How to check which devices are connected to wifi. How to find out who is connected to my WiFi via router settings

Today Wi-Fi exists in almost every home and office, as well as in various entertainment venues. This will allow users to easily connect to the Internet when the need arises.

Of course, free wireless access is an essential convenience, but router owners are concerned about the following question: "How do you know who has connected to a particular WIFI?" This problem is quite common today, so it's worth understanding all the nuances.

The router may keep a log of operation, depending on the specific model. However, it is quite problematic to find information there that may be useful. The easiest way is to see the current status and determine how many connected devices there are. True, this method is not reliable enough, because it displays information in a specific period of time.

What should be a cause for concern?

Router owners should be alert if the following problems appear:

Reducing the data transfer speed (there are many reasons for this, but the most common is the connection with other people's devices);
vigorous blinking of the indicator (as a rule, a similar phenomenon is observed when there is an exchange of data with the Internet).

If the devices are not working at the moment, and the indicator is on, this is a cause for concern.

Connected technology table

Users are willing to use many methods to find out who has connected to their WIFI. After all, this reduces the quality of the owner's work. To check whether unscrupulous users are connected to Wi-Fi, you can use the method of viewing the technique table. To implement it, you need to enter the IP address into the browser line, and then start the command interpreter.

Thus, the following actions are performed:

1. Goes to the Start menu.
2. The section "Search" is selected.
3. Enter "cmd" and press "Enter".
4. The "ipconfig" command is executed. Next to the Default Gateway label, you can see the address of the router.

When the username and password are specified, a list of devices connecting to the router will be displayed in the window that appears on the screen. In the case when unknown IP and MAC addresses are observed, it is necessary to block these users. You can also limit their priority for a certain period of time.

How can I find out who is connected to Wi-Fi when using the router settings?

This method is quite simple. When there are suspicions that someone has connected to WIFI, you should check this guess. To do this, you need to go to the settings and specify the appropriate tab, where all the information will be displayed. To visit the settings panel, you must enter the numbers in the address bar of the browser, which can be found on the back of the router. They may differ, depending on the router model, but mostly they are 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1. In addition, these numbers, as well as the login and password, can be seen in the technical documentation.

After entering all the data, you will need to click on the "OK" button and go to the device settings. First, you need to go to the "Basic Settings" section, and then visit the "Wireless Mode" menu by selecting "Wireless Mode Statistics" there. On the right in the window that opens, you can find the number of stations connected to the wireless Wi-Fi connection.

These statistics also show the MAC addresses of the devices, the total number of packets, and the type of encryption. Owners of routers with enough experience know that it is possible to check the connection of other equipment to their wifi "using a cable. To do this, use the "DHCP" tab, where you need to find the item "DHCP Clients List". If there are connected devices, not only their MAC address will be displayed, but also their IP address.

Blocking someone else's MAC address

When the owner of the wireless connection discovers other people's connections, the MAC address should be blocked. This is quite simple to do, you just need to filter out extraneous devices. To achieve such goals, you should visit the "MAC-address filtering" section and select the "Enable" item. After that, you need to set the button on the first parameter. Then it is proposed to add someone else's address and save the changes made. This makes it possible to block access to the Internet for unauthorized devices that will no longer be able to use Wi-Fi.

Setting a password for Wi-Fi

To protect your Wi-Fi from other users, you need to set a password. After that, access to the Internet will be limited, and the owner of the router will get rid of various problems associated, for example, with low data transfer rates. It is recommended that you choose your password very carefully. This is necessary so that outsiders cannot figure it out. If you use a simple and predictable cipher, it will not block other users from connecting to the wireless network. It is advisable to use a combination of capital and small letters, numbers and punctuation marks. It is also recommended to make it longer.

Conducting a local network scan

There is another option, how to find out who has connected to WIFI. It consists of scanning the local network. First, you need to enter the IP address of the computer and select the required range. When the check is done, two addresses are displayed:

- connected device;
- modem.

If there are more of them, this indicates that third-party devices are connected to Wi-Fi. Sometimes users set up WEP encryption, but this method is not reliable. Today there are programs that allow you to break the protection and connect to the Internet. WPA is a stronger barrier, but not all legacy routers support this protocol.

