secure wireless network

Securing your wireless network is important thing to do. Sure you don’t want other people who unconcerned be able to access your data on your devices ( such as computers, laptops, etc). And Surely you don’t want suddenly your internet access became slow because some people stealing your internet connection.To prevent it, check out some tips and tutorials below how to secure your wireless networks.

Here are some tutorials how to secure wireless network:

1. Secure your wireless router or access point administration interface

2. Don’t broadcast your SSID

3.Enable WPA encryption instead of WEP

4. Remember that WEP is better than nothing

5. Use MAC filtering for access control

6. Reduce your WLAN transmitter power

7. Disable remote administration

     Read more …

Other Resources to secure wireless network;

1. Ten Steps to a Secure Wireless Network.

2. I hacked my secure wireless network

3. Are Wireless Networks Secure?

4. How to Secure Your Wireless (Wi-Fi) Home Network.

You must know that always a methods and tools to access wireless networks, even if you already secure your wireless network. If your wireless network is so important to your work and daily live, So you  must always update your knowledge in securing your wireless  network to protect it from being access from other people.

setting up a wireless network

For you who usual to connect to a wired networks, you just only need to connect the ethernet cable to your lan card and then your pc will connect to the network (internet). but for those who not familiar to connect to wireless network, maybe it will be difficult for the first time and sometimes you forgot how to do it right. So, in this article I collect some of tutorial how to setting up a wireless network in windows 7, windows Vista, windows XP, Mac and linksys. 

Here are the tutorials:

1. setting up a wireless network on windows 7.

for you who use windows 7, you may refer to this tutorial from official microsoft site at here…

2. setting up a wireless network on windows Vista.

for they who use windows vista, they may refer the tutorial at here …

3. setting up a home network XP.

for they who still use windows xp (like my self) please refer to this tutorial from the official microsoft site at here …

4. setting up a wireless network on  Mac (video tutorial).

5. setting up a wireless network on Linksys.

for linksys, just go here …

Hopefully this tutorial useful for you.

If you have any other way to setting up a wireless network, please post it in comment below.

Related articles

• What is Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter?(helpdeskgeek.com)

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• How To Check Who Is Connected To Your WiFi Network Without Your Permission(netwanlan.wordpress.com)

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• How to Set Up a Linksys Router(tech-faq.com)

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• How to Access a Linksys Router(tech-faq.com)

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• How to Reset a LinkSys Router Password (tech-faq.com)

Networking Computers - Evolution of Computer Networking.

Networking computers is combining several independent disciples of science and engineering such as telecommunications, computer science, information technology and/or computer engineering. Telecommunication, in turn, can be run using computers and in both wired and wireless modes. To reach sophisticated technological precisions of devices, including computers, used in building efficient networking computers information technology and computer science have been a booster.

Networking Computers - Chronology of evolution of Computer Networking.

The communication between calculation machines used to be made by passing instructions manually. The development of current day networking computers can be traced back to middle of the past century. August 1962 - Computer scientist J.C.R. Licklider of Bolt, Beranek and Newman Company formulated and published the concept of linking output systems like teletypes to computers to built “Intergalactic Computer Network”.

October 1963 - The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) hired J.C.R. Licklider to design and develop the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) in interest of United States Department of Defense for sharing resources and information.

1964 - Researchers developed the Dartmouth Time Sharing System for discrete computer systems at Dartmouth. In the same year, a group of researchers at MIT succeeded to route and manage telephone using computers. 1965 - Lawrence G. Roberts and Thomas Merrill succeeded in creating the first wide area network (WAN). In the same year, the very first widely used PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) switch was introduced by Western Electric. November 1969 - The first permanent ARPANET link was established on between the Interface Messaging Processor (IMP) at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the IMP at the Stanford Research Institute.

December 1969 - The entire four-node networking computers with University of California, Santa Barbara, UCLA, Stanford Research Institute and University of Utah’s Computer Science Department on respective nodes was connected.

