Thanks for all the good info. Now that you made me paranoid I have a few more questions.....
I sometimes log on to my neighbor's wifi open signal....but I never see any of their data comunications..... So is special software needed? Exactly where does one go, or what keys are pressed if a neighbor wanted to peek. And exactly what kind of stuff is open for curious neighbors (not so much professional hackers) to see. Could emails be seen, or would you be able to tell what websites the person visited, or can you see im's typed in chat rooms? What about any banking transactions online?
Can a curious neighbor with hardly any computer savvy see that stuff without special software? (IF they need special software, is that readily available for a small price?)