Wireless Network Watcher

There is a program designed to test third-party WIFI connections. It's called Wireless Network Watcher. Download the program from the official website. This will avoid all kinds of fakes. It is required to launch the program from the device that is connected to the router, otherwise no benefit from Wireless Network Watcher will be obtained.

When the scan is performed, you can see not only the number of connected devices, but also the MAC addresses. In addition, the name of the manufacturer will be visible. However, you will not be able to deactivate unscrupulous users when using the program. You need to go to the device settings and block addresses. Experienced users use a special program that makes it possible to determine the location of the connected device, while maintaining an accuracy of up to several meters.

There are many ways to find out who is connected to WIFI. Each user is able to choose the one that suits him the most.

Hello. I decided today to write an article that will be interesting to everyone who has their own Wi-Fi router installed. For some reason I am sure that even if you protected your Wi-Fi network with a password, then you still have a question, but how to see who is connected to my Wi-Fi router... And if so, then you have come to the address 🙂. Now I will write as quickly as possible to see which of those dastardly neighbors hacked your Wi-Fi network and secretly uses your Internet 🙂.

You can just go to the settings panel of the Wi-Fi router, and see the information we need.

I will show it using the TP-Link TL-WR841N router as an example, I just have one, but even if you have a different router, it will not be difficult to find the necessary information in the settings, so we continue.

How to find out who is connected to the Wi-Fi network?

All we need to do is just go to the settings of the router, go to the appropriate tab and find the “criminal” who steals the Internet 🙂.

So the most important thing is to get into the settings of the router. We enter in the address bar of the browser 192.168.1.1 (this address works for me), you can try again 192.168.0.1 ... In any case, on those pieces of paper that were bundled with the router it was written how to enter the settings (or look at the bottom of the router).

We get to the router control page. Now we need to find a page where you can see who is connected to our Wi-Fi router. I have a TP-Link TL-WR841N on my router, and I think at all TP-Link, go to the “Wireless” tab and select “Wireless Statistics”. We look in the table how many devices are connected to your Wi-Fi network. As you can see, I have two devices, no, these are not neighbors 🙂, this is my phone and tablet. As you have already noticed, the MAC address of the device, the type of encryption and the number of transmitted packets are displayed.

You can also see on another tab who is connected to the network, not only via Wi-Fi, but also via cable.

Click on the “DHCP” tab, then “DHCP Clients List”. As you can see, here I already have three devices, my computer has also been added, which is connected via a network cable. This page displays not only the MAC address, but also the name of the device and the IP that has been assigned to the device. Clicking on the “Refrech” button refreshes the statistics.

Popular routers D-LINK, look for the “Active session” tab, on it and see who is connected to the router.

You probably ask, well, there are devices there, but how to understand where mine are and what to do if there is an extra MAC address? The answer is, to find out the MAC address of your device in the list, or not, go, for example, on the phone to the settings and to something like information about the phone, or about the device. Look there what your MAC address is, how to do it on your computer, read the article

Everyone loves freebies, but nobody loves freeloaders! If you have a suspicion that someone is stealing your wi-fi traffic, you cannot hesitate, you urgently need to find out who has connected to your wifi network. Fortunately, it is quite simple to see all the devices connected to your wi-fi router, having the necessary knowledge. Let's find left connections and punish free internet lovers!

Today, Internet routers are used everywhere in offices, apartments, public places, since they allow several devices to simultaneously get quick access to the network. The principle of operation of these devices is to use WI-FI technology using the server-client protocol. The router has a special connector for connecting an Internet cable, after which it distributes the received speed between clients.

However, not all users need unauthorized persons, for example, neighbors at the entrance or in the dorm room, to use their Internet. Sometimes there is a desire to distribute wireless access only within the apartment, if there are several units of such devices as:

• Laptops;
• Tablets;
• Smartphones.

In addition, thanks to WI-FI, you can create local networks in an office environment, if the gadgets in use are equipped with an adapter. The main symptoms that someone is using your internet without permission are:

• Significant drop in access speed;
• Changing the configurations and settings of the router;
• There are unknown devices in the list of connected clients;
• Increased activity of the WAN indicator on the router when you are not using the Internet.

Usually the key indicator of an unauthorized connection to your access point is a significant decrease in speed, since any router distributes it among all clients.

