Welcome to GuruNews

 

Brought to you each week by the PC Gurus, a loose collection of volunteers from around the Kentuckiana region.

You can interact with the PC Guru team via our Web site, located at http://www.thepcgurus.com.  On our site you can post your computer questions, comments and rants on the forums, e-mail the PC Guru
team members and chat one on one in our nightly IRC chat beginning around 8:00 PM EST.  You can also subscribe to our RSS feeds so you can get the latest news and forum updates from the PC Guru Web site directly on your computer.

 

If you’re new to the Newsletter you can read back issues at Team member JP Durbin’s website at http://www.jpdurbin.net.  There are links to all the old 84 Online issues as well as the new GuruNews missives.

The WHAS Crusade for Children provides year round support for needy children throughout the Kentuckiana region.  Visit http://www.whascrusade.org to make donations online.

Vol. 6, No. 15      

4-8-06

 

1 Wireless security:  Part 1

2 Victoria’s SSID

3 iXP, Golden Gate Wireless, DVD downloads, portable CAT scanner

4 Small form-factor camera      

 

Home-based wireless networks have become ubiquitous.  Drive through almost any neighborhood where broadband access is available with a wireless equipped laptop and you’ll see multiple available wireless signals.

 

Wireless routers are a Godsend to laptop owners who want to use their machines anywhere in the house like the kitchen, bedroom, family room over even the back deck, but it opens up a security hole large enough to drive a truck through.  Sadly, most wireless users don’t realize this.

 

The liability issues alone are enormous if you work from home or have any work related files on any computer on the network.  Your personal files such as tax records, photos, credit card numbers etc. are also at risk.  And there’s always the possibility that someone just simply accessing the Internet on your IP address could do something illegal, opening you up to legal problems best avoided.

 

This week and next week (hopefully I can make it that short) I’ll take you step-by-step through making your wireless network safer.  Sometimes just simple changes will make your network unattractive to a possible intruder looking to do mischief, especially in a target-rich environment like a small subdivision or apartment complex.

 

To lock it down as completely as possible is a bit more complex but I’ll try to outline the procedures in a way that doesn’t “geek out”.

 

Before you start you’ll want to make a note of the MAC address of your wireless adapter.  The MAC (Media Access Control) address is a unique identifier assigned to every network device in the world, including ethernet ports, wireless devices and modems.

 

Finding your MAC address on Windows 9x machines is pretty easy. Click Start and Run and type “winipcfg” (without the quotes for future reference) and click OK.  Click the down arrow next to the adapter in the white field at the top and choose your wireless NIC (Network Interface Card).  The Adapter Address is the MAC, seen in the format of xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx.

 

On NT based systems (2000, XP etc.) it’s a bit more difficult.  Click Start and Run and type “cmd” in the command line and click OK.  Type “ipconfig /all” and hit Enter in the DOS type box.  Look through the list for your wireless NIC and make a note of the Physical Address, which is the MAC.   

 

Once you have that information you’re ready to configure the router.  We’ve logged into routers many times over the last few weeks so I’ll gloss over that step, but you will want to do this from a hard-wired connection such as your main PC.  I’ll describe the steps for the Netgear WGT624 since that’s what I’m currently using, but the steps for your router may differ slightly.

 

The first step is to set up a WEP (Wireless Equivalent Privacy) password.  This is an encrypted password needed to access the network.  On the Netgear click Wireless Settings in the Setup section in the top left menu and check the box next to WEP in the Security Options section.  Click Apply and the screen will refresh, giving you new options.  In the Security Encryption make sure the Encryption strength is set to 128 bit.

 

Next you’ll want to choose a Passphrase.  Anything will work but a combination of easily remembered letters and numbers will add another layer to the encryption.  Pick something that you know but not many other people do, such as the address of the house where you grew up.  Mix it up so that 1781 Elm St. becomes 1E7l8m1.  Once you’ve chosen a passphrase click Generate.

 

The Netgear router will then generate four encrypted keys.  Copy and paste one of them into a text file on your computer.  Save that file to a floppy, CD or USB flash drive for use on the wireless computer.  Once you have the key saved click Apply at the bottom of the router screen.

 

Now scroll to the Advanced section and click Wireless Settings.  Click the Setup Access List next, then click the Add button and type in an identifying name for your computer or laptop and the MAC address (without the hyphens). Click Apply and then logout, you’re done for now.

 

Next week we’ll get into the more complicated settings, which you’ll want to use in a densely populated area.  The simple settings we did this week are likely enough if your nearest neighbor is a half mile away.

 

Kevin Mefford, Editor

pcguru@microdome.net

 

Editor’s Note:  Please forgive the lateness and brevity of this issue.  Between celebrating my birthday on Wednesday (thank you, thank you ;)) and power outages on Friday things got a bit behind…

 

 

Terry Wise

www.ratland.com

 

Tech News of the Week

  

Windows XP on a Mac?  You bet, and it looks like a pretty good match:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20060406/tc_pcworld/125325

San Francisco on Wednesday selected a joint bid by EarthLink and
Google to provide San Francisco with a wireless network:

http://news.com.com/EarthLink+and+Google+win+San+Francisco+Wi-Fi+bid/2100-7351_3-6058432.html?tag=nefd.top

Is Hollywood waking up to the 21st century and letting us pay for
legal movie downloads?  Yes, but don't even think about playing them
on your TV (or a Mac):

http://www.voanews.com/english/AmericanLife/2006-04-05-voa34.cfm

More than 50,000 people die of head injuries in the United States
every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. But that number could be dramatically reduced if a new
handheld brain scanner proves its mettle in the field:

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/medtech/0,70598-0.html?tw=wn_index_10

Lobbying for The Steve's canonization,
Matt Dattilo
thepcgurus@gmail.com
www.mattstodayinhistory.com

 

Contest of the Week

 

Believe it or not, higher end digital cameras can be a bit bulky.  If you need a handy backup camera with a small form factor check out the contest at http://www.popphoto.com/article.asp?section_id=5&article_id=1931 for a chance at a Concord 3.1 Megapixel pocket cam.

 

Email Question of the Week

 

Q:  I get the following message when i shut down the internet. iexplore.exe - Application error. The instruction at "0x629133b1" referenced memory at "0x629133b1".The memory could not be "read". Click on OK to terminate the program.

 

A:  That could be a number of things.  Try dumping your browser cache (from IE click on Tools and Internet Options, then click the Delete Files in the Temporary Internet files section.  Check the box for Delete all offline content in the next dialog box and click OK.

 

Click the Security tab and click each zone at the top and set the Default Level for each, then click Apply.  Next click the Advanced tab and click the Restore Defaults button.  Click Apply and OK, close IE, reboot the PC and see if that fixes the problem.

 

Hope that helps and keep us posted :)

Kevin Mefford

pcguru@microdome.net

 

Contact info and legal stuff

 

If you have tech support questions or ideas and/or submissions for our newsletter please submit them by visiting www.thepcgurus.com and click on the “Email the Team” icon.

 

Copyright 2001-2006 The PC Gurus, all rights reserved.  Publication, rebroadcast or storage is prohibited without prior consent, however you may freely forward this publication to friends as long as A) it is forwarded in its entirety and B) no fee is charged.

 

Information provided in this publication is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied.  Although the information provided is known to work on most systems, it may not work on ALL systems.  Make use of any information supplied at your own risk.

 

The PC Gurus are a group of volunteers who provide support for the PC, Mac and Linux users in the Kentuckiana region.

 

To unsubscribe from this newsletter send an email to microdome@seidata.com with the words “unsubscribe newsletter” (without the quotes) at the top of the body of the message.