It can be a hassle to spell out that cryptic WiFi password every time a friend comes over. But that doesn’t mean we want it shared with everyone in our contacts list.
The new WiFi Sense feature with Windows 10 can connect you to crowd-sourced WiFi networks. It can also share your WiFi password with your friends on Facebook, Outlook and Skype.
If you choose “Express Settings” during setup, it also allows your device to get WiFi passwords from friends, and shares that password with your contacts.
Look Microsoft, have you ever heard of oversharing?
Let’s shut down WiFi Sense. In your search bar, type “WiFi.” Next, click “Change WiFi Settings,” then click ‘’Manage WiFi Settings.” From here you can manage WiFi Settings and shut off WiFi Sense and password sharing with Facebook, Skype and Outlook contacts.
At the bottom of the list is your WiFi network list and you can choose to opt out of password sharing. Remember, it’s turned on by default.
WiFi Sense risks are relatively low. Nothing’s going to happen until two things take place:
- First the user signs in from a Microsoft account and signs in to a WiFi network
- A tick-box will ask if you’d like to share it with others allowing the user to opt out
Remember that passwords are not shown.