We look at the connected devices in the admin panel of the router

On various forums, novice users quite often ask a question about how to find out who has connected to my WIFI, but in order to give an accurate answer, you need to determine the model of the router used. Since the most common routers are TP-LINK, it is most advisable to consider this using his example. The most effective, fast and convenient method is considered to be viewing the connected clients in the admin panel of the device, however, first, you need to enter it. So, you need:

1. Connect to an access point via WI-FI or connect a twisted pair cable (crimped cable on both sides) from the LAN port of the router to a laptop / computer;
2. Open a browser and enter in the address bar: 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 or tplinkwifi.net;
3. In the window that opens, specify the data for authorization (by default Login - admin, Password - admin).

That's all, after these simple manipulations, the client has the ability to configure the router as he pleases. Regarding the second point, you need to clarify, since the entered address directly depends on the model of your device, but in most cases one of the above will definitely work. In addition, you can see the exact IP of the router on the sticker located at the bottom of the case.

In the future, it will not be difficult to view the connected clients, and for this you need to do the following:

1. Enter the admin panel using the above method;
2. Go to the Wireless tab;
3. Select the item Wireless Statistic.

This section contains all clients connected to the access point at the moment, but they can also be viewed in the menu item DHCP - DHCP Clients List. This method is beneficial in that it displays more detailed information about the connected gadget, including the MAC address of the network card and the assigned internal IP.

Programs for viewing the list of devices connected to WI-FI

The developers of software for controlling the network environment today are actively working for the benefit of users. At the moment, there are several high-quality programs that allow you to view the clients of your access point, but the most popular and functional is WiFi Guard. If other applications have a general focus on all kinds of interactions with network connections, then this one is intended for specific purposes. Thanks to it, any administrator will be able to control the number of connected users and, if necessary, block their access. In addition, special green and red markers opposite each connected one give an idea of ​​whether the client is legally consuming traffic.

NETGEAR Genie- this is a very good analogue of the WiFi Guard program with a friendly interface and a wide arsenal of tools. Almost immediately after installing this software, you can get comprehensive information about the connected users through the network status map. Acrylic WiFi Professional is a program primarily intended for admins and developers, but at home it can also be very useful. Its functional set provides not only a list of clients, but also the ability to fine-tune your access point. The program with the unambiguous name Who's Is On My WiFi can help to get information about who is connected to my WIFI. Despite the fact that it is only available in English, it does its job perfectly well. The following applications for Windows can be considered no less effective analogues of this software:

1. Wireless Network Watcher;
2. NCS Network Scanner;
3. NetBScanner.

Disconnecting alien devices from Wi Fi

The best way to disconnect any user from your access point is to simply change the password and set the WPA2-PSK encryption protocol. To complete this procedure, you need:

1. Go to the admin panel of the router;
2. Go to the section Wireless - Wireless Security;
3. Select the type of encryption WPA2-PSK;
4. Set a password of 8 or more characters, it is better to use different case and numbers;
5. Click the Save button.

In addition, the maximum number of concurrent clients is set in the same settings menu. This will help in the event that a strictly defined number of devices are always connected to your access point, for example, a laptop, a computer and a smartphone, so you can set the number 3 in this parameter.

You can protect your WI-FI network from hacking in different ways.
Firstly, it is recommended to change the password to a new one at least once a month, which is a generally accepted security measure for every Internet user.
Secondly, in no case should you use the same password on all sites, and besides, it must be unique. For example, it is very shortsighted to expose your date of birth, animal name or spouse's patronymic. It is better to provide a multi-valued code and write it down in a notepad. Among other things, you always need to resort only to the WPA2-PSK type of encryption, since other types of protection are easy to crack, but this one guarantees almost 100% security.

How to punish freebie lovers who connect to your WIFI

If you find a "left" client on your access point, then you must take all measures so that this does not happen again. A great way to punish a negligent neighbor is to permanently block access from his device to your network. To do this, you need:

1. Log in to the router admin panel;
2. Go to the Wireless Statistic or DHCP List section and write down the MAC address of the client's network card;
3. Select the Wireless MAC Filtering item in the router settings;
4. Activate it and enter the previously recorded MAC;
5. Save settings.

