How do you...

[woodstock]

My laptop hooks to a neighbor's wireless by default and I have to continually go in and change it back to mine. If it's already ON mine and I'm using it, it's good to go.. but if I walk away for 20 mins and it goes into semi-hibernation, when I wake it up again it seeks out and finds my neighbor's wireless.

How do I get it to stop that?

Thanks.

 

[TMetzinger]

In XP, under the Wireless Connections Properties / Wireless tab, you can specify the order of preferred networks.

Vista probably has something similar.

You should change the SSID (network ID on your wireless router) to something unique. If you leave it at the default (like "linksys" and your neighbor has the same router and SSID), then your computer can't figure out which one to use, and will switch to the strongest signal.

So, first, make sure your network ID is unique (call it LizTravls or something) and then set your laptop to prefer it.

Hope this helps.

 

[woodstock]

Thanks Tim!

I'm actually a secure network, and I have a unique name. So no one can find me. My neighbor has "linksys" however...

 

[jesse]

Look in your wireless settings. I don't have Vista but there wil be something that is the prefered order of netwroks or something like that. Whichever is higher is what your laptop will try to connect to. Remove Linksys from the list and your problem will go away.

 

[markb5900]

For Vista,
Got to network and sharing center
then on the left, manage wireless networks
find your neighbors in the list and right click on it
Properties, then take the checkmark off "automatically connect"
that should do it for you

Mark B