Why is my mac conencting to the web on its own accord

A

aicul

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One of my Macs conencts to my wifi network on its own accord. This is a hassle as I purposely keep this mac off the wifi network for security reasons - I only connect it for OS updates.

I suppose some process is looking for a network and connecting to it. However I have not found out what process does this.

Does anyone know how I can identify the process that does this?
 
You can also check the default preferences for joining networks in System Preferences > Network > AirPort. You may want to select "Preferred Networks" under the "By default, join:" option.

Also, in the "Options..." section, you may find some of those useful... specifically, "If no preferred networks are found:" and "Automatically add new networks to the preferred networks list".
 
Thanks all for you replies. I considered each and here is some complementary information:

SGilbert said:
Have you turned Airport off? Doing so will stop the wi-fi connection.
Click to expand...
No, but the mac needs to be connected to my closed internal wifi network for work reasons. It decides to switch to my external wifi network on its own accord.

ElDiabloConCaca said:
You can also check the default preferences for joining networks in System Preferences > Network > AirPort. You may want to select "Preferred Networks" under the "By default, join:" option.

Also, in the "Options..." section, you may find some of those useful... specifically, "If no preferred networks are found:" and "Automatically add new networks to the preferred networks list".
Click to expand...
These settings are set, the internal and external wifi networks are set. New networks (there are none in the vicinity) are not added to the list.

eric2006 said:
Little Snitch will help you find what app is trying to access the internet.
Click to expand...
I'll give this tool a shot. Thanks
 
I tried the little Snitch application and ask myself now what?

I mean what is one supposed to do? there are many rules defined and I don't know where to start. Actually how is this tool going to help me understand what process is connecting my mac to the internet linked wifi network?

Just to make thing clear, I am NOT a network specialist.:(
 
One of the tasks that Little Snitch does is report.
It will report when an app is trying to access the internet from your computer, and it will tell you which one. So, you configure LS to do that. You will know a lot more when you find out which app is trying to access the internet, and LS will let you know when that happens. In your case, you are not experiencing that all the time, so you would wait until you get an alert from LS!
 
Set up Locations for any network you connect to. Choose which connection you want by going to the apple menu/location. Then you can select whether it goes to that wireless connection or not.

More on network locations here:
http://www.net.princeton.edu/mac/network-config-x/index.html#loc

Your computer is most likely set to Automatic for your Network Location which means it will search for the most easily available network; in this case the wireless network.
 
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