...or whatever you call them

Apologies to Josh. I know you helped me with some of this.

Anyway, as we are now a two PC household I thought I'd treat myself to a Netgear DG834G Wireless ADSL Firewall Router. After a few headaches and a call to Josh I got the internet connection working on both PCs but I wasn't too happy with all the faffing around I'd done so I've just done a System Restore and now I'm using the regular modem. My idea is to start again.

So, some questions as I'm getting zip back from Netgear tech support.

I've managed to change the password from 'password' to something else but how do I improve other security? How do I make it so that no one else can piggyback on my signal? The manual is so full of jargon it makes my head spin. Also, presumably the way to stop others from viewing either PC is to enable the router firewall. But how come my Norton firewall isn't enough? :confused:

It also appears that I'm connected to the internet as soon as the PC is switched on ie no dialling out. It's not like my normal ADSL connection where I double click on IE and the connection thing pops up. Is this normal and how do I disable it without switching the router off at the wall? Would I ever need to?

So many questions, so little time. So here's another one. Know anything about zip/compressed files? I wanted to e.mail some photos last night and according to XP help I could create a zip file and just drag and drop the piccies into it. The file was still huge though and e.mailing was a little problematic. For problematic read 'it didn't work'. Right clicking on the zip file still showed it to be the same size as a normal folder would have been with the pictures in it. :confused: Am I missing something?

Any help would be appreciated and sorry for the long post

I assume you've gone wireless....

...to stop people using your link you need to turn on encrpytion...use WEP. You can either enter a password phrase for it to generate a keycode or, you can generate your own key code.

Either way you will need the code when connecting...you also need to turn on the ESSID and set it to something you'll remember. As it's broadcast others will seen it but this is where encrpytion and the keycode comes in.

Can all be sorted via the set-up Wizard.

HTH.

I cant help with all but some I can.......

ZIP Files: Zipping photos is pretty ppintless if they're saved in JPEG format. a JPEG is a compressed picture so as a result, Windows will strufggle to compress it further. They're more useful for documents such as spreadsheets etc. or programs.

I Have a 3Com ADSL wireless router. It is connected all of the time to the web, even when the PC is switched off (Laptop)

I remember when I set up my wireless stuff there was an option to use an encryption key on PC's that were to access it. I put in a phrase that was then translated into a string of seemingly random letters and numbers. I then did the same on the PC side of the software. This acts like a password.

I think on the connection thing, you have to select your I.E to "never dial a connection"

I know when using the speedtouch modem, its set to always dial the default connection, as the modem fools the PC into thinking the ADSL modem is a 56k type connection. The wireless router is a LAN affair, and so should never dial at all.

HTH.

Adrian,

Can all be sorted via the set-up Wizard

I assume you mean the XP wizard? Start/Settings/Control Panel/Network and Internet Connections/Set up a wireless network for a home or small office? I don't recall using this on my first cack handed attempt. And it was all this WEP/ESSID stuff that was throwing me

Goochie,

ZIP Files: Zipping photos is pretty pointless if they're saved in JPEG format. a JPEG is a compressed picture so as a result, Windows will struggle to compress it further. They're more useful for documents such as spreadsheets etc. or programs.

That would explain it then So I guess my only option is to reduce them first? Oh well.

Yep - I would highly recommend going into the device manager and disabling your modem, or at the very least, disconnect the phone lead as soon as your ADSL wireless stuff is working. P0rn diallers tend to use dialup modems to get an expensive premium rate thing going. I have removed loads of them over the years from friends' machines, whereas I've not had any trouble due to being on broadband

To make it more secure try turn of the SSID Broadcast, I have the DG824M the slower version and this stops people seeing your SSID which will make would be hackers jobs a little harder.

Adrian' date='

I assume you mean the XP wizard? Start/Settings/Control Panel/Network and Internet Connections/Set up a wireless network for a home or small office? I don't recall using this on my first cack handed attempt. And it was all this WEP/ESSID stuff that was throwing me

[/quote']

No..the set-up wizard for your router...I always suggest to people to first go wired to get into the set-up wizard and then set-up for wireless...much easier.

