There has been a weird computer on my network. I tried changing the password and unplugging the AirPort TimeCapsule but, it did not work. Also my other computer says under WINS in network services NetBIOS name and the mysterious showed up. The computer is a PC but MAC is the first part of the name with numbers after it. I found the computer in Finder under shared. No Downloads. Help would be gladly appreciated.
iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.5), null
When I shut down the other computer it disappears.
Ok, just to make sure I understand, I included a screenshot of my Mac mini's WINS settings. It uses an Ethernet connection and is named "EUROPA." So on the WINS tab in System Preferences > Network, it looks like the following.
Is this where the "mysterious" device is showing up?
What about in the AirPort Utility? If you select your Time Capsule, does this device show up as a wireless client?
It is showing up in finder. In airport utility I just have two other IP addresses and another two that I know.
In the AirPort Utility, wireless clients can be listed as IP addresses, DHCP Client names, NetBIOS names, or by their MAC addresses, a bit confusing at best. Regardless, this is a "real-time" display so, in theory, only wireless clients that are currently connected to the Time Capsule's Wi-Fi network should show. Also, a wireless client can be a computer, printer, an Apple TV, or another wireless router. If the mysterious item disappeared when the PC was turned off, then you know it was the culprit.
By the way it is not solved.
I don't have a PC
What is a NetBIOS name?
Sorry, I misunderstood you as you mentioned PC in your original post. You also mentioned if you shut down the other computer it disappears. I was also assuming that you meant the "mysterious" one.
So it would help to understand how many wireless devices you have that could be running on your local network to verify that all of them show up properly in the AirPort Utility's wireless clients list. Again, these can be computers, printers, other networking hardware, smart phones, etc. Only then can we try to identify what is showing up that shouldn't be there.
A NetBIOS name is more common with Microsoft Windows clients, as is WINS. A NetBIOS name is a means to identify a NetBIOS resource on a network. It is analogous to the device's computer name, for example.
For your iMac, the computer name can be found in System Preferences > Sharing > Computer Name. You will see that this same name is used in System Preferences > Network > Advanced > WINS > NetBIOS Name. This latter name is used when your Mac is sharing a resource to a PC over a network. The PC prefers to use the NetBIOS name in this case.
Could you please provide a screenshot of this "mysterious" device so we can help you figure out what it may be? It may not be an issue, just maybe a device that you are not familiar with by the way it is listed.
This is the weird computer at the bottom, the TimeCausple in the middle, and the other iMac at the top.
As you already noted, this OS X Finder Sidebar icon represents a generic PC on the network. It is most likely being "discovered" by Bonjour and the name displayed appears to be the device's MAC address. Typically, these are represented as: NNN.NNN.NNN.NNN. The device is also listed under the Shared section of the Sidebar and that would mean that it is running some shared service and why it is being discovered. Regardless, we may be able to uncover just what it is with a little further "detective work."
So, to start with, if you power-down every network client except your iMac and your Apple Time Capsule, does this device still appear in the Finder Sidebar? If so, then we need to use a network scanner application to uncover additional information about this device. One excellent scanner is iNet Network Scanner.
You would run this scanner on your iMac, perform a scan of your network, and it will list all devices that it can "see." If it finds this device, you would then click on it and get additional details about it. This may help you find out what it is.
I think the computer was not on my network at all. It was probably just using Blue Tooth and this computer discovered it. This person also had this problemRe: Weird thing showing up in Shared menu in finder. This explains why the other computer didn't discover it. It probably don't have as advanced Blue Tooth. Also I changed the password and it was still there. It was a very good password. But, this don't explain why the other computer's NetBIOS name is the same. This is the NetBIOS name for the other computer.
Are you running any Windows virtual machines using software like Parallels or VMware?
No, I am not running Parallels or VMWare to run windows on my Mac.
Weird computer on my network Help!
