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Let's say I have a Windows computer that is not supposed to connect to the internet.

  • How do I determine whether it has indeed not connected ever to the internet,
  • If it has, how do I know when was the last time it connected and to what services/websites?

Added more information:

  • Recently, my company wants our employees to NOT connect to the internet, and I am supposed to check if they violate this policy.
  • They will need to connect to internal LAN so I cannot disable their network adapters
  • I am allowed to access their computers physically to check for violations as and when required
  • Ideally I should not be installing any additional software into their computers, but when checking their computers, I am allowed to use any portable software, scripts, etc

2 Answers 2

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I believe you're talking about logs. That was answered here.

Here's what the post says: 'In the event viewer we can enable logging of WiFi. It gives detailed logs of the signal strength of WiFi.

The complete process including screenshots is given here.

Open the Windows Event viewer (eventvwr.msc) and then within the View Menu enable the Show Analytic and Debug Logs options.

Navigate to the WLAN-autoconfig event log. Since we enabled the Analytic and Debug logs option, beside the Operational log we also see the Diagnostic log.

The Diagnostic event log by default is not enabled, so first we have to enable it by right-clicking -> select Properties.

As soon as the Diagnostics mode is enabled you should see events coming in. To enforce things a bit simply disable and enable your wireless connection using your vendor's wireless connection software or by pressing the hardware button on your laptop.

You can see when the WiFi signal is lost.'

You can also use wireshark to sniff your own network's activity and record logs of every communication. You'll have to do your homework to learn to use it and understand it.

To listen to what's actively connected to your device:

  1. open a command prompt
    1. type: netstat
    2. click enter
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  • So u r saying that without all these done in advance, I will not be able to tell whether that person had connected to the internet before?
    – EDM
    Feb 23, 2019 at 14:31
  • So are you trying to figure out if a specific person is using your internet connectivity? You can disable the network adapters on that device to ensure it can't connect.
    – StoicM
    Feb 25, 2019 at 13:33
  • Unfortunately I cannot do that, they will need to connect to an internal LAN.
    – EDM
    Mar 6, 2019 at 8:56
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This depends on the operating system you use.

If you're on Windows, look in the bottom right corner, and you should see your internet status. If you're over WiFi it'll look like data bars on your phone that show how strong or weak the signal is. If you're over Ethernet (or hardwired), you'll see a computer screen with a cable next to it.

This shows that your computer is indeed connected to the internet and you should have internet. If it isn't, you'll see this:

WiFi: Antenna with a yellow exclamation mark or red X indicating there is no internet available

Ethernet: Computer screen with a yellow exclamation mark or red X indicating there is no internet available.

Sometimes if you have WiFi, you'll see a gold star next to the antenna. This means your computer isn't connected, however, connections are available.

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  • This is not what I'm asking at all. Yes I know how to tell when it's connected. But if the computer is not connected currently, how do I know if the computer has ever connected to the internet, assuming all stored WiFi networks and browsing history have been deleted?
    – EDM
    Feb 23, 2019 at 14:35

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