Networking

Whether you are a small business or a home user, Rx Computer Guy can address your networking needs. Whether it's converting to a cable modem or DSL from a slow dial-up line to a wireless environment where your PC and laptop can be placed virtually anywhere in your office or home, Rx Computer Guy will come up with a cost-effective solution for you. Multiple PCs in your home or office can be networked to share files and/or printers as well as share the same Internet connection without tying up your phone line.

Wireless Networking Tips

In this age of hackers, who can be out to steal your personal information such as credit card or bank account numbers, it is important to make sure your network is secure, especially if you are using wireless router technology. Rx Computer Guy recommends the following five steps to secure your wireless network:

1. Enable encryption on your wireless networking components. If your wireless networking components support it, use Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) that utilizes dynamic key encryption such as Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP). If this is not available then use the older and more widely supported WEP encryption. Some encryption is better than no encryption.
2. Change the default password used to access your wireless router's configuration. This is a simple thing to do and discourages would-be hackers from getting easy access to your wireless router.
3. Change the name of your default Service Set Identifier (SSID). This is the name that your wireless network goes by and hackers know the default name to attempt to gain access to your wireless network. Choose a name that would be difficult for a would-be hacker to guess. Do not use the name of your wireless networking product provider.
4. Disable the SSID broadcast. You don't want to be advertising that you have a wireless network to any nearby hackers. It's an invitation to try and come in and hack your network. By disabling SSID broadcast, a snooping hacker will not get to see a "billboard" for your wireless network.
5. Enable MAC address filtering. Your wireless networking card has a MAC address that uniquely identifies itself. When setting up MAC address filtering on your wireless router, your router will only be able to "speak" to the wireless devices on your network that you define.

Linksys is a popular brand of wireless routers and other networking devices and their web site can be found at http://www.linksys.com