Vista's free public connection

[pihto]

Does anyone know the purpose of free public connection in Vista and how it works? I found it odd that it advertised itself when I was setting up a laptop.Can it be a security hole?

[Midknyte]

From what I've heard, Windows caches the SSID of networks it has connected to and then broadcasts that as an adhoc connection. Not sure if Microsoft is going to fix that or not.

It could pose a security risk. If you're not going to use wireless, then turn off the antenna. it'll save some battery life too.