1972 - Commercial services using X.25 were deployed in, and later used as an underlying infrastructure for expanding Transmission Control Protocol /Internet Protocol networks.

1989 - World Wide Web was invented by Timothy Berners-Lee at the European Laboratory of Particle Physics in Geneva, Switzerland.

The continuous effort to connect through networking computers and also communicating between them, the technologies has been evolving through augmentation of computer hardware, software, and peripherals industries.

Networking Computers - Computer Network Equipment; Routers, Hubs, Bridges and Switches.

Networking a computer is not only connecting individual computers but also digital devices of data transmission.

Network interface cards

A network card, network adapter, or network interface card (NIC) is a hardware which helps computers to communicate over a networking computers.

Repeaters

This electronic device regenerates it and retransmits noise free signal at a higher power level, alleviating obstruction.

Hubs

In networking computers hub containing multiple ports, packet arrived at one port, being subsequently copied to all ports of the hub for transmission without any modification. The destination address in the frame is not changed to a broadcast address.

When networking computers are working well, which we hope is most of the time, the inner workings of the system modules are transparent to the average user. The most common components on a networking computers, not counting cables, are “routers”, “hubs”, and “switches”. Modern network hardware operates on the “Open System Interconnection” (OSI) standard. By conforming to this standard, modules from different manufacturers can coexist on the same networking computers. Wireless networks (WiFi) and the 802.11X standard are an additional subset of networking computers systems.

The next level is a group of bits called a “frame”. A frame contains its control information, including target address and error detection. The next level is a group of frames called a “packet”. The terms frame and packet are sometimes used interchangeably. If a message is sent on a complex networking computers like the Internet, some of the packets may take a different path, and be recombined at the destination.

Error detection is used with both frames and packets. If the two hexadecimal values agree, the test passes.

The networking computers hub operates on the first layer of the OSI standard, called the “physical layer”. A hub is not aware of the contents of the message that is processed; it handles the message as bits. An “active” hub will clean the electrical signal of noise and amplify the signal before rebroadcast. A “passive” hub does not amplify the received signal; it merely receives a signal, and rebroadcast the signal as received to each port.

The Network Switch

Switch filters chunk of data between ports depending on the MAC addresses in the packets. Switches decide forwarding of frames with respect to their MAC addresses. Each switch generally has numerous ports. Thus it helps in facilitating a star topology for devices in networking computers and cascading additional switches. Routers

The networking computers switch operates on the second layer of the OSI standard, called the “data link layer”. The networking computers switch, as indicated by its name, switches signal paths, so that a message frame goes to a specific destination. A switch will improve a networking computers performance, especially on networks with many computers. The networking computers switch handles a message in frames.

When you connect a computer to a networking computers switch, the switch will record the Media Access Control or “MAC” address of the computer’s network interface card (NIC). This is called address protocol, or “ARP”. When a frame is received intended for a specific computer, the switch sends the frame only to that computer. By preventing paths of the networking computers from being utilized by every frame, networking computers resources are conserved. Computer A can send a frame to computer B, while simultaneously, computer C is sending a frame to computer D.

Bridges

Network bridges connect multiple networking computers segments. These equipments never broadcast to the ports except the one receiving the broadcast. However, bridges do not copy traffic to all ports but identify reachable MAC addresses through certain ports.

The Network Router

The networking computers router operates on the third layer of the OSI standard, called the “network layer”. Routers have some of the same capabilities as switches, but routers are most often used to connect two or more networking computers. For example, a router could be used to connect a wireless network with a conventional local area network (LAN). Another common use is to connect a LAN with the Internet (a “wide-area network”, or “WAN”).I n this role, the router uses “Network Address Translation” (NAT) so that all of the computers attached to the LAN can share a single IP address. A networking computers router handles the message in packets.A router uses the IP addresses in the packets to route them between multiple networks.

A personal computer can be configured to handle the function of a router if it is equipped with router software and two or more network interface cards (NIC). A separate NIC is needed for each network.

