Wireless Sharing - Frequently Asked Questions

Wireless sharing/Bonjour discovery is available on the UCSD-PROTECTED SSID in nearly all on-campus and SIO locations. It is also available in these east campus buildings: Ratner Children's, Shiley Eye Institute, Moores Cancer Center.

Some departments, notably those where sensitive or restricted data is handled, have turned wireless sharing off on departmental laptops, tablets and other devices with wireless service. This can happen for several reasons:

• Turning on sharing increases the likelihood that data may be inadvertently shared
• Handling some types of data may require certain network or security settings on machines
• Wireless sharing modestly increases the vulnerability of wireless machines to attack

Please don't circumvent departmental controls. If you have a question about a departmentally-owned wireless device, please talk to your local system administrator.

Most operating systems have sharing turned off by default, but you may have turned it on to use in your home environment. Here are some links to help you control what you are or aren't sharing.

There is information on changing settings for Windows Media Sharing on the Microsoft web site.

To manage sharing on your Mac computer:

• Go into System Preferences > Sharing.
• Click on the lock icon in the bottom left to make changes.
• Then select, from the left menu, what you want or don't want to share.

To manage sharing on your iOS device, see Apple's support pages on sharing. For iOS 7 and up, you will need to turn off AirDrop.

Sharing on Android generally requires a specific app for the purpose, and does not happen by default. If you have a file sharing app, see support for that app to turn off sharing.

Turning off sharing under Linux is dependent on what method you used to turn it on. Some relevant articles:

• Creating Samba Windows shares in Linux
• Sharing Files between Linux Computers

We recommend the following steps to best protect department assets against inadvertent sharing with wireless users in your vicinity.

• Turn off file/media sharing on your department's desktop computers unless it is needed.
• Make sure that departmental printers that have wireless capabilities and advertise their own wireless service (e.g. "hpsetup" SSID) have wireless turned off.
• If your printer has the ability to connect to UCSD-PROTECTED and you expect it to be used wirelessly on that network, set a password to prevent unauthorized printing.
• Protect all Apple TVs with passwords known only to their users
• Make sure that departmental projectors with wireless capabilities have wireless turned off, or, if wireless will be used, that a password is required.

MacOS users – information on file sharing may be found on the Apple website.

iOS users – information on sharing on the Apple website.

Windows users – information on Windows Media Sharing.

Android users – see a PC Advisor article on sharing files wirelessly; see also specific apps in the Google Play store.

Useful ways to manage sharing on your Linux machine include:

• Creating Samba Windows shares in Linux
• Sharing Files between Linux Computers

See also the section above on "How can I prevent my computer from sharing files?" for useful links.

1. Make sure your area supports wireless sharing (see the list of locations above).
2. Configure your Apple TV to work on UCSD wireless.
3. Make sure that your Apple TV has a good password set to prevent inappropriate use.

The Campus Wi-Fi network has thousands of “access points.” As you move across campus your device falls out of range and begins looking for a new connection. Here are some tips for better connections:

• Reset at your destination: Turn off/on mobile device Wi-Fi to reconnect to the strongest access point.
• Outside coverage is limited: IT Services provides Wi-Fi in every building but only in limited outdoor areas.
• Forget past networks: Reduce problems by “forgetting” old Wi-Fi networks.
• Turn off your hot spot: Personal hotspots use the same frequencies as campus Wi-Fi and can create interference for users.