Thus, the attacker will never be able to connect to the router again. However, you can not turn off the user, but set a speed limit for him in the same settings menu, for example, no more than 10 kilobytes per second. After all, what could be worse for modern people who are accustomed to broadband Internet than the main page of Odnoklassniki, which takes a minute to load. Moreover, you will not lose anything from this. And always try to change the password on the router after someone else has used your laptop or computer, because getting access to one of the clients, pulling out the security key is a matter of several minutes.

When working on a local network, home or office, we sometimes need to find out who is working with the shared folders on our computer, how many such users are and what files they are using.

How to find out who has connected to shared folders

Go to Computer Management:

In the Shared Folders section, open the Sessions section:

You will see a list of active connections to your computer. Here you can see which user has connected, from which computer the connection is established, view the user's activity (the Downtime column).

In order to see which files are open, select the Open files section.

compfixer.info

How do I see who is connected to my Wi-Fi router?

Hello. I decided today to write an article that will be interesting to everyone who has their own Wi-Fi router installed. For some reason I am sure that even if you protected your Wi-Fi network with a password, then you still have a question, but how to see who is connected to my Wi-Fi router. And if so, then you have come to the address 🙂. Now I will write as quickly as possible to see which of those dastardly neighbors hacked your Wi-Fi network and secretly uses your Internet 🙂.

You can just go to the settings panel of the Wi-Fi router, and see the information we need.

I will show it using the TP-Link TL-WR841N router as an example, I just have one, but even if you have a different router, it will not be difficult to find the necessary information in the settings, so we continue.

How to find out who is connected to the Wi-Fi network?

All we need to do is just go to the settings of the router, go to the appropriate tab and find the “criminal” who steals the Internet 🙂.

So the most important thing is to get into the settings of the router. We enter 192.168.1.1 in the address bar of the browser (this address works for me), you can also try 192.168.0.1. In any case, on those pieces of paper that were bundled with the router, it was written how to enter the settings (or look at the bottom of the router).

We get to the router control page. Now we need to find a page where you can see who is connected to our Wi-Fi router. On my TP-Link TL-WR841N router, and I think on all TP-Link ones, go to the “Wireless” tab and select “Wireless Statistics”. We look in the table how many devices are connected to your Wi-Fi network. As you can see, I have two devices, no, these are not neighbors 🙂, this is my phone and tablet. As you have already noticed, the MAC address of the device, the type of encryption and the number of transmitted packets are displayed.

You can also see on another tab who is connected to the network, not only via Wi-Fi, but also via cable.

Click on the “DHCP” tab, then “DHCP Clients List”. As you can see, here I already have three devices, my computer has also been added, which is connected via a network cable. This page displays not only the MAC address, but also the name of the device and the IP that has been assigned to the device. Clicking on the “Refrech” button refreshes the statistics.

For popular D-LINK routers, look for the “Active session” tab, on it and see who is connected to the router.

You probably ask, well, there are devices there, but how to understand where mine are and what to do if there is an extra MAC address? The answer is, to find out the MAC address of your device in the list, or not, go, for example, on the phone to the settings and to something like information about the phone, or about the device. Look there what your MAC address is, how to do it on your computer, read the article How to find out and change the MAC address.

If you find someone else's MAC address in the list, you can block it on the “Wireless MAC Filtering” tab. Just add a new MAC and set the parameter to “Disabled”. I will probably write more about this in a separate article. It still does not hurt to change the password for the Wi-Fi network for prevention.

Good luck and take care of your internet!

f1comp.ru

Check who is connected to your computer!

Every computer on the network is constantly scanned for open ports. This is done not because of mischief, but for quite pragmatic reasons - to make money. The fact is that scanning allows you to find vulnerable computers, and attackers can easily collect botnets from vulnerable computers and then make money on them by offering DDoS attacks. How to avoid becoming part of a botnet?

The first thing to note is that the best protection is to completely block all incoming connections with a firewall. On a server, this is impossible, but on a home computer, it's easy. Moreover, every Linux computer already has a firewall installed, and one of the most powerful is iptables. With its help, you can deny all incoming and allow all outgoing connections in just a couple of lines. More information on fortifying your computer with iptables can be found here.

But suppose you are one of those reckless users of glamorous distributions like Ubuntu, who immediately after installation run to admire the "beauties" of Unity, forgetting to turn off the "shining" ports to the Internet services? How can I see a list of these ports? Very simple. You don't even have to install anything. Write in the terminal:

Look in the Local Addresses column. Pay attention to the address: 127.0.0.1 means that only local users can connect to the open port, while 0.0.0.0 means that the entire Internet is invited to visit.

