Wi-Fi in the Hood

I've been using the Wi-Fi connection for about three weeks now and am loving it. It's fast, convenient and transparent. What's not to like, right? So today I took the notebook to the backyard and was surfing the web. Now, I have yet to find another Wi-Fi signal when surfing from the interior of my house. However, once I neared some condos, I got five Wi-Fi signals, all of them strong, three of them unprotected and looking very inviting. That is, of course, until I remembered the article about stealing Wi-Fi and it being a felony.

I immediately moved far away from the condos, back into my territory where I could once again see only my network. I'd always suspected that I lived in a very wired neighborhood, I just didn't know where to look. Quite by accident, isn't that how it usually happens, I stumbled onto them. I'm relieved that there are no other Wi-Fi signals in my immediate area, because it would be too tempting to just slip onto one and see what's going on over there! My friend just got DSL and found that her computer was too old and slow to bother with installing an ethernet card. Instead she went out and bought a new notebook with built-in Wi-Fi. I explained to her what to do prior to going online. You already know she didn't do it and now her system's messed up and infected. Why did she even ask? LOL She's trying to get her sister's friend to come over and clean the hard drive and set up the router. Live and learn.