IE..enter 192.168.X.1 probably..original password is "password"..then click on set-up wizard...

set-up wired connection...username and password from your ISP.

now you can set for wireless...enable wireless...

set ESSID....so you know it's your wireless connection you can see.

enable encryption and choose WEP...you now set the pass phrase/key code.

you should see a message window pop up a the system bar at the bottom of the screen...show's that the wireless connection is good, what rate it's working at and signal stength.

Logout of router and open up my network connections at pc...you should see a LAN connection and a wireless one...click on wireless and select properties...select wireless.

You should see a page which shows what connections it has picked up...one of them should be named with the ESSID you set. If it has found it you may need to connect to it...you'll be ask for the password phrase or keycode.

Allow a couple of minutes for the router to stabilise...DG834G do take a little while I have found...be patient.

You should see the wirless connection appear at the bottom of the screen again if all is ok.

Remember to unplug the ethernet cable to truly chekced wireless is ok.

Might be a few steps wrong in this as I have played with an DG834G for a little while but it's essentially all here.

Enjoy.

To make it more secure try turn of the SSID Broadcast, I have the DG824M the slower version and this stops people seeing your network.

I found that from my SM7804 if I turned off ESSID I lost the connection. However with encrpytion they can see but not use connection.

I found that from my SM7804 if I turned off ESSID I lost the connection. However with encrpytion they can see but not use connection.

Weird I have SSID broadcast switched off and it is fine, never missed a beat. Stimps also has the same router so maybe he can verify. So with WEP on and Broadcasting SSID off it should be fairly safe.

I think people are starting to talking more abuot a rolling WEP key now as well bit like the transponders for car alarms.

Your router will always be connected to the internet as it establishes it's own connection. It effectively runs as a standalone PC. This is good as it gives you a nice firewall to be behind.

I bought a complete Netgear setup and had no end of problems, had various tech support guy's on the phone from India and the US but couldn't reach a satisfactory conclusion. Sent it all back in the end. I've now got a wired Modem/Router (Netgear) which works well. I am about to buy a wireless enabled Lappy so I guess I'll be venturing out to it again.

Cheers all.

I'm about to have another go!

I've managed to change the password from 'password' to something else but how do I improve other security? How do I make it so that no one else can piggyback on my signal? The manual is so full of jargon it makes my head spin. Also, presumably the way to stop others from viewing either PC is to enable the router firewall. But how come my Norton firewall isn't enough? :confused:

When you access the router from within your network (probably http://192.168.0.1) you have to supply a username and password to get into the router's control panel. The username is 'Administrator' and the password is whatever you've now set it to. This is only used to access the control panel, but it's a Good Thing to change it from the default value of "password"

On a related note, there's a setting in the router's control panel for "allow remote access" - if this is ticked, anyone can connect to your router's control panel (so a security risk in that they could try and guess the password). Make sure there isn't a tick next to it on your router!

The only way people could piggyback on your connection is via the wireless side (as it's unlikely they'll break in and plug a network lead in!). If you have no need to use wireless, turn it off in the router control panel... But as I suspect you do need to use it, you need to do a few things...

Set the SSID (Service Set ID) - basically this does nothing but identifies your network. By default, the router will broadcast 'beacon' messages advertising the network, so that any PCs in range will know it's there (this is how XP tells you wireless networks are available). Some people will turn off the "broadcast SSID" option on the router's control panel, but this can make it harder to get your PC onto the network (you may have to configure your connection manually rather than XP doing it for you), and it has limited security-related advantages, IMHO. (The SSID is never encrypted, so any network activity will have the SSID in it somewhere for a would-be hacker to pick up).

So basically, set the SSID to something that makes sense to you, such as HomeNetwork. Really makes no difference to anyone

In order to secure the wireless side of your network, there are 2 things you can do:

1) Only accept connections from known MAC addresses

There is an option in the router control panel to set this up. You'll need to look on the "attached devices" screen (on the router) to see the MAC addresses, or go to a dos prompt on the PCs and type "ipconfig /all" and look for the entry "physical address" under the wireless adaptor.

These MAC addresses can be entered (under wireless settings, trusted PCs), and only PCs connecting with matching MACs will be allowed access.

Can't comment on this as I've never bothered to set it up. Plus there are plenty of tools to change the MAC address used by a PC anyway

2) Setup encryption

On my router I only have WEP encryption. If you use this, go for 128 bit. Enter a passphrase into the WEP configuration page (on router) which will generate a hexidecimal version on the same page - this will need to be entered as the "