Another interesting column is Foreign Addresses. It shows the IP addresses of users who have already connected to your computer (and the addresses of those to whom you have connected). In the terminal, you can type whois and see information about the address. Typically, attackers use servers abroad, public hosting, VPN services, etc. All this can be easily seen through whois.

Now the question arises, what to do?

• Disable any unused services.
• For those services that cannot be disabled, consider moving them to work on the internal network interface. For example, MySQL running on 127.0.0.1 is quite safe, while MySQL on 0.0.0.0 is already a potential threat.
• Create rules for iptables. The policy should be as follows: first prohibit everything, and then only allow what is minimally necessary to work on the network.
• sshd from the standard port 22 to any other. The paranoid can additionally protect sshd with knockd.
• Install software that periodically checks system files for modification.
• Encrypt and archive all important information. Do not immediately delete the old archive when creating a new one.

Is your Ubuntu computer already part of a botnet?

a source

sredalinux.blogspot.ru

How do I know who is using my wifi? | Your setevok

The Internet is an integral part of the life of a modern person: wireless networks are proliferating at an enviable speed, but the number of “freebies” lovers who prefer to use a neighbor's WiFi router is also increasing in proportion to them. At the same time, the legal owner of an unscheduled "shared" access point gets only troubles: low speed of the wireless connection, drop in traffic, etc.

Therefore, the question "how to find out who uses my wifi" is more than relevant today, and in this article we will tell you how to see how many users are connected to the wifi router.

How to check how many devices are connected to wifi?

To find out if enterprising neighbors are using your wifi, you first need to determine the static IP address of the router.

Most modern routers have factory settings indicated on a service sticker located on the rear panel of the device.

Here, the IP address line contains a combination of numbers xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (in most cases, this is 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1), which is required to access the device's settings.

How to see how many people are connected to wifi through the router settings?

The easiest way to find out who is using your wifi is to see the number of active connections through the router's web interface. To do this, enter the static IP of the router in the address bar of any browser installed on your computer and press the Enter key.

To enter the wireless network settings, you will also need to enter the login / password of your router: at the factory settings, this is the admin / admin combination.

If the authentication parameters have been changed, and you don’t remember the new username and password, you can reset the router settings to the factory settings (you can find more about this in the article about setting up DHCP) and re-configure the device according to standard instructions.

To see how many devices are connected to wifi, in the control panel of the router, find the DHCP settings section, where all active users of your wireless network will be indicated.

If you wish, you can delete or ban the Mac-address of the selected device here, thereby preventing the thief from further access to your traffic.

Can I find out who is using my wifi without using my router settings?

In addition, you can find out who is using my wifi using special software designed specifically for monitoring wireless networks.

As such programs are used commview for wifi or the utility "Wireless Network watcher", which can be downloaded for free on the Internet.

After installing the program, it scans your network and shows all computers and mobile gadgets connected to the router.

At the same time, for each device, basic data are indicated (mac-address, device name, manufacturer's company and device model), with which it is possible to calculate illegal WiFi users.

However, you can only ban third-party connections through the router's web interface.

To protect your WiFi network from "encroachments", it is recommended to set only complex unique Wi-Fi passwords: it is advisable to use Latin letters of different case and numbers. In addition, you can disable the WPS function, and in the router settings, limit the number of users who can connect to your network.

tvoi-setevichok.ru

How to find out who is connected to my wifi router

Hello dear readers of the blog PomKomp.ru Many guests of my blog periodically have questions about creating a home wireless network and all the points associated with this procedure. One of the most burning topics for many is the question of how to find out who is connected to my wifi router.

I want to say right away that this situation occurs in very rare cases, since without knowing the password, hacking a wireless network is problematic and can only be done by very experienced users.

But also do not miss the moment that the security password from the wireless network organized at your home can be very simple and has become available with the usual selection of characters. It can also happen that the password was received randomly, they let it slip on the landing, the child told his neighbor, and he told everything along the chain. But in any case, it is unpleasant when you use something for free, and you need to pay a monthly fee for it. Also, it may not be entirely safe if you pay by bank card and transfer money while in an unsecured network. Most often, you can notice that someone connected to your wifi network only after feeling a very strong decrease in speed. There is a special service for checking the Internet speed, which you can read about in the corresponding article. But I will say right away that you can feel the change in speed only if a very large number of unknown devices are connected to your network, or there is a constant download of files from these devices via a torrent client.

