[macbambina]

Hi there,

I have an unkown computer showing up on my finder sidebar under "shared". The name of this shared computer is "technicolor". How can I disconnect and delete it? I suspect it is spyware or something similar as when I unplug the ethernet cable that connects to my modem, I can't connect to this computer. When I do connect it is empty.

OS 10.5.8

Note: I have had Parallels 4 (virtual PC XP) on my mac for a number of years and when that is running it comes up in the sidebar under "shared" but with the name I gave it when set up. So when running both names show.

I would appreciate some direction on how to get rid of this "shared" computer.

Thanks
Andrew

[bastion]

macbambina, on 05 March 2013 - 06:49 PM, said:

Hi there,

I have an unkown computer showing up on my finder sidebar under "shared". The name of this shared computer is "technicolor". How can I disconnect and delete it? I suspect it is spyware or something similar as when I unplug the ethernet cable that connects to my modem, I can't connect to this computer. When I do connect it is empty.

OS 10.5.8

Note: I have had Parallels 4 (virtual PC XP) on my mac for a number of years and when that is running it comes up in the sidebar under "shared" but with the name I gave it when set up. So when running both names show.

I would appreciate some direction on how to get rid of this "shared" computer.

Thanks
Andrew

It's not spyware or anything of that nature. It's a neighbor. The most common scenario is that either your computer or neighbor's has joined the other person's WiFi network. This is pretty easy to solve.
Turn off your WiFi if you don't really need it on, and make sure your computer is set to only join WiFi networks you've told it about if you do need it. That will make sure you're not unintentionally linking to someone else's network.
If you have a WiFi base station, you should change the default network name, give it a password and turn off the feature that broadcasts the name. That will virtually eliminate the chance of someone unknown linking to your network.
Given that when you break your physical connection to the network you can't access the machine, the second option above is the more likely explanation/fix.

There's another possibility that I've only seen a couple of times, and not recently. It could be that your access provider isn't managing their network sanely and you're seeing the machine through a shared subnet. I don't know of a way to hide the other machine in that case.

[macbambina]

Thanks, that make sense, though I do have another question about this.

Firstly though, in explanation, I recently bought a wireless modem then had a good friend staying here. His laptop "found" my wireless modem to connect to the internet. He has since left. It was about this time that I found the "shared computer" in my Finder sidebar.

Secondly, how do I turn off my WiFi? In my system prefs/network, AirPort is on but "not connected to a network". AirPort must have turned on automatically when I attached my wireless modem recently. Is this is where I need to go? NB: I don't have an Apple AirPort modem. However I do have a wireless modem so our TIVO can wirelessly download programme data from the other end of the house. I'm assuming once I turn this "AirPort" off and turn it on again, the shared computer on the Finder side bar will go. Am I on the right track?

Thanks heaps
Andrew

Quote

bastion, on 06 March 2013 - 03:16 AM, said:

macbambina, on 05 March 2013 - 06:49 PM, said:

Hi there,

I have an unkown computer showing up on my finder sidebar under "shared". The name of this shared computer is "technicolor". How can I disconnect and delete it? I suspect it is spyware or something similar as when I unplug the ethernet cable that connects to my modem, I can't connect to this computer. When I do connect it is empty.

OS 10.5.8

Note: I have had Parallels 4 (virtual PC XP) on my mac for a number of years and when that is running it comes up in the sidebar under "shared" but with the name I gave it when set up. So when running both names show.

I would appreciate some direction on how to get rid of this "shared" computer.

Thanks
Andrew

It's not spyware or anything of that nature. It's a neighbor. The most common scenario is that either your computer or neighbor's has joined the other person's WiFi network. This is pretty easy to solve.
Turn off your WiFi if you don't really need it on, and make sure your computer is set to only join WiFi networks you've told it about if you do need it. That will make sure you're not unintentionally linking to someone else's network.
If you have a WiFi base station, you should change the default network name, give it a password and turn off the feature that broadcasts the name. That will virtually eliminate the chance of someone unknown linking to your network.
Given that when you break your physical connection to the network you can't access the machine, the second option above is the more likely explanation/fix.

There's another possibility that I've only seen a couple of times, and not recently. It could be that your access provider isn't managing their network sanely and you're seeing the machine through a shared subnet. I don't know of a way to hide the other machine in that case.

[bastion]

macbambina, on 06 March 2013 - 04:36 PM, said:

Thanks, that make sense, though I do have another question about this.

Firstly though, in explanation, I recently bought a wireless modem then had a good friend staying here. His laptop "found" my wireless modem to connect to the internet. He has since left. It was about this time that I found the "shared computer" in my Finder sidebar.

Secondly, how do I turn off my WiFi? In my system prefs/network, AirPort is on but "not connected to a network". AirPort must have turned on automatically when I attached my wireless modem recently. Is this is where I need to go? NB: I don't have an Apple AirPort modem. However I do have a wireless modem so our TIVO can wirelessly download programme data from the other end of the house. I'm assuming once I turn this "AirPort" off and turn it on again, the shared computer on the Finder side bar will go. Am I on the right track?

