Neighbors keep stealing my internet and resetting permissions - I know they are running Lion and I can't seem to stop them from resetting the wifi and firewall options in Maverick. It's killing my internet and driving me nuts.

Call the police. Stealing WIFI signal is criminal in many places. Let the police sort this out.

Talk to your internet service provider. If you are paying for the service you have the right to ask them to make it secure.

And change your passwords. The one you use to log in to your computer and the one you use for your internet service.

Are you using your own router? If so, what security are you using, i.e., WEP, WPA2?

Some use another's internet to download illegal material (for example, kiddie p*rn). That can cause legal issues for the registered owner of the service.

You need to notify someone to stay ahead of this.

JuliaAtlanta wrote:

Hi - I thougth I was crazy but after a full reinstall of Mavericks and I can still see the utility repair fixing problems

Are you referring to Disk Utility permissions repair? This has nothing to do with your wifi, internet or neighbors. Even after repairing permissions, some will always remain. Read this article for more info: https://support.apple.com/kb/ht1452 and read this one as well: https://support.apple.com/kb/ts1448

The name that shows in terminal may just be a different host name for your computer, for example instead of "Julias-MacBook" it shows "Unknownb2378687823", this is also not an indication of something being wrong (though I do not have the terminal skills to recommend a fix for that one).

Secure your router with WPA2 password protection and make the password something that is impossible to guess for anyone that knows you (no pet names, birth dates, phone numbers etc) Also make sure you check for the latest available firmware on your router as these fix vulnerabilities and exploits.

WPA (not WEP) passwords like 6h*_E3s(#FQx_1!sU#2& are not easy to type, but unguessable. Also name your wireless network somthing like MtAlpsResort or BudsFishingShop instead of "BobandJaneyDumar" which makes it too easy to identofy the house that has the internet.

Also name your wireless network somthing like MtAlpsResort or BudsFishingShop instead of "BobandJaneyDumar" which makes it too easy to identofy the house that has the internet.

NSA surveillance van

Whether or not your neighbors are getting into your wifi has absolutely nothing to do with Ruby frameworks, the name you see in Terminal, or anything else you've mentioned. Stop reinstalling OS X (reinstalling the system will have NO effect on your wifi) and do as suggested above - configure your router to set your wireless network password to a strong WPA/WPA2 password, and change its network name.

Matt

Tuttle wrote:

😁 !

What you are seeing in Disk Utility is normal. This does not indicate that anyone has had access to your computer, remotely or otherwise. If those same messages continue to pop up, there may be an issue with some software you have installed that is repeatedly changing the permissions on those items for some reason. There are also a number of permissions repair messages that should be ignored:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1448

As for the name you're seeing in the Terminal, that's controlled by your network. Some networks will use your computer's name, as set in System Preferences -> Sharing, for the initial port of the prompt, others will not. Sounds like the network your wifi router is managing is not, and is setting your computer's name on the network to something else, which is also completely normal.

If these are the only things you are seeing that make you suspicious, you can set your mind at ease. You have not been hacked, and none of this is any indication that the neighbors have hacked your wifi network either.

More importantly, or at least as important, you must assign a strong password to your router's login. Service providers of DSL and cable have finally wised up and their routers now come with a preassigned and difficult to guess admin password, but not all. Right now, I'm certain it's at a default. Check the manual for your router, but it's probably something like:

Admin: admin

Password:

Sometimes it's the other way around. The admin name is blank, and the password is simply "admin".

Do this. From Safari, type this into the URL/search field at the top:

192.168.0.1

and press Enter. If the defaults are as simple as what I've shown here, that's how they keep getting back in so easily. All anyone has to do is be in range of your wireless signal, type in this same IP address and get into your router settings by using these uselessly easy to bypass admin name and password settings.

Once into your router's settings, they can see what you've changed the wireless login password to, and just login again. What you need to do more than anything is keep them out of your router's settings.

Go into the router's settings as I described using 192.168.0.1 in Safari. Find the wireless settings and turn all wireless off so no one is getting a signal. This will keep them out while you change things.

1) Change the router's wireless security to WPA2.

2) Change the wireless password to a new, hard to guess password as steve359 showed. Long, random, obnoxious passwords are best. At least 16 characters long.

3) Now, go to the admin login page and give the login password an equally long and difficult password. Remember to do all of this with wireless broadcasting OFF, or they will be able to watch everything you're doing.

4) Now turn wireless access back on. They will no longer able to login to your router to see your wireless access password. Not unless they manage to guess a very hard long and difficult password.

Make sure to write these passwords down so you can get back into the router without manually resetting it.

JuliaAtlanta wrote:

previously it never used a long c-150... name either and I called a few friends and none of their terminals display it either)

Try this. Go into System Preferences, and click Sharing. Look at the top where it says Computer Name. What is the name there? If it is the c-150...name, change it to something you want. Now go back into Terminal. Which name is now shown?

I am suggesting this because I think Terminal simply gets the name from the Sharing name, but I'm not sure.

Also, the Disk Utility screen shot appears normal. And if you use WPA for your wifi network and set a strong password, the neighbors should not even be able to get in at that point. Once that is established, we can lower the level of paranoia quite a bit and assume the problem is not originating from the outside.

I saved mine as "(my town name) Drug Task Force" at home and "Teacher Spy Cam" at work. I'm a teacher. I've had no hitch hikers since then!