Wireless networks are great, but you need to take some precautions to ensure the security of your network. In this post we are finishing our look at the seven important steps you can take to better ensure the security of your WiFi network. In this post we will cover steps you can take that do not involve administration of the router itself. These steps are not nearly as important as steps 1, 2 and 3 which I recommend as a minimum but they do add some additional layers of security.

Step 5 - Router positioning

If you have some flexibility in terms of where you can place your router or access point within your home, then choose a position that minimises the leakage of your wireless signal outside of your house. This will reduce the likely hood of your signal being picked up by somebody who might be tempted to try and connect.

Step 6 - Use your router’s firewall

The vast majority of routers and access points, like the Linksys WRT54GL Wireless G Router for example, provide an internal firewall. Make sure that this is activated. I would still recommend that you use individual software firewalls on any computers running on your network

Step 7 - Turn off when not required

The last step you should take is to turn off your wireless access point when it is not required. This has to be practical of course so there is probably little point in turning off the wireless network every night, but if you are going to be away for a few days then it would probably make sense.

Summary

So just to recap the most important steps to take to secure your network are steps 1, 2 and 3 and I would advise these in all cases. The remaining steps are worthwhile and provide additional layers of security.

For the previous posts see;

7 steps to increase wireless network security: Part 1
7 steps to increase wireless network security: Part 2

Wireless networks are great, but you need to take some precautions to ensure the security of your network. In this post we are continuing our look at the seven important steps you can take to ensure the security of your WiFi network. All these steps can be done either during initial setup or using the administration tools of any wireless router such as the D-Link DKT-710 Wireless G ADSL2 router.

Step 2 - Change the default SSID and don’t broadcast

All manufactures provide their access points and routers with a default network name called the SSID (which stands for Service Set Identifier). The default SSID is usually the same for all of a manufacturer’s products. It is a good idea to change this name to something that is meaningful to you only and will make it difficult for someone to identify your specific device. A default SSID is more likely to attract unwanted attention. The majority of setup wizards will prompt you to change the default SSID so do so. You should also turn off SSID broadcast which is not really useful for a home wireless network, this will again minimise the attraction of unwanted attention.

Step 3 - Enable secure encryption

All wireless access points and routers support a number of different variations of wireless encryption. You should always enable encryption during the initial setup or if you didn’t so go and do it right now! You should use the strongest form of encryption that your device supports. For home networks using modern equipment this is likely to be WPA Personal (PSK) the PSK stands for “Pre-Shared Key” which is essentially a pass phrase. Any device that connects to your network will need to know this pass phrase.

Step 4 - Use Mac Address filtering

A more advanced step is to use MAC address filtering. MAC stands for “Media Access Control”. Each device that has a networking capability will have a MAC address. The majority of wireless access points and routers support MAC Address filtering. To set this up you need to publish on your router a list of all the MAC address of the devices that will connect to your network. The router will then not allow a connection from any device that does not have a MAC address on the list.

We will finish with steps 5, 6 and 7 in the next post.

Wireless networks are great, but you need to take some precautions to ensure the security of your network. In a series of posts we are going to look at the most important steps you can take to ensure the security of your WiFi network.

Wireless networks enhance Internet access

In a number of previous posts we have had a look at the equipment you might need to set up a WiFi wireless network in your own home. See Wireless Networking Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 if you are interested in a quick refresher. One of the key messages of these posts is that having a wireless network will generally change and certainly enhance the way the whole family can access and use the Internet.

Secure the network

As the network is wireless this means that you effectively have the potential to access the Internet from anywhere in the house, but this freedom does mean you have to take a few extra steps to secure your network. These steps are especially important when setting up a wireless router such as the Netgear 54mbps wireless ADSL firewall router for the first time. All manufacturers will provide web based tools and setup wizards which allow a user to administer their device and apply the following suggested steps.

Step 1 - Change the default administrator login

A very important first step is to change the initial default and very simple administrator user name and password that is provided by the manufacture (these defaults are all well known and documented on the Internet), this is so that only you can login to the administration tools of your WiFi router.

More to follow in the next post ..

In the last post we looked at the new Apple MacBook Air which while innovative does has a very limited hard disk space, at least by recent standards. These days such a lack of disk space could be something that would have an impact on some people especially if they routinely have to carry around large digital files.

One way to help in this situation would be to purchase a high capacity flash drive such as the Corsair 16GB Voyage we’ve looked at in a recent post. However that would only really be a temporary solution at best as it does not really significantly increase the available drive space.

A good solution would be to get an external hard drive. Although this means carrying an extra device, having a separate portable storage and backup solution is a good way of expanding disk space on a laptop. It is always a good idea to have a separate backup solution anyway. An external such as the Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini Hard Drive is good example of what is available.

Systems like these generally come with automated back up systems and encryption to protect your data should you lose the drive. Being a USB drive of course means that there is no need for a separate power cable.

Forced to go shopping in one of Dubai’s huge shopping malls the other day, I was able to get my first look at the Apple MacBook Air. Apple do not have a presence in the Middle East so everything is sold through a reseller, which means it always takes a few months for us to get a hands on look at anything new thing Apple has released onto the world.

Previously I had thought that the slimness of the design would mean that the MacBook Air would feel very flimsy but that wasn’t the case. While it is noticeably lighter than an average laptop and obviously a lot thinner it still manages to feel robust enough to be truly portable. In spite of the Air being underpowered compared to the standard MacBooks, playing around with the software in the store I didn’t see much of a hit on performance, and the keyboard is great.

I still think that as a laptop, while it is not for everyone with only one USB port, no CD/DVD drive and a reliance on WiFi for networking which makes software and data migration a challenge, it has certainly pushed back the barriers of what is possible with a laptop computer. The highly rated MacBook Air is a great buy for the Apple fan who is looking for a very portable computer and is the featured laptop on PriceGrabber at present.

