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Unfinished Windows 7 Hotspot Feature Exploited

An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from Engadget: "It wasn't all that long ago that Microsoft was talking up the Virtual WiFi feature developed by Microsoft Research and set for inclusion in Windows 7, but something got lost along the road to release day, and the functionality never officially made it into the OS. As you might expect with anything as big and complicated as an operating system though, some of that code did make it into the final release, and there was apparently enough of it for the folks at Nomadio to exploit into a full fledged feature. That's now become Connectify, a free application from the company that effectively turns any Windows 7 computer into a virtual WiFi hotspot — letting you, for instance, wirelessly tether a number of devices to your laptop at location where only an Ethernet jack is available, or even tether a number of laptops together at a coffee shop that charges for WiFi."

4 of 234 comments (clear)

  1. Stealing by Reason58 · · Score: 5, Funny

    or even tether a number of laptops together at a coffee shop that charges for WiFi

    That coffee shop has to pay for its connection, and bandwidth is a limited resource. Is Engadget going to instruct us on how to distract the employees while you pour free coffee into your thermos too?

  2. Re:Wow by gbjbaanb · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why do you need EVDO Broadband to connect with a guy in the back of the bus?

    because you missed it and had to catch the next one?

  3. Re:Hey Frank remember this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    you know, when I hear of a windows feature being "exploited" the utilization of a useful feature is not what comes to mind.

  4. Re:"Virtual" hotspot? by Toonol · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Virtual" because it's on a computer, duh. "Cyber" would be an acceptable alternative prefix.

    "2.0" could be added as a suffix, if it used Javascript.