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Why You See 'Free Public WiFi' In So Many Places

Posted by Soulskill on from the deja-vu-all-over-again dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Almost anywhere you go these days (particularly at airports), if you check for available WiFi settings, you have a pretty good chance of seeing an ad hoc network for 'Free Public WiFi.' Of course, since it's ad hoc (computer to computer) it's not actually access to the internet. So why is this in so many places? Turns out it's due to a bug in Windows XP. Apparently, the way XP works is that if it can't find a 'favorite' WiFi hotspot, it automatically sets up the computer to broadcast itself as an ad hoc network point, using the name of the last connection the computer attempted. So... people see 'Free Public WiFi' and they try to log on. Then their own computer starts broadcasting the same thing, because it can't find a network it knows. And, like a virus, the 'Free Public WiFi' that doesn't work lives on and on and on."

5 of 260 comments (clear)

  1. Slashdot reading Hack A Day? by Lumpy · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    It 'seems lately that lots of HAD articles are popping up automatically on slashdot. If you watch the RSS feeds out there of the tech sites you can watch the wave of stories copy from site to site.. It used to be that slashdot had them first or did not cover what was already copied all over the place...

    Has slashdot ran out of good submissions and is not simply posting what pops up out of other sites RSS feeds?

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    1. Re:Slashdot reading Hack A Day? by Khyber · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Hey I try to submit good stuff. Sadly, it seems slashdot isn't quite what it was almost a decade ago.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  2. Re:Dupe by socsoc · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Starting? Slashdot is an aggregator.

  3. Re:Dupe by Dogtanian · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Slashdot is starting to become a news aggregator.

    Oh my! Really?! Someone warn the neighbours!!!

    It'd be a real shame if Slashdot moved away from its original purpose of being a database of rye bread recipes...

    Seriously, just what did you think it was meant to be in the first place?

    --
    "Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
  4. Re:Dupe by node+3 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    It'd be a real shame if Slashdot moved away from its original purpose of being a database of rye bread recipes...

    Close. Slashdot was originally meant to replace chips & dips.