Download the free AirSnare for the PC, which will monitor your network for wireless intruders, report on who they are, show you their activity, and even send them alerts telling them you know they’re using your bandwidth. Here’s how to use it:
1. Before you can use AirSnare, you must download and install the required WinPcap Library of tools.
2. Download and install AirSnare.
3. After you install the program, go to C:\Program Files\AirSnare, open trustedMAC.txt with Wordpad, and add the MAC address of any network cards that will be using your wireless network. (The MAC Address is a number that uniquely identifies a network card or other piece of communications hardware.) Enter the MAC address, such as
00-08-A1-00-9F-32
, on a new line by itself in the file, follow it by a space, and then type in a description of the computer. For example:
00-08-A1-00-9F-32 Preston’s Upstairs Laptop
4. Go to C:\Program Files\AirSnare and run the file AirSnare.exe
5. You must run the file from this location, because the program doen’t install an icon on the desktop or show up as an entry in Window’s All Programs menu.
6. Choose your network adapter from the list that appears, and you are all set.
Whenever an unrecognized device slips onto your wireless network, you’ll be alerted. You can also monitor the intruders Internet activity. Including sites they’re visiting. You can even log their activity to a file and send them personalized alerts letting them know you’re watching what they’re doing. That should solve the leeching problem fast.
By the way, AirSnare won’t work with every WiFi card. If the program crashes when you launch it, its not compatible with yours. (Click the Supported Equipment button on the AirSnare site to view known problems.) One plus: you can use AirSnare to monitor a Mac network, too, just connect a PC to the network and run AirSnare from there.