Checking through the router menu

How can I check who is connected to my wifi. First, I advise you to read how to set up a wifi router and how to connect to a wireless network. Depending on the brand of router that is installed in your home, the check will differ slightly. I will give two examples based on Asus routers and TP-Link routers.

First, you need to go to your router's settings and check the number of connected devices, both wired and wireless.

List of connected devices (Asus router)

List of connected devices (TP-Link router)

This tab displays IP addresses, MAC addresses and the names of those devices that are connected to your wifi router. If you did not find suspicious connections in this list, then you can rest assured, if not all connections are clear to you, then turn off the devices that have a connection with your router one by one. The last device should be the computer from which you are currently configuring and checking. If, in addition to your computer, you see additional addresses and device names, you can say with complete confidence that someone is connected to your network. In order to disconnect the freeloader from your Wi-Fi, I advise you to simply change the password to a more complex one, this will be enough.

Checking via utilities

In order to check who is connected to my wifi router, several nice programs have been invented and written that allow you to control the connection without going into the router settings and unnecessary manipulations. For me, only two utilities turned out to be more convenient and useful, and I will talk about them below.

Soft Perfect WiFi Guard

An easy-to-use program that allows you to check how many devices are on your Wi-Fi. Its functionality includes the ability to scan the network, define a new connection, alert about a new connection, display the address and device name. You can add a new device to the list of approved devices and the next time you connect, the program will stop noticing it.

How to find out which of the left people is connected to your Wi-Fi router? The easiest way is to turn off the Internet at rush hour and listen to what is happening around in complete silence. The hysterical reaction of neighbors will prompt the answer to this question. But seriously speaking, you can find out this information in the settings of the router and using special programs. How to find out all this, and most importantly - what to do with this information later, we will consider in this article.

Signs that someone is stealing Wi-Fi

The fact that there are left connections to Wi-Fi may indicate a slow Internet. The network will start to slow down, the speed will drop to a critical minimum, while none of the household members will be caught actively downloading files. But no special action is needed to restrict each of the users of the local network, if this network is provided by a weak router. With this, and even with a slow connection at a tariff, each of the network devices will receive its own minimum resource. And this can even show up on the speed of opening sites. Ball lovers serve it right, but in relation to the one who pays for the Internet, it is unfair.

But much bigger problems than slow Internet or even impressive bills received under the conditions of limit tariffs can be thrown by intruders if they turn out to be scammers, porn distributors, wanted by members of extremist groups or other seekers of problems with the law. And with the help of our access point they will carry out their affairs.

It is possible to identify the fact of a third-party connection to Wi-Fi by temporarily disconnecting all authorized devices from the network. The continuing blinking indicator of the router will indicate that someone is using the wireless Internet. The following will help to understand what kind of equipment is connected to the network at the moment without our knowledge, as well as to take measures against uninvited guests.

How to calculate the fact of Wi-Fi theft using a router

Specifically, you can make sure that there are third-party connections to the Wi-Fi network using the router's web interface. To do this, you need to enter the interface in a browser window, log in and proceed to the section where active wireless connections are displayed. Each brand of router has its own interface, moreover, different firmware versions may be for different model lines, therefore, there can be no talk of a universal instruction here on condition. But I, friends, will show the principle of action using the example of the TP-Link TL-WR720N model.

In the browser window, enter the IP address of the router, for TP-Link, as for many other models, it is 192.168.0.1. Next, an authorization window will appear, in which you need to specify a username and password. Again, for many router models, the default is admin and admin, respectively. To view the devices connected to the Wi-Fi network, go to the "Wireless Mode" section and click "Wireless Mode Statistics". In my case, there is only one wireless connection - a smartphone. With the TP-Link firmware, we will only see the MAC address of the smartphone.

Not much more information, alas, is also displayed in the "Advanced Settings" section in the "DHCP Clients List", where all network equipment is listed. The router has detected the name of the computer connected via Ethernet. But the smartphone remained unknown to him.

