Paul M

Cambridgeshire

programmer

leaving your wlan open poses problems. OK, most borrowers might be nice. But you might expose your windows shares - most wlan APs bridge your home network to wireless, so passers-by could see your default shares.
My wlan AP is on a separate interface on my linux firewall.

If someone downloads some kiddy-porn or sends abusive emails, it will trace back to your network. Sure, you might be found innocent, BUT, the three months enduring your PCs being impounded, questioned by police etc, it's not worth it.

My AP's essid is, "keep out". It's old and crappy, doesn't support WPA, so I change the WEP keys frequently.