IS SOMEONE ELSE USING MY BROADBAND???!!!

[Dalrymps]

I have this McAfee thing on my laptop. I have wireless broadband. Today it flashed up with a network overview and howed my computer then ANOTHER one called 'thomson' connected to my network . It asked if I wanted to mark it as a 'friend' or an 'intruder' so I marked it as an intruder. It said it would inform me when the 'intruder' connects.

Just now it flashed up saying the intruder has connected but I can't see any option to stop them connecting.

I think this is whats happening anyway, unless i'm being think and it means something else?

I'm if this is happening caus emy connection was really slow this morning and I had an email a while ago to say I had gone over my limit, I'm not paying for someone else to use my connection!!!

Help!

[SoupDragon]

You need to secure your wireless network.

[SoupDragon]

Someone with better Geek credentials will come along in a mo and tell you how to do this!

[OneLieIn]

Is your wireless secured? if so, it should be harder for them to use.
Are you with BT? The reason i ask is that one of their packages turns your home wifi into a hotspot for anyone to connect to.

[zippitippitoes]

its not too hard just a case of going in clicking a few boxes and setting a password

[OneLieIn]

I can talk you through it too if you are not secured.

[zippitippitoes]

or they call it a string dont they

[AMumInScotland]

Oddly enough, my wireless connection also has something called "Thomson" on it, so it may not actually be another person using your connection. But I'm not that clear what it is, just that it has always appeared on the network...

[zippitippitoes]

thomson make routers

[halogen]

Could Thomson be the name of the router or your wireless card or something?

[Dalrymps]

Hmm, don't know if it is secured or not.

Yes I am with BT.

I had to put in some kind of code off the back of the hub when I set it up in the first place and thought it was secure but now not sure.

AMumInScotland - interesting that you say yours has thomson on it too, maybe it's not someone else? Although I don't know what else it can mean as it says 'thomson' is another computer?!

[halogen]

Ah, zippi has the same thought as I do.

[Dalrymps]

Don't know, maybe it is the card, is that in the hub? Why would it say it's a computer though

[zippitippitoes]

you mentioned mcafee as well which is always implying that things are attacks and intruders it doesnt seem to recognise any bona fide programmes even java updates it questions

[zippitippitoes]

ok i reckon thomson is downloading an update to your home hub

home hub is made by thomson

[AMumInScotland]

Ah, I've got the BT home hub too - so it would make sense if it's the hub getting an update.

[Dalrymps]

Ok, I have a bt homehib, I checked the sticker on the back of it and in very small letters at the bottom it says 'thomson telecom' so maybe it's just that?

I'm still suspicious though, it's nevr come up before and i've been on the internet nearly a year

So you think it's my hub? On the network overview theres the internet, then a pic of the hub then branching off the hub pic are 2 computers...

[AMumInScotland]

The hub is another computer (sort of) so that would fit. It may not seem like a computer to you, since it doesn't have a screen or mouse or anything, but it is a little computer itself.

[AMumInScotland]

Has something else changed? - it could maybe just be an update to McAfee making it more twitchy than before.

[Dalrymps]

Ok, why is there a pic of a hub and then 2 computers though? surely it would just say 'thomson' under the pic of the hub iykwim. The hilarious bit is that 5 years ago I worked in a call centre as technical help for bt broadband. Oh dear.

[Dalrymps]

Nothing has changed as far as i'm aware, I usually just leave the laptop on and connected so I can pop on MN whenever I want. I restarted this morning as it was slow but it's been fine since then.

[AMumInScotland]

So, it says the network has the hub, then 2 PCs off the hub - what are the 2 PCs labelled? Is one of them the Thomson, and the other one your laptop?

[AMumInScotland]

I'm at work just now (lunchbreak!) so I can't look at mine to compare at the moment

[Dalrymps]

Yes that right, it has internet which has a pic of a globe, then this is attached to a box that just has an ip address as it's name then that has 2 lines off it, one goes to a pic of a computer named 'my computer' and one goes to another computer named thomson.

[AMumInScotland]

I think that mine has the same, but as I say, I can't check it at the moment - but I reckon it probably means that the hub treats its own builtin computer as being another computer on the network - you can attach things to the hub directly I think, which would probably show on the diagram as being on "Thomson" - like backup drives, that sort of thing. So, I think it's ok. Though it doesn't explain why it's just started happening, if you've had it a year and not changed anything - but then again antivirus software is usually set to do regular updates so they may just have changed how it works. If no-one else has resolved this by then, I'll take a look this evening and see what mine looks like.