This is the scenario…

My mother-in-law is with BT and just before the weekend her connection started dropping on a regular basis and down altogether for several hours.

Since this happened she is getting ‘your connection is not secure’ messages all the time.

My natural thought was her laptop was full of viruses again (I usually have to give it a good sort out every few months!). So I bought it home, did a full check but all seemed fine and no error messages at my house.

So I sent it back and she’d getting the same ‘your connection is not secure’ messages!

The only thing that has changed is her neighbour has just signed up with BT and they went live just before the weekend which is when the connection issues started.

So could one BT router affect another?

In relation to slow speeds, not really. As by default, most modern routers scan all the available wireless channels and choose one which has the least congestion. So if your neighbour is broadcasting on channel 3, your router will see that channel is being used and use another one. I assume BT routers are passworded by default, so that rules out connecting to theirs by mistake.*

The connection is not secure message will also have nothing to do with the router, tho. More to do with how a browser connects to a webpage (SSL/TLS certification etc). As such, I think the issue is with the laptop.

*I know. Never assume anything.

So could one BT router affect another?

possibly in terms of both using the same channel causing interference and loss of range but unless she is connecting to their router now and not hers (no password on theirs and stronger signal?) I can’t see how their router would make hers not secure.

Have you tried her laptop with a cable connected to her router to see what happens?

Where is the message appearing? Is it a browser message and does it appear only on certain web sites? Or is it from the OS/another application?

If she continually fills the PC with Viruses there could be a man in the middle proxy installed?

Which bit of the connection is dropping. Is it the wireless connection from laptop to router or ADSL connection to BT? Was the neighbour previously using a different ADSL provider or were they using Virgin (i.e. did Openreach have to make wiring changes to connect the neighbour)?

What is the device? IS she using the BT WiFi app/service that lets you use other folks BT Routers? Is it perhaps connecting to the neighbours “open” side of their BT router instead of her own “closed” side?

Where is the message appearing? Is it a browser message and does it appear only on certain web sites? Or is it from the OS/another application?

In her web browsers – she uses Chrome and Firefox.

When I had it at my house I went to the same sites she uses and didn’t get any error messages. Nothing at all.

I ran a full scan with Windows Defender and Malwarebytes and only 3 PUP programmes came up which didn’t seem malicious.

I think I need a trip to her house. She’s taken it upon herself to get BT to send a new router out anyway, so I’ll see what happens when that arrives.

get her to install logmein, teamviewer or one of the other remote support tools, that way you can connect to her machine and see the evidence for yourself.

I think if you go to the router homepage you can force it to pick another channel

The newer BT routers should shift channel to minimise inteference, it seems to work. I’ve not had to manually check channels and change them since getting this latest router.

Connection not secure does sound like either a neighbour has setup an open WiFi connection or the BT WiFi option is enabled and the Windows laptop is picking up the Open connection. If I remember right there’s a ticky box where you can turn off Automatically Connect to Open Networks.

In her web browsers – she uses Chrome and Firefox.

Isn’t that the latest updates to those 2 browsers, which now complain if you’re not connected via https ?

Or browsing to sites in their respective databases that are listed as dodgy.

Windows 10 perchance? One the options on install is to connect to open Wi-Fi hotspots automatically.

First thing I’d be doing is making sure that she’s connecting to her own router. Either that or cancelling her contract and leeching the neighbour’s bandwidth. (-:

It connecting to her neighbours public wifi with fon connection sounds more likely – so the browsers are identifying the connection as a public wifi. Why it connects to that as opposed to her own signal is the puzzling bit though.

scotroutes – Member 
What is the device? IS she using the BT WiFi app/service that lets you use other folks BT Routers? Is it perhaps connecting to the neighbours “open” side of their BT router instead of her own “closed” side?

^^^ This

BT still have the daft sharing of their routers for public access so they can boast biggest public wifi in the UK, but it’s next to useless in use and a risk to home users who’s PCs try to connect to one of these in preference to their own.

Go into wifi settings and set it to delete/forget BT WiFI, Fon or Openzone type of connections. Ensure you connect to the actual router and the name/serial matches the router.

If you have Windows 10 but haven’t got the anniversary update yet, turn off WiFi Sense. This will try to auto connect to known shared and public WiFi, and can pick up the public BT stuff by default or if your own WiFi has poor connection.

In the Anniversary update they’ve removed WiFi Sense as it was controversial (generally due to misunderstanding. It was never the risk people thought, and actually useful on a mobile or tablet, but does cause confusion. Anyway, there you go, it’s gone now).

Connection not secure does sound like either a neighbour has setup an open WiFi connection or the BT WiFi option is enabled and the Windows laptop is picking up the Open connection. If I remember right there’s a ticky box where you can turn off Automatically Connect to Open Networks.

Thanks allan23 – this sounds like a likely solution.

Why it connects to that as opposed to her own signal is the puzzling bit though.

Not to me! She visits lots of Jigsaw sites that are full of pop-ups. And lets my 11yr nephew play on it for hours unsupervised visiting all sorts of random game website.

And she never runs Malwarebytes or Defender even though I’ve shown her many times how easy it is.

Her or my nephew will have fiddled with something.

Check the time and date on the computer – if it’s wrong the certificates no longer work so getting to most sites becomes a warning fest.

Not to me! She visits lots of Jigsaw sites that are full of pop-ups. And lets my 11yr nephew play on it for hours unsupervised visiting all sorts of random game website.

And she never runs Malwarebytes or Defender even though I’ve shown her many times how easy it is.

Her or my nephew will have fiddled with something.

Create a user account (rather than an admin) for the kids. Actually, create one for both to use and change the Admin password.

Buy Malwarebytes and set it to do scheduled scans. Defender should be scheduled already.

As much as it pains me to say it, install a pop-up blocker like ABP.

Install the freeware version of Spyware Blaster; it’s passive protection which blocks known hostile sites.

Change the network name (SSID) on your own router to something different.
Then you can make sure you are connecting to that, and avoid confusion with yet another network named BTHub.