# What is wrong with my laptop wireless? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 11, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-my-laptop-wireless/440995 "2008-03-11T18:46:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2008, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-my-laptop-wireless/440995/21 "2008-03-12T18:32:36Z")
Sorry if this is a stupid question but can’t you get support from Toshiba for this problem if it’s a new computer? ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2008, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-my-laptop-wireless/440995/22 "2008-03-12T18:34:07Z")
[QUOTE=CookingWithGas] Sorry if this is a stupid question but can’t you get support from Toshiba for this problem if it’s a new computer? [/QUOTE] There are no stupid questions, only stupid consumers (namely, me). I’ll check my documentation. ---
**Author:** ![Scientia\_est\_potentia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@Scientia\_est\_potentia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scientia_est_potentia)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2008, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-my-laptop-wireless/440995/23 "2008-03-12T22:00:26Z")
[QUOTE=Flander] I find this hard to believe unless you already had some kind of spyware on your computer or were surfing in less-than-credible websites. I may try this experiment tonight. [/QUOTE] when i monitor inbound traffic its interesting to find i am being scanned all the time. If you have a router then remove it and hook directly up to the cable. Disable your firewalls and wait. If you want some fun us goto this website [GRC | Shields UP! -- Internet Connection Security Analysis  ](http://www.grc.com/su-danger.htm) and do some reading then try a couple of the tools mentioned. He is a liitle over the top but the basic facts are right on. No offence but its a little scary how open many networks/computers are beacuse people just dont know. vic ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-my-laptop-wireless/440995/24 "2008-03-13T13:49:58Z")
[QUOTE=Scientia est potentia] when i monitor inbound traffic its interesting to find i am being scanned all the time. If you have a router then remove it and hook directly up to the cable. Disable your firewalls and wait. If you want some fun us goto this website [GRC | Shields UP! -- Internet Connection Security Analysis  ](http://www.grc.com/su-danger.htm) and do some reading then try a couple of the tools mentioned. He is a liitle over the top but the basic facts are right on. No offence but its a little scary how open many networks/computers are beacuse people just dont know. vic [/QUOTE] I’ll check it out. I meant to try it out last night, but I ended up having family over for dinner and didn’t get a chance. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-my-laptop-wireless/440995/25 "2008-03-13T17:53:38Z")
[QUOTE=Flander] I’ll check it out. I meant to try it out last night, but I ended up having family over for dinner and didn’t get a chance. [/QUOTE] How long an unprotected machine can be on the Internet before being infected depends on a lot of things, the two biggest ones being whether you’re up to date on your Windows Updates (if you are, you can hold out longer), and your IP address (some ranges are hit harder than others based on either the target type the malware wants (business or residential) or just the algorithm by which the malware walks through addresses to scan.) Time of day seems to matter, too (I get most scan attempts in the middle of the night, oddly enough). However, the numbers have been pretty well documented over the years. An unpatched Windows XP “SP0” (i.e. a new install from an old CD) should get between 2 and 20 minutes before being compromised in an average case – not long enough to install all the patches. A fully-patched SP2 might be able to last indefinitely, but I wouldn’t count on it. I eventually had to shut down logging of port-scan attempts on my business router; they were filling the logs so fast you couldn’t see anything else. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-my-laptop-wireless/440995.md?page=1)