Slim,
The wireless world is fun stuff. You can look for open systems by turning  on 
your computer and it will search for any available network. At home, we have  
all the safety precautions turned on and use the encryption. In other words, 
you  ain't connecting unless I want you to.
Most coffee house's will let you use their connection as long as you buy  
their coffee. On a recent trip we stayed at my fathers condominium in Wisconsin  
and tapped into a neighbors wireless connection which wasn't protected. We 
never  did thank them properly......or rather at all. Encrypted sites generally 
use a  string of either 14 or 26 letters and numbers for security. It would 
take  someone a long time to figure out a 26 digit encryption code. Hardly worth 
the  effort.
Firewall's will help to keep you unnoticed while connected to the  Internet.
 
Rummy