A router is capable of advanced functions, including serving as DHCP (domain host control protocol) server and Firewall.A Firewall protects computers from potential hazards from the other computers outside the network.Linking multiple networking computers often requires the conversion of protocols.

A router is an extremely diverse classification.Routers may provide connectivity inside offices, between different locations, and between businesses and the Internet. The largest routers connect Internet service providers, are used in very large business networking computers, or connect a business with a satellite link to a distant corporate locale.Advanced routers are powerful computers, complete with microprocessors. Very sophisticated routers are used by the Internet to manage the network traffic most efficiently.

A router maintains a table called “routing information base” (RIB) that tracks information about the available routes. Routers are networking computers devices which forward packets between networks.

There are more types of network modules than the three discussed here, and there can be significant overlap in roles.For example, an “intelligent hub” can have many of the characteristics of a networking computers switch.Wireless networks (WAN) have much in common with their conventional LAN cousins, but additional protocol is added for the special security and interference concerns specific to wireless networking computers.Multiple roles may be combined into a single assembly.Network routers sometimes have sub assemblies that function as network switches.

How To Use Access Point - Configuring Access Points.

Most wireless LAN access point default configurations enable plug-and-play operation; however, these out-of-the-box configurations can limit performance and security. Learn how to get the most out of your wireless LANs by effectively tuning access points.

how to use access point - As a minimum, review the configuration settings offered by your access points and read corresponding documentation. The vendor manuals often provide valuable tips for configuring the access point based on various types of scenarios.

how to use access point - Configuration Access.

In order to configure the access point, connect a laptop or PC to the access point’s console port via a serial cable. Through the use of terminal software, you can view access point configuration screens and change specific settings, such as radio channel, transmit power, etc. The problem is that this method of accessing the configuration screens is often character-based and not user friendly. Plus, a serial cable limits you to a close proximity to the access point when performing the configurations.

If the IP address in the laptop or PC is set within an acceptable range of the access point (the IP address would be 192.168.0.xxx, with the last three numbers something between 2 and 254), then the browser will render the configuration screens in a much improved format.

How To Use Access Point - Access Point Configuration Options.

Access points include a wide variety of configuration settings, and the following represents the more common items you can change:

IP address. Every access point (indeed, every client and server as well) must have a unique IP address to enable proper operation on the network. The access point will come with a pre-assigned IP address, but you’ll probably need to change it to match the address plan of your corporate network. In most cases, the use of static IP addresses in access points is best, mainly to make operational support easier. Some access points allow you to use dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) so that the access point automatically obtains an IP address from a DHCP server. Radio channel. Set the radio channel in access points within range of each other to different channels. 802.11a channels, however, don’t overlap, so just be sure the adjacent 802.11a access points are set to different channels. Some access points have a feature whereby the access point automatically sets its channel based on others already in use, making installation much easier.

Transmit power. This maximizes range, which reduces the number of access points and cost of the system. If you’re trying to increase the capacity of the network by placing access points closer together, set the power to a lower value to decease overlap and potential interference. Lower power settings also limit the wireless signals from propagating outside the physically controlled area of the facility, which improves security.

Service set identifier (SSID). The SSID defines the name of a WLAN that users associate with. In order to improve security, you should change the SSID to a non-default value to minimize unauthorized users from associating with the access point. For even better security, some access points let you disable SSID broadcasting. This keeps most client device operating systems (e.g., Windows XP) from sniffing the SSID from access point beacons and automatically associating with the access point. Someone could, however, obtain the SSID using other sniffing tools that obtain the SSID from 802.11 frames when users first associate with the access point.

