Have you ever felt like your internet speed is bogged down and someone is stealing your bandwidth on your Wi-Fi network ? Sometimes it might be your ISP to blame but there might be a good chance that someone somewhere is leeching your Wi-Fi! And besides only stealing your bandwidth, they might also have access to some of your shared folders.So how do you stop them? Well, worry no more! I’m gonna show you how to do it.
- Low Tech Method
Your wireless router should have indicator lights that show Power status, Internet connectivity, LAN connections, and also wireless activity. The wireless activity light blinks when someone is using your wifi network.
Disconnect all your wireless devices and check if that wireless light is still blinking. It’s a quick and easy method but not very effective.
- Network Admin Method
Some routers provide the feature to see people connected to your network, but most of them don’t. You can check that by simply visiting your router’s administrative console. To log into the console, go to your router’s IP address. If you don’t know your router’s IP address then open command prompt (press Win+R then type cmd) and then typing “ipconfig” in the window. Find the “Default Gateway” IP address. If you are on a Mac then open the Network Preference panel and grab the IP address listed next to “Router:”.
As you see above my router’s IP address is “192.168.0.1”. Now open your browser and go to your router’s IP address. Look for a section related to connected devices. There you can see a list of IP addresses, MAC addresses, and device names (if detectable). Check them to see if any unrecognized devices are connected.
- Network Monitoring Software
In case, if your router doesn’t have this feature then you’ll need a software. It’s called – Wireless Network Watcher by Nirsoft. You can download it by clicking here.
- Extract the file.
- Run the software and you’ll see people connected to your wi-fi network.
