I have a secure wireless network at home using a Dell router.  When I visit
my parent, they have a Belkan router that is currently unsecured.  First, I
visit once a month for 3-4 days, Is it worth securing it?  Second, and most
important, is if I secure the network at my parents, will I screw up anything
when i return home?  Thank you.

Sam S wrote:
Yes.  Don't you think your parent's system is as worth protecting as
your own?

Second, and most
No.  If you have set things up properly, your home network will have an
unique SSID of, say, "SamsNet" and your parents' network will have a
unique SSID of, say, "OldFolksNet".  When you search for "available
networks" and pick one to connect to, you will be asked to enter the
appropriate encryption key.  Each key is "remembered" in association
with its corresponding SSID, so when you go home, you'll automatically
connect to SamsNet.

Show quote Hide quote Thanks Lem:

I think I phrased my question incorrectly and didn'trovide all info.  But
you answered it completely.

I need to point out that my parents PC is not wireless.  It is hooked into
the router.  Does that change your #1 answer?  Is there a link that would
show me how to secure my network correctly thru a good link that might
address my specific issue or close to it?.  Excuse the ignorance,  I don't
understand Ecncryption code.  Thank you.
Show quoteHide quote

Sam S wrote:
Show quoteHide quoteIf your parents' PC dies not use wireless AND if their router is not a
wireless router, they they are pretty secure already.  If they have a
wireless-capable router and are just not using that capability (most
home wifi routers have connections for up to 4 computers to connect
using Ethernet cable) they should disable the wifi part of the router.
How you do that depends on the particular router.  On my Linksys WRT54G,
it's on the "Basic Wireless Settings" screen, where I can set the
"Wireless Network Mode" to G-Only, B-Only, Mixed, or Disabled.

Other than that, the only other things I would suggest to secure your
parents' network is to change the password used to access the router's
configuration utility to something other than the default, and to
double-check that "remote management" of the router is turned off.

As to your other question, are you asking how to secure your own wifi
network?  In your original post, you said it was already secure.  I'm
not sure what your asking about.  If it's wifi encryption/security, read
on.  Otherwise, you'll have to be a bit clearer.

Because wifi signals, like all radio signals, can be picked up by anyone
with an appropriate receiver, wifi is secured by encrypting the signals.
  There are 3 general levels of encryption available to home users, in
increasing order of security: WEP, WPA, and WPA2.  All the nodes on the
network must use the same level.  Use the highest level you can.  See
http://www.ezlan.net/Wireless_Security.html and
http://www.ezlan.net/wpa_wep.html

For further detail see:
Implement WPA2-Personal wireless security on a Windows XP SP2-based computer
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/security/expert/bowman_wirelesssecurity.mspx

WPA Wireless Security for Home Networks
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/expert/bowman_03july28.mspx

Improve the security of your wireless home network with Windows XP
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/security/wireless.mspx

Expert Zone Support Webcast: How to set up WPA-based wireless security
on a home network:  http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=895616

Hi

If your Laptop has both Wire and Wireless, you can set it so when Wireless
is, available at home it would connect to the Wireless, and hen it plugged
with cable into your parent router it would work automatically through the
cable.

See here, http://www.ezlan.net/metrics.html

As said above, the security measures are related to the Wireless only they
do not have any roll in wired connection, so you should leave them as is
when a cable connection is used.

Jack (MVP-Networking).



Show quoteHide quote

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