Q: forget networks os10 Mavericks

When you connect to a wireless network, your Mac saves it so it is connected automatically when your Mac detects the SSID of that wireless network. You just have to remove this wireless network from the preferred network list.

To do it, open System Preferences > Network > Wi-Fi > Advanced, and you will see the Preferred Networks list. Choose the wireless network you want to delete, and press the - button

You are welcome. Merry Christmas!

This actually doesn't work for networks that have no password.

My MacBook Pro Retina (2013) likes to randomly connect to my next door neighbors Chromcast network leaving me without internet for a minute or two then it will reset itself.

How can I PERMENANTLY remove a wifi network that has no password? Thanks!

You can also uncheck the box "remember networks this computer has joined" which is on the same page as the Preferred Networks list.

Thanks very much. THIS is the important thing for many of us, and I thank you for pointing out the uncheck box. Bless their hearts, Xfinity now defaults to its own unprotected WiFi network almost everywhere I go. It makes joining secured networks I have approved tedious, sometimes difficult. I would very much like to ad a "This solved my question" frame, but, apparently, Apple makes that available sometimes, but not always. Curious.

Looking at the +/- buttons in the Advanced tab gives one the impression that these are used to shift the level of connection priority of the established networks. Before contacting the Community I must have spent an hour trying every combinaion of removing old and obsolete networks, including highlighting the network and pressing the delete button, or trying to drag the highlighted network down to the trash basket. No dice. It wouldn't have ocurred to me in a million years to use the "-" button.

Just for reference the +/- buttons are very common in OSX, you'll find them for adding accounts in Mail, new rules in rules etc. You'll recognize what they are for now

I, too, am having trouble with the xfinitywifi network taking over my computer.  I spent about an hour talking to Comcast this evening and they had the nerve to keep saying that my computer (MacBook Pro; OS X 10.9.3) probably had a virus and offered to have me connect remotely to tech support for $109.  I told them "No."  Then I discovered that, like Tosona, they have set themselves up as the default network.  I tried going to Network Preferences/Advanced and deleting as many unwanted wifi networks as I can, but they keep reappearing, even though I have unchecked the box to remember networks.  Also, I noticed that there are several networks that appear in the drop down box in the top menu bar that do not appear in the list under network preferences.  I would appreciate it if someone would tell me how to get rid of these unwanted networks once and for all.  Thanks very much.

Me, too. I forget what cute name Apple has for it, but the all-seeing eye is good only insofar as it allows the administrator to exercise some control. There are anywhere from 10-20 networks in my apartment building, all of which show up under the WiFi icon. I have six of my regulars: home, plus the places I visit, listed in Network Preferences. The Ask to Join Networks box is checked. There really ought to be a way (an easy, obvious way) to permanently delete networks, and stop searching for networks, until I may ask to search again. It seems an obvious, even glaring, security risk. I searched the forums and no one else seems to have raised that issue. However, the forums are HORRIBLY indexed, if at all. Searches usually bring up page after page of irrelevancies. I have, marginally, better luck searching Apple forums through Google. MacRumors forums usually have better advice. On this issue, though, it seems kind of lame: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=917662

lindafrompowder springs wrote:

 

.  I would appreciate it if someone would tell me how to get rid of these unwanted networks once and for all.  Thanks very much.

Ask the owners of these networks to switch them off. While you are there ask them if they are annoyed by seeing yours, then you may reciprocate if they are.

Unfortunately, this method is honestly really terrible if you have a hundred wifi networks in your prefs (which easily happens if you travel a lot).

Does anyone know where the information is actually stored? I want to delete all networks which aren't protected (open).