"Hiding" other available wirleess networks

Hi,

I have a laptop running Windows 7 Home 32-bit, and it connects via wirless network (lets call it ABC). When I hover my mouse over the Network Connection icon on the taskbar, it shows other wirless networks (say DEF, PQR, XYZ etc. etc.) in the nearby vicinity.

Is there any way to turn off the ability to see and find other wirelss networks? Is it some sort of "discovery" option?

Thanks,

The owners of those other wireless networks will need to turn off SSID broadcasting for their networks to be invisible to you. So, not a realistic idea.

Whats the point anyway? Most of those networks would be secured, so they cant be piggy backed on, even by mistake (if thats what you are scared of). As for the unsecured ones, they will soon exceed their download limit, lol, so wont be available for too long.

Check and see if your firewall can be set to block those sites.

There is an option to set your wireless network to be the preferred network. Then that PC will always connect to your network, assuming it's on. I don't have a wireless card in this PC or I'd give you more detailed instructions. If those other networks are password protected your kid(s) can't connect anyway, if thats what your worried about.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

My laptop has been configured to use my home wireless network as the default, so there isn't a concern about which network is being used.

My query reaklly was just based on wanting to make the network connections look a little "cleaner" if that makes sense. As you point out, it would require other networks not to broadcast their SSID, which isn't feasible.

Thanks.

My apologies for necroing a thread but I need a solution to a similar problem. As a result of living in a large apartment building near a starbucks there are multiple unsecured network connections available (5 +, with roughly 20 more secured ones). Is there anyway I can ban my computer for connecting to any but my own network? Similarly windows 7 seems to have a maddening desire to always be looking for the 'best connection' result in it disconnecting from my network I've set and connecting to these unsecured networks. This results in it switch connections every couple minutes, sometimes multiple times per minute (3 times since i've started this post. I've tried deleting the public profiles to no avail. Any help is greatly appreciated.

BruinBomb : I believe the way to do that is to set your connection as the default one. That way, it should always connect that way.

You need to left click onto YOUR network SSID and then right click "Properties" > (it will take you to "Security" first by default so switch to tab "Connection"). After that, there are three options:

[V] "Connect Automatically when this network is in range"
[_] "Connect to a more preferred network if available"
[V] "Connect even if the network is not broadcasting its name (SSID)"

You want to enable the first and the last of these ([V]), and DISABLE ([_])the middle one.

That should definitely solve your problem.

Sorry for replying to such an old thread, but here's a solution. If you want to whitelist one or more networks, blacklisting all others including any future router you set up with an SSID different than one that you've whitelisted, open up an elevated command window (Start | type "cmd" and right-click the cmd.exe up top and choose "Run as administrator". Enter the following:

Code:

netsh wlan add filter permission=allow ssid="SSID_TO_BE_WHITELISTED" networktype=infrastructure
netsh wlan add filter permission=denyall networktype=infrastructure

It's pretty self-explanatory, but I'll explain anyways. The first netsh wlan command whitelists a single SSID. You can add more copies of this line to whitelist more SSID's. The second netsh wlan command blacklists all SSID's, except any you've whitelisted.

If you'd rather blacklist individual SSID's (so you don't have to worry about not seeing a new router you might set up, or your current router if you happen to change the SSID), use:

Code:

netsh wlan add filter permission=block ssid="SSID_TO_BE_BLACKLISTED" networktype=infrastructure

Obviously, using the second method will force you to blacklist any new SSID's that your wifi adapter might encounter later on.

For more info on the netsh wlan commands, see https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/...(v=ws.10).aspx. It says Windows Server 2008 up top, but it works for Windows 7 Ultimate as well. Unsure about other versions.

akTed said:

Sorry for replying to such an old thread, but here's a solution. If you want to whitelist one or more networks, blacklisting all others including any future router you set up with an SSID different than one that you've whitelisted, open up an elevated command window (Start | type "cmd" and right-click the cmd.exe up top and choose "Run as administrator". Enter the following:

Code:

netsh wlan add filter permission=allow ssid="SSID_TO_BE_WHITELISTED" networktype=infrastructure
netsh wlan add filter permission=denyall networktype=infrastructure

It's pretty self-explanatory, but I'll explain anyways. The first netsh wlan command whitelists a single SSID. You can add more copies of this line to whitelist more SSID's. The second netsh wlan command blacklists all SSID's, except any you've whitelisted.

If you'd rather blacklist individual SSID's (so you don't have to worry about not seeing a new router you might set up, or your current router if you happen to change the SSID), use:

Code:

netsh wlan add filter permission=block ssid="SSID_TO_BE_BLACKLISTED" networktype=infrastructure

Obviously, using the second method will force you to blacklist any new SSID's that your wifi adapter might encounter later on.

For more info on the netsh wlan commands, see https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/...(v=ws.10).aspx. It says Windows Server 2008 up top, but it works for Windows 7 Ultimate as well. Unsure about other versions.

Thanks for this. Just the pearl I was looking for to stop seeing my neighbour's daft network SSID on my list - venice - because that's where they want to go for a holiday