Genealogy Chat

Can anyone enlarge on Sam's advice please? Ann Glos

Hi Ann I know when I set mine, it had to be either 11 or 13 characters and had to include a certain number of letters and numbers. I assume that this varies, depending on the manufacturer athough i don't know for certain. Sam x

Thank you fo that, I have shown the 'man who usually knows' He asks a further question please. For the wEP does he need to use a word of so many letters or numbers or what? Sorry to be thick he tried the manual and it wasn't clear. thanks ann Glos

Matthew First of all nether of us were as you put so nicley 'CRAPPING ON' we were just answering a question, and yes you can lock the MAC but and to quote you 'totaly secure' errr no sorry its not quite. Turn on the MAC addressing filter in your wireless router. Most Wi-Fi gateways let you restrict access to known MAC (Media Access Control) addresses. Each network device (such as a computer, Wi-Fi card, or printer) has a unique MAC address, and by allowing access only to pre-defined MAC addresses you greatly reduce the risk of rogue clients connecting with or perusing your network resources. This takes the closed network concept a step further. Sound foolproof? Not quite. Even if your SSID isn't broadcast and you restrict access to known MAC addresses, your wireless network may still be detected and compromised. Hackers can capture the wireless data packets as they travel from your access point to your wireless client or vice versa. The captured packets may reveal both the SSID and the MAC addresses of client devices communicating with the network. Once a MAC address is known a malicious user can 'spoof' the MAC address of the attacking system to make a computer look like it's one of the accepted systems and allow it to connect. So you should still take additional precautions. Also if a friend or family member comes to your home with a lappy you could spend hours trying to connect it to your network. Just being polite and trying to help a fellow member oh and Ann dont worry both methods are fine for most WI-FI connections Steve

Steven, Peter, Why are you crapping on about WEP, WPA and WPA2. On a home wireless network where ther are 1 -3 PC's connecting the easiest thing to do is lock down the MAC address. Totally secure.

You need to check your Router's manual under 'security' Basically, matching encryption keys must be setup on your router and PC. Other PC's in the vacinity will no longer be able to gain access.

Hi Ann Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is a scheme to secure wireless networks (WiFi). Because a wireless network broadcasts messages using radio, it is particularly susceptible to eavesdropping. WEP was intended to provide comparable confidentiality to a traditional wired network, hence the name. Several serious weaknesses were identified by cryptanalysts, and WEP was superseded by Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) in 2003, and then by the full IEEE 802.11i standard (also known as WPA2) in 2004. Despite the weaknesses, WEP provides a level of security that can deter casual snooping. If you look in your routers settings under wep you will be able to enable it or disable it, most routers work on 64bit, 128bit, 256bit the only problem is the higher encription there is a good chance some web sites will not open Steve P

Sam, can you define security enabled please. Ann Glos

Hi Ann That is normal, your PC will search for any wireless networks within range so if your neighbours have it, it will also pick up theirs. Mine picks up 4 but all are security enabled (including mine) so only the authorised user can actually use them. Sam x

Has anyone else found their wireless network picking up a neighbours (not that we can get into it), or had theirs picked up by a neighbour. We have both happening to us. What is the best thing to do about it. I have added a further question further down. ann glos