WI FI Nonsense - OPT OUT If you Have Windows 10

byTheCatherine

14.5K followers

Updated 9 years ago

Wi-Fi Sense allows anyone you have contact with to login to your WIFI network. The only thing anyone needs to login to your network is to be running WI FI Sense in other words, they have got windows 10 as well.

Technically they can't share your password, but they can.

if one of your friends has your password and they type it into Windows 10 they share that information with their friends. The password is stored by Microsoft and it is transmitted to a device logged into windows 10.

"For networks you choose to share access to, the password is sent over an encrypted connection and stored in an encrypted file on a Microsoft server, and then sent over a secure connection to your contacts' phone if they use Wi-Fi Sense and they're in range of the Wi-Fi network you shared," the Wi-Fi Sense FAQ states.

Microsoft has stated that that Wi-Fi Sense will only provide internet access, and it will block connections to other things on the wireless LAN: "When you share network access, your contacts get internet access only.Technically that means your friends and uncle Tom Cobbly and all won't have access to your bank codes and files. However it is debateable how they can enforce this.

If a computer on your network is connected it must have the access key and how long will it take a hacker to crack that. Not that long I suspect, although not being a hacker I cannot state that categorically.

The history of this stems from version 8.1. If you type the password into your Lumia, you won’t then need to type it into your laptop, because you cannot befriend yourself!

By granting Wi-Fi Sense access to your Facebook contacts, you are giving Microsoft a list of your Facebook friends, as well as your wireless passwords.

So what is Microsoft doing about this. It seems you have to opt out rather than optin, which is rather a frightening state of affairs. Microsoft enables Windows 10's Wi-Fi Sense by default if it is a clean install o and if it is a particular edition. If the feature is enabled, access to password-protected networks is shared with a person's contacts if that user checks a set of boxes when they first connect to a network.

Granted if it switched off it is useless, but better that than giving the world access to your network. of course if you go into Starbucks they can write their password down for you, or even give you the wireless key on a business card but that is a different thing to going on FB and screaming your passwords from the rooftop.

To stop sharing access to a WiFi network. Go to Start > Settings > Network & Internet >WiFi > Manage WiFi settings. Under Manage known networks, select the network that you want to stop sharing access to, then select Stop sharing. It can take a few days for the network to stop being shared.