Following on from the previous post about memory, I thought we would have another look at flash drives. We have had a look at them before but now there are some very large capacity flash drives available which are becoming more and more cost effective.

Convenience of a floppy disk

OK so hands up how many of you remember floppy disks? How many have still got a floppy disk drive in your computer? Floppy disks are pretty much a thing of the past, although I do have to admit to remembering a time when they were one of the newest things around, but perhaps the least said about that the better! Things moved on and the writable CD appeared which while it was less convenient, it provided a lot more storage space. The thing about a writeable CD though was that they were nowhere near as easy to use as a floppy drive. It was much more of a process compared to the stick the disk in, drag your contents across, and away you go process with the floppy disk. Unfortunately CD’s were soon not big enough either as storage requirements where also increasing as we started hoarding digital content like music and photographs

Enter the flash drive

Nowadays the flash drive or USB stick have become the standard manual way of moving data from computer to computer or for the temporary storing of data. And they are great, we are back to a nice easy of capturing any data that you want to go. But of course storage requirements keep rising and I am finding that my trusty 1GB Flash drive is at times just not big enough. The good news is that there are some huge capacity drives available that while a little more expensive will not break the bank. Take a look at the Corsair 16GB Voyager USB Flash Drive for example which is what I am considering for my next flash drive. Very useful for travel.

How do you use your flash drive?

For those people like me who are getting on a bit in years memory is one important thing that always seems to be in dwindling supply.  One things for sure the ability to get a lot done efficiently requires a good deal of memory.  The same can be said to be also true for computer systems.

Strictly speaking computer memory refers to anytime of  type of data storage that stores digital data for any significant period  of time.  This  could include hard disk drives for instance.. However when we talk about memory we are usually referring to RAM (Random Access Memory) which provides the temporary memory storage area for use by computer programs while they are running.   This is used in preference to your hard disk drives as it is much faster to access, reducing potential bottlenecks for your running programs.

The more memory the better

Basically the more memory you have on your computer the better your computer will run, this is especially true if you would normally work with a number of programs open on your computer at the same time. If you use up all the memory area the computer operating system e.g. Windows will transfer something from your memory area to your hard disk drive to make more space. This is called “paging” and will significantly slow performance down.

As much memory as you can afford

A general rule when buying a computer is to get as much memory as you possibly afford.  It is a great idea to double up over any deal you might be getting. Buying more memory is a great way to improve the performance of an existing computer,  but you do need to make sure you get the memory that is compatible with your computer.  Also it pays to look around so check the  available reviews.  A good example  of this sort of memory is the highly rated Crucial Tracer 2GB PC2-6400 DDR2 DIMM memory.

Looking for memory? Remember to research first.

Probably like a lot of people I would quite like the opportunity to own one of Apple’s iconic iPhones. One reason why I don’t is that they are not available in Dubai, at least not unless you have bought one in the US and have managed to unlock it. The main reason though, both for myself and I guess a lot of people in the UK for not getting one is the cost, not only for the handset itself but also the required 18 month contract.

Price cut on 8Gb iPhone

The big news in the mobile computing world today is the surprise announcement by O2 that they are cutting the price of the 8Gb model iPhone by a huge £100. The 16Gb model will remain at the same price. A lot of people have been speculating that this is price cutting on the cheaper model to shift existing stock prior to the imminent release of a 3G iPhone. This actually sounds plausible although of course no one from Apple has ever mentioned 3G officially.

iPod Touch

As I have said before the best way and most cost effective to access the iPhone platform is to go for the iPod Touch, which provides all the features except the phone capability.

Hot on the heals of yesterdays post about the BBC’s iPlayer being released on the Nintendo Wii comes the news that iPlayer is available on the Playstation 3! However in this case its not official, but has been done through the enterprising efforts of a PS3 owner who wasn’t willing to wait for an official version.

iPlayer easy on the PS3

Apparently the owner did it as a demonstration on how easy it would be for the BBC to support the PS3, and according to his website required only small tweaks to make the Javascript and CSS to make it work. Meanwhile the BBC have said that they will get around to the implementing the iPlayer on the PS3, but that this would have to wait in line along with all the other plans for the player. However the fact that someone has manage to get the iPlayer working on the PS3 has so impressed the BBC that they have offered them a job!

So with the iPlayer reasonably imminent, and with Sony’s Blu-ray winning the DVD format wars, now might be a good time to invest in a new Playstation 3.

How do you plan to access the iPlayer?

One of the biggest ideas from a technology perspective to hit the UK recently has been the BBC iPlayer. After a slow start this technology has really begun to take off, especially since the ability to stream programmes rather than just download them was added. In fact the popularity of the service has grown so much that the UK Internet service providers (ISP) are now complaining about the strain that it is putting on their networks. Being based in Dubai where the available TV is generally very poor, I am extremely envious of the UK residents ability to access the technology. Especially since I am still actually a holder of a UK TV licence!

Future plans

However having now got the technology now more or less sorted out the BBC are looking to add incremental new features to the service over the coming months, which should increase the usability and appeal of the service still further. So the UK ISP’s had better get their networks sorted out!

Wii to become iPlayer access device

One example of this incremental approach is the fact that the iPlayer will soon be available on the Nintendo Wii, which has become the fastest selling games console ever launched in the UK. The iPlayer will be soon be a channel on the Wii with an early test version available from this month, followed by updated versions later in the year. If you do plan to use this service, you may find that a USB Datel Direct LAN Adapter makes good sense rather than relying on the WiFi, especially if streaming.

Do you use the iPlayer?