Wireless Installation Checklist by Lee Asher
Buyer Beware - Ignorance can be a financial waste and a lot of hassals. Before you buy any wireless equipment, you need to be sure about what you're doing. There's nothing worse than having everything there and finding that it doesn't work in your house, or with your computers, or over the... 2.4Ghz, the most common wireless networking frequency, is also a commonly-used wireless phone frequency. ... If you can, try to get to a computer shop and see some wireless networking equipment in action before you commit yourself.

WANS, LANS, WLANS and now WPANS (Wireless Personal Area Networks) by Eric Meyer
I know you know what a LAN (Local Area network) is and a WLAN (Wireless Local Area network) but do you know what a WPAN is…..? A WPAN is a personal area network which uses Bluetooth technology to connect everything from cell phones and ear pieces to key boards and desktops. ... When most people think of wireless they will think about Wifi hot spots or wireless routers. ... Other quick examples of Bluetooth networking is wireless keyboards and mice. ... WPAN’s (Wireless Personal area networks) are all around you and they will become more and more common.

Wireless Encryption and Security Threats by Troy Davies
The following are the items most often at risk. * Thieves can steal your sensitive personal and business data. * Harmful viruses and worms can infiltrate your network, even evading your anti-virus software. * Hackers can hijack your Wi-Fi to spam or attack others - and you could be liable. ... You'll still need to turn on encryption at the wireless router or access point, but once you've done that you can set up encryption as you set up the network using the Wireless Network Setup Wizard. ... People quickly recognised that it was almost useless to use WEP on their network -- but by the...

Home Wireless Network Security Issues by Greg Lietz
Running a business from home has its advantages, including no commute, a more accommodating work schedule, fresh coffee and home-cooked meals at any time you want. But running a business from home using a home wireless local area network (WLAN) with your computer may lead to thievery of... MAC or physical addresses are accessible through your computer device wireless network connection setup and they are physically written on network cards. ... Up to 75 per cent of home wireless network WLAN users do not have standard security features installed, and 20 per cent are left completely open as...

Maybe You Already Have Wireless and Don't Know It? by Tony Fitz
More and more laptops and desktop computers are coming pre-equipped with wireless networking devices -- it's so cheap that they might as well put it in, to have another thing to list in the system specifications. It is easy to tell if a desktop computer has wireless enabled. ... Ignore anything that says '10/100' or 'Ethernet' -- they're normal network connections, but not wireless ones. ... It's better to figure that out now than to buy wireless equipment and then realise you had some already, though, isn't it?

Cut The Wires by John Geiger
How often do you see someone sitting in an airport lounge or coffee shop working on a laptop computer? Sure they could be playing solitaire, but the odds are increasing that they are corresponding via e-mail, sending a report back to the home office, or downloading a presentation for their next... Typically, wireless network products are shipped with any imbedded security features turned off in order to make setup a snap. ... There are adjustments that can be made if problems arise such as selecting a different channel on your wireless network (a similar process to changing the channel on...

Is Your Laptop or Home Computer Wireless Enabled? by Kevin Erickson
Built in wireless capabilities are becoming almost standard equipment on most laptop and home computers these days for a couple of reasons. One of the primary reasons is cost. Adding wireless capacity is so inexpensive that it would be silly for the manufacturers not to add it. ... Take a look under Network adapters and ignore anything that says 10/100 or Ethernet because they are simply normal network connections -- not wireless ones. ... However, it's clearly better to find out your computers wireless capacity now -- before you go out and buy some wireless equipment and then realize that...

Wi-Fi - Finding What You Need by Lee Asher
There are all sorts of different devices you can buy that will give your computer wireless networking capabilities. If you've taken a good look around, though, you probably have been confused by all the different kinds of equipment being offered -- how things that look so dissimilar do the same... With USB, your network won't be entirely wireless, as there will still be a small wire between your computer and the USB device -- it might not sound like much, but it makes USB wireless on laptops a bit of a joke.

Securing Your Wireless LAN by Jonathan Coupal
Introduction It has become common practice to deploy wireless networks for convenience applications requiring users to be mobile. Also many "road warriors" have Wi-Fi accounts that let them access the Internet and the corporate network from remote locations. ... · Isolating clients by preventing them from talking to one another on the wireless network is an option which prevents wireless hackers from attacking other users. ... With these new products and the standards they implement, your wireless network can be at least as secure as your wire-based network.

What You Need to Know About Networking by Alex Lakatos
Because networking is a relatively young science, it borrows language from other disciplines. Many networking terms come from the realm of physical transportation—terms such as bridge, hub, port, routing, and switching. That borrowing is apt. Just as the transportation revolution, and especially... The Basics In its most basic form, a network consists of two pieces of electronic equipment that communicate data back and forth, connected by a third piece of equipment that enables that communication.