Data rate. Most access points allow you to identify acceptable data rates. By default, 802.11b access points operate at 1, 2, 5.5, and 11Mbps data rates, depending on the quality of the link between the client device and the access point. As the link quality deteriorates, the access point will automatically throttle down to lower data rates in an attempt to maintain a connection. Beacon interval. The beacon interval is the amount of time between access point beacon transmissions. Request-to-send / clear-to-send (RTS / CTS). In most cases, it’s best to disable RTS / CTS, but refer to a previous tutorial for cases where RTS / CTS may be beneficial and what threshold values to use.

Fragmentation. Fragmentation can help reduce the amount of data needing retransmission when collisions or radio frequency (RF) interference occurs. As with RTS/ CTS, refer to a previous tutorial for cases where fragmentation may be beneficial and applicable threshold values.

Encryption. Most access points allow the enabling of wired equivalent privacy (WEP), which encrypts the frame body (not headers) of each data frame. WEP is somewhat static and requires you to configure each access point and client device with the same encryption key. 128-bit keys, which offer better security, are 26 hexadecimal characters long. For even better security, some access points offer more advanced forms of encryption, such as dynamic WEP, which ensure that keys change automatically at a rate that hopefully thwarts a hacker from cracking the security.

Authentication. As part of the 802.11 standard medium access control (MAC) functions, access points implement the default 802.1 open system authentication and sometimes shared key authentication. As a result, many access points now include 802.1x mechanisms that authenticate users with an external authentication server. Certainly consider activating these more advanced authentication methods when configuring the access point. Access points will soon have Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) mechanisms as well that will offer effective standards-based encryption and authentication.

Administrative interfaces. In order to improve security, be sure to disable the console port of the access point to avoid the possibility of an unauthorized person from reconfiguring an access point and removing encryption and authentication functions. Also, be certain to change the default administrative login user name and password to ensure hackers don’t have easy access to configuration settings.

Always update the access point firmware as soon as you remove the access point from its box.

How To Use Access Point - Tutorial How to Build a Wireless Home Network.

Installing and Configuring your WLAN.

Installing a Wireless Router.

One wireless router supports one WLAN. Use a wireless router on your network if:

you are building your first home network, or try to install your wireless router in a central location within the home. The way Wi-Fi networking works, computers closer to the router (generally in the same room or in “line of sight”) realize better network speed than computers further away.

How to use access point - Connect the wireless router to a power outlet and optionally to a source of Internet connectivity. All wireless routers support broadband modems, and some support phone line connections to dial-up Internet service. Finally, because wireless routers contain a built-in access point, you’re also free to connect a wired router, switch, or hub.

how to use access point -Next, choose your network name. In Wi-Fi networking, the network name is often called the SSID. Your router and all computers on the WLAN must share the same SSID. Consult product documentation to find the network name for your particular wireless router, and follow this general advice for setting your SSID.

How to use access point - Last, follow the router documentation to enable WEP security, turn on firewall features, and set any other recommended parameters.

How To Use Access Point - Installing a Wireless Access Point.

One wireless access point supports one WLAN. Use a wireless access point on your home network if:

you don’t need the extra features a wireless router provides AND you are extending an existing wired Ethernet home network.

how to use access point - Install your access point in a central location, if possible. Connect power and a dial-up Internet connection, if desired. Also cable the access point to your LAN router, switch or hub.

how to use access point - Configuring the Wireless Adapters.

Configure your adapters after setting up the wireless router or access point (if you have one). Wi-Fi adapters require TCP/IP be installed on the host computer.

How to use access point - Manufacturers each provide configuration utilities for their adapters. Configuring an Ad-Hoc Home WLAN.

Every Wi-Fi adapter requires you to choose between infrastructure mode (called “access point” mode in some configuration tools) and ad-hoc (“peer to peer”) mode. When using a wireless access point or router, set every wireless adapter for infrastructure mode. In this mode, wireless adapters automatically detect and set their WLAN channel number to match the access point (router).

Alternatively, how to use access point is set all wireless adapters to use ad hoc mode. All adapters on your ad hoc wireless LAN need matching channel numbers.

Ad-hoc home WLAN configurations work fine in homes with only a few computers situated fairly close to each other.