wireless network

[lincovlass]

I now have two computers and because of the layout don't want to connect them by cable ,was thinking of buying a wireless lan to get them both on the internet .but keep hearing scare stories about people can use your bandwidth and post your ip for anybody to use is this true or false please help as i'm confused what to do for the best

 

[vop]

This aspect is easily resolved.

However, access restrictions are only the most basic beginning foundation of a complete security profile. How do you feel about others potentially tracking the contents of your traffic, etc.? You 'may' need to learn more.


Each 'Network Interface Card' or NIC has a unique serial number known as a 'MAC' address.

Most wireless routers (my experience is with LINKSYS) have a filter feature that essentially enables you to only allow connections from a specified list of 'MAC' addresses. Often, you can 'fill' that information in from a selectable list of recently 'connected' NICs available from the router's configuration screen. Once the filter is enabled, no new unauthorized connects are possible without formally adding each new 'MAC' address.

You may have to find out what a given 'MAC' address is. If so see:

http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/windowsnetworkin1/ht/findaddrwinxp.htm.

Vince
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[*** If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking. ***]

 

[TonyOne1]

vop's solution is far from secure. It is trivial to spoof a MAC address. A more secure way of using wireless is to use a combination of MAC Authentication and a VPN (IPSEC - AES256/SHA1).

-Tony