecked.

Step 2: Add your network(s) to the “Allow” filter. Open a command prompt and execute the following command, replacing XXXX with the SSID of each network you do want to use:

netsh wlan add filter permission=allow ssid=”XXXX” networktype=infrastructure

Step 3: Add all networks not specifically allowed to the “Block” filter.

netsh wlan add filter permission=denyall networktype=infrastructure

The downside is that connecting to networks you do not yet know (such as at a hotel) becomes more difficult. Consider creating the following command script as AllowSSID.bat:

@netsh wlan add filter permission=allow ssid=%1 networktype=infrastructure

If the SSID has embedded blanks, be sure to enclose it in quotes (e.g., “Hidden Network”) when you execute this command.

Last, if you “allow” the local Starbucks’ network be sure to mark it as Public so sharing is disabled.

Thanks but unfortunately as per my original posting, I cannot turn off the auto connect for that network because of my original issue, that is, ALL the other connections (as per original post) are set to 'automatically connect'. I do not want to have my system connecting to unsecured networks that come into range.

In brief again:

• all connections in wireless network screen have 'connect automatically' box checked
• unchecking the boxes does not work as they automatically recheck immediately
• when getting in range of an unsecured free network, my system connects to it automatically (not good!)

Surely there is some file edit I can do that automatically defaults all available wifi networks to not be set to connect automatically by default when they come into range. This was easy in Windows 7.

What is the point of the 'connect automatically' box if I cannot deselect it for networks that I cannot connect to or do not want to? I can only deselect it for the network I DO want to autoconnect to.

Further, I cannot 'forget network' except or networks I am connected too...again meaning its a pointless option.

The only security option I have therefore at the moment is to keep my system in flight mode, or to turn WIFI off using the Intel connection utility I downloaded.

I don't think it is an answer for all the problems written in this post, but I found very usefull information in the Dutch MS forum:

http://answers.microsoft.com/nl-nl/windows/forum/windows\_8-networking/wireless-netwerken-verwijderen/9f98100a-211d-4df2-8d27-8f0e52842877?rtAction=1383024914145

It appears that although connect automatically is always on, it will not  automatically connect to a network if you don't ever self once already have connected to that network. If you have connected to a network, you can undo this again, by right clicking on the network and choosing not remembered. So basically,  autoconnect means nothing, it's about whether it's a "remember" network.

I hope I used the right English terms.