Other models of routers can provide more information about the connected devices. For example, identify the manufacturer or the operating system. But even with such a minimum of information that TP-Link provides, the difference between the total number of wireless connections and the number of gadgets in your household will help to understand the very fact of Wi-Fi theft.

Change Wi-Fi password

In principle, at this stage, you can complete the proceedings: the fact of theft is established, then we proceed with the simplest method - we change the password to Wi-Fi. Or we install it if the access point was initially unprotected. In the tested TP-Link model, this is done in the same section "Wireless mode", in the subsection "Wireless security", in the column "PSK password".

These measures will be enough for the average person. But this move will not stop more or less competent thieves, because the Internet is full of instructions for determining the password of someone else's Wi-Fi access points. Devices of stubborn amateurs balls must be blocked by MAC-addresses. And if several devices are connected to Wi-Fi, you need to determine where whose MAC addresses are.

How to find out where whose MAC addresses are

How to find out where whose MAC addresses are, if the router's firmware does not give at least some identifying feature on the network devices?

Option number 1: MAC addresses for each of the devices of your household can be found using the functionality of operating systems or third-party applications of the gadgets used. And thus find the thief of the Internet. But there is a much simpler method.

Option number 2: you can use the special Windows program SoftPerfect WiFi Guard. It is both a more convenient way to determine the MAC addresses of network devices, and also a tool for preventing unauthorized wireless connections.

We are not closing the router's web interface yet, we will come back to it later.

SoftPerfect WiFi Guard Software

A simple, Russian-language support program SoftPerfect WiFi Guard provides a small, but useful list of features:

Scans the network for connections, in particular wireless;

Reveals third-party devices and signals their connection;

Provides information about MAC addresses and manufacturers of equipment connected to the network;

Keeps a history of all devices ever connected to the network since the first scan.

The program is downloaded on the developer's website, there is a portable version:

https://www.softperfect.com/products/wifiguard/

You can use SoftPerfect WiFi Guard to track up to 5 network devices for free. This limitation is removed when purchasing a perpetual (!) License for 1,120 rubles.

How to use the program? Install it on the system or unpack the portable version. We launch. If the computer has several network adapters, including virtual ones, and those who work with hypervisors will definitely have them, SoftPerfect WiFi Guard will start with an active settings window and ask you to specify the required network adapter. In the list of adapters, select the physical one - the one that is not with the postscripts of the names of the hypervisor programs.

Start scanning directly in the SoftPerfect WiFi Guard window.

All detected smartphones, tablets, TVs and other equipment connected to Wi-Fi will be notified by the program with such a notification.

After that, the window will display the entire list of network devices. The router and the current computer in the "Info" column will be marked, respectively, as "Internet gateway" and "This computer". The router and the current Windows computer will be displayed with a green indicator, which indicates that they are authorized by the default program. All devices connected via Wi-Fi will be marked with a red indicator. And this means that the program sees them as third-party. And it will continue to see it this way until we ourselves authorize them. In the column "Manufacturer" of each device, we will see the manufacturer. For desktops, the motherboard manufacturer will be displayed as such a company.

Here, in fact, in this way, according to the manufacturer of the device, you can determine which of them belongs to the MAC addresses displayed both in the router interface and in the program window. Of course, if it happens that the Internet thief has, for example, a smartphone of the same manufacturer as someone in the household, then you will have to look at the MAC address on the latter's smartphone and use the exclusion method.

So, where is whose gadget we sorted out, now, using the context menu of the program, we can copy the MAC addresses - thieves for the blacklist or our households for the blocking whitelist using a router.

But we'll talk about blocking a little later, first let's look at some more features of SoftPerfect WiFi Guard. Double-clicking on an unauthorized device will open a properties window, where you can authorize it by checking the box next to "I know this computer or ...".

In this case, the gadget will receive a green indicator, and during the next scans the program will no longer display a message on it. By clicking the "All devices" button, we will receive a list of all computers, smartphones, tablets and other equipment that have ever been connected to the network during the operation of the program.

In the settings section, we can change the length of time for scanning the network. If the preset half hour is too short a time period, move the slider of the "Rescan network every ..." option to the left, to the desired value. Also in the settings, you can check the box for the option to run the program from the system tray. And, if necessary, select the autostart of the program.