Sharing Wireless Network Slow Me Down?

I had rebuilt an old Dell laptop for a friend of mine, and he's kind of homeless, lives in his little RV, and is all excited about getting on the Internet and stuff, and thats all cool, and I put free AVG on there, and some other stuff, made sure it was as secure as I know, and stuff I've learned on here...

But anyway, I know he's going to be stuck using unsecure networks...which means that eventually, *I'll* be stuck removing crap from his computer...

Can I give him my password, and let him log on to my wireless network...I've got the cheaper Cox set up, around 100mps, and just wondered if letting him have my WPA key and all, is going to slow me down, or give *me* malware risks...and how far away can he be and still get my signal? (further is *good*)

Any problems with doing this, other than the fact I don't want him crashing on my couch just to get access...? :-D

 

Just because he uses unsecured wireless connections does not make him more likely to get malware. Operator usage is more likely to get him infected. Going to nasty sites and being click happy on a connection, secure or not, will be the determining factor in getting malware 9 times out of 10.
Since you are not networked to his computer, and if you have good security on your comp, you should not have too much risk of getting malware from him.
As to distance for him connecting, environmental conditions will affect this. Router location, walls to get through, equipment in the way, electrical interference, etc will all have a bearing on the distance for connection.
Will you notice a speed drop? If he downloads tons of videos or is into P2P applications, yes. Just general web surfing or email, no.
Hope this helps.

 

Actually, that's exactly what I wanted to know, but I wasn't sure...I'll just sort of play it by ear: right now he's just going to unsecure sites, and I'm fine with any of it, really...I just wanted to get him rolling with this computer, but he's doing fine, so I probably don't even need to worry about it...he just knows a lot less about computers than most people, and I was trying more to protect his computer if I could, but all of what you said made sense, and I agree....and he knows more about it that I thought--or gave him credit for...he understood the free avg I'd put on there, and that he needed to update it, and to avoid the baddie sites too...I think he mostly just wants to email with people and feel not quite so lost, fwiw...

thanks for replying...