I have run into the same things you are talking about but there is also a couple questions brought up in my mind because you are talking about a couple things...no internet and safety?

First of all...assuming that you are not trying to acces your own A/P here...If you are seeing an unsecured A/P with your wireless computer (AKA "using the neighbors connection") and you can't get a connection to the internet this is as simple as they have turned off the modem to the net or a linked computer in AdHoc mode. Your computer looks for network connections first, looks on those connections for any internet availability, and then defaults to dial up connections that may exist if all else fails. The unsecured A/P may not have that needed internet availability and so it defaults to dialup. My neighbor had the same deal going. Had an A/P that was on steroids or something as it blasted throughout the neighborhood but she only had the modem kicked on when she was using the internet and left the A/P blazing 24/7 nearly wiping out all the other neighbors wireless links...

It is also possible that any computers on that A/P do not have any kind of domain or file sharing set up which is why you can't browse any computers on that A/P. If there is any kind of domain specified and any kind of sharing set up on a computer on that A/P you could simply go to "Network Neighborhood" in Microshaft XP OS and you could scan for these computers and they would gracefully show you their nickers...with smiles on to be sure. Gotta love that Microsoft security!

With that said I will throw in the "safety" part of the message and that is if you are using unsecured A/P's you need to do two things: 1) Get a good firewall program to couple with your spyware and antivirus gear(never know when some punk is sitting around waiting for you to come in so he can scan YOUR computer while you are visiting...don't laugh, happens all the time). 2) Check up on local laws about using unsecured A/P's. In the US there has been very little ground covered in this arena legally. You can drive down the road, pick up an A/P and cruise the net or drop a few emails and move on without too much issue. BUT...as soon as you scan that A/P for systems and/or try and view any shares that may be erroneously available you are now in violation of hacking laws and that is a HUGE deal.

If you want to stay off the legal radar you need to make sure that you are following the local laws. If you operate an unsecured A/P in your home or business, don't be suprised to find that someone is using it to transmit virus email from across the street from a mobile server, spam mail relay or the neighbor is a kidde porn addict that is using your A/P for an untraceable link to the goods that will get you thrown in the pokey for a near eternity. I highly suggest to anyone that they should secure their A/P. Yes... stupid people exist and they exploit that super zippy internet connection you paid high dollar for.

Now there is also the odd chance that I read that whole thing wrong and that you are just trying to figure out how safe your A/P would be with your computers running on it and no encryption... if thats the case you still can use what I have given you as it is the "neighbors" view of your system and I'd still say "LOCK THAT BAD BOY UP" and don't let your A/P play with others. It could come home with bad company when you are not looking.:-)