I'm not positive, but my recollection is that AirPort is turned on by default in Macs, so it's probably been enabled as long as you've owned it. I can say confidently that it did not spontaneously turn itself on when you brought the base station into the house.

Just turning your WiFi network off and on again won't help. The other machine knows about your network and can find it again. You should definitely add a password to the network, almost certainly rename it and probably turn off the broadcast "advertisement" that the network even exists. You'll need to configure your Tivo and anything else using it to know about the password and the network name change. How you reconfigure the network and its clients depends on the brand/model of those devices and should be covered in the user manuals. If you don't have them, they're typically available for download from the manufacturer web sites. For WiFi base stations, it's usually a web page published by the base station itself, so you can aim a browser at 192.168.1.1 or whatever it is and get a configuration screen.

[macbambina]

Thanks Bastion,

It was simple in the end, but just needed some direction on where to start. The "technicolor" shared device was the wireless modem. I changed the password from default and unchecked showing shared computers in my Finder prefs. None can use my wireless network without my private password and I've got this computer off my sidebar. I think all sorted. Thanks again for you help.

bastion, on 07 March 2013 - 03:14 AM, said:

macbambina, on 06 March 2013 - 04:36 PM, said:

Thanks, that make sense, though I do have another question about this.

Firstly though, in explanation, I recently bought a wireless modem then had a good friend staying here. His laptop "found" my wireless modem to connect to the internet. He has since left. It was about this time that I found the "shared computer" in my Finder sidebar.

Secondly, how do I turn off my WiFi? In my system prefs/network, AirPort is on but "not connected to a network". AirPort must have turned on automatically when I attached my wireless modem recently. Is this is where I need to go? NB: I don't have an Apple AirPort modem. However I do have a wireless modem so our TIVO can wirelessly download programme data from the other end of the house. I'm assuming once I turn this "AirPort" off and turn it on again, the shared computer on the Finder side bar will go. Am I on the right track?

I'm not positive, but my recollection is that AirPort is turned on by default in Macs, so it's probably been enabled as long as you've owned it. I can say confidently that it did not spontaneously turn itself on when you brought the base station into the house.

Just turning your WiFi network off and on again won't help. The other machine knows about your network and can find it again. You should definitely add a password to the network, almost certainly rename it and probably turn off the broadcast "advertisement" that the network even exists. You'll need to configure your Tivo and anything else using it to know about the password and the network name change. How you reconfigure the network and its clients depends on the brand/model of those devices and should be covered in the user manuals. If you don't have them, they're typically available for download from the manufacturer web sites. For WiFi base stations, it's usually a web page published by the base station itself, so you can aim a browser at 192.168.1.1 or whatever it is and get a configuration screen.

[sandbag1]

 macbambina, on 07 March 2013 - 12:10 PM, said:

Thanks Bastion,

It was simple in the end, but just needed some direction on where to start. The "technicolor" shared device was the wireless modem. I changed the password from default and unchecked showing shared computers in my Finder prefs. None can use my wireless network without my private password and I've got this computer off my sidebar. I think all sorted. Thanks again for you help.

 bastion, on 07 March 2013 - 03:14 AM, said:

 macbambina, on 06 March 2013 - 04:36 PM, said:

Thanks, that make sense, though I do have another question about this.

Firstly though, in explanation, I recently bought a wireless modem then had a good friend staying here. His laptop "found" my wireless modem to connect to the internet. He has since left. It was about this time that I found the "shared computer" in my Finder sidebar.

Secondly, how do I turn off my WiFi? In my system prefs/network, AirPort is on but "not connected to a network". AirPort must have turned on automatically when I attached my wireless modem recently. Is this is where I need to go? NB: I don't have an Apple AirPort modem. However I do have a wireless modem so our TIVO can wirelessly download programme data from the other end of the house. I'm assuming once I turn this "AirPort" off and turn it on again, the shared computer on the Finder side bar will go. Am I on the right track?

I'm not positive, but my recollection is that AirPort is turned on by default in Macs, so it's probably been enabled as long as you've owned it. I can say confidently that it did not spontaneously turn itself on when you brought the base station into the house.

Just turning your WiFi network off and on again won't help. The other machine knows about your network and can find it again. You should definitely add a password to the network, almost certainly rename it and probably turn off the broadcast "advertisement" that the network even exists. You'll need to configure your Tivo and anything else using it to know about the password and the network name change. How you reconfigure the network and its clients depends on the brand/model of those devices and should be covered in the user manuals. If you don't have them, they're typically available for download from the manufacturer web sites. For WiFi base stations, it's usually a web page published by the base station itself, so you can aim a browser at 192.168.1.1 or whatever it is and get a configuration screen.

Thanks for letting the community know what you did to fix it. That may help someone else in the future.