The JCC held a session on this subject as our first presentation in the new premises on Thursday 24th November. In Windows, you are supposed to be able to see the WiFi password of the network you are connected to, by following a series of (not very intuitive ) steps …but (it being Thursday) it didn’t work on the WiFi we had set up at our new premises! Chris assured the members that it worked at home. For the record, here’s how to view saved WiFi passwords in Windows, macOS, iPhone and Android: https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/view-saved-wi-fi-passwords — How to View Saved Wi-Fi Passwords: All the Tricks and Hacks You Need to Know
After that failure, Chris demonstrated the Magical Jellybean WiFi password revealer (finder). This is a small freeware utility which displays all the saved WiFi passwords. That is all the passwords of wifi networks the PC had ever been connected to. It works on all flavours of Windows. https://www.magicaljellybean.com/wifi-password-revealer/
We then looked at sharing WiFi passwords with others. This seems very straightforward with an iPhone, and on Android, the app generates a QR code which you can give to people to scan. : https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-share-wi-fi-password/ —
How to Share Your Wi-Fi Password – Help your guests connect to your network without typing a thing.
The QR code is very handy, particularly for giving another mobile phone the password at the club for example. Chris’s Motorola revealed the saved passwords on that phone as QR codes and text, but Samsung devices can only share the password of the network they are connected to.
Chris suggested that, if you don’t have admin access to your router (which is likely if you have fibre broadband), you should ask your ISP to remotely change the long, complicated string of numbers and letters which is the default password for most routers, to something you can easily remember.
We discussed the security aspects of strangers knowing your WiFi password, and the main dangers seemed to be them using your network for illegal activities and getting access to your router (the default username for access to a router is admin and the default password is (you guessed it) admin. Something which definitely needs to be changed! As extra security, disable “network file sharing” on your PC.
Chris Betterton-Jones – Knowledge Junkie