SOLVED Securing my network.

[BigFeet]

I found someone on my network the other day. I've changed the router password. Since I haven't been thinking straight, does turning off Make This PC Discoverable help secure the PC's on my network (public network with network discovery and and file and print sharing off)? Thank you.

 

[BigFeet]

BTW, I don't need access to the other PC's and I have 2 printers, one being wifi. So I don't need printer sharing either. Networking isn't my strength, and i haven't slept in 48 hours, so I'm a bit punchy.

 

[Ian]

Can I just check how you found someone on your network - was this someone that appeared on your router as connected to your WiFi? Or had someone been tampering with settings?

If you don't do file sharing or have any need for using a network other than sharing internet, then yes I would probably disable network discovery and file sharing (as there's no point in having it in your case). You'll still be able to use the WiFi printer like this.

That said, it won't do much to protect your PCs (it will remove one attack vector though). You primarily want to stop anyone connecting to your network in the first place. I'd make sure that you've changed the router default password and also have a network SSID created with WPA2-PSK (AES) encryption (not WEP, WPA, Mixed or Open, as all of these are insecure). Make sure you've picked a good, strong WiFi password that is reasonably long, not dictionary based and contains mixed characters.

 

[Norton]

Turning off broadcasting your SSID may help somewhat. It's still not 100% secure, nothing is these days.
I would also like to know how you discovered someone was using your network. I would do as Ian suggested.

 

[BigFeet]

Can I just check how you found someone on your network - was this someone that appeared on your router as connected to your WiFi? Or had someone been tampering with settings?

If you don't do file sharing or have any need for using a network other than sharing internet, then yes I would probably disable network discovery and file sharing (as there's no point in having it in your case). You'll still be able to use the WiFi printer like this.

That said, it won't do much to protect your PCs (it will remove one attack vector though). You primarily want to stop anyone connecting to your network in the first place. I'd make sure that you've changed the router default password and also have a network SSID created with WPA2-PSK (AES) encryption (not WEP, WPA, Mixed or Open, as all of these are insecure). Make sure you've picked a good, strong WiFi password that is reasonably long, not dictionary based and contains mixed characters.

Thanks. I saw it when I clicked network in explorer. I then ran wifiguard and then went in to the router, and I could see it. I did all you suggested. Come to find out, I had reinstalled Windows on my tablet,and let it give it a generic name which I didn't recognize. After running the mac address, I found out it was my own PC. As you can tell, networking isn't my strength. Thanks for the help.

 

[Trouble]

I have some of the same confusion when all my grand kids show up with their cell phones and tablets.

 

[Norton]

• BigFeet Thanks for your reply.
  
• Somehow, I initially thought that you had left something on your network connected, but when you said the other 2 PCs were not in use, I got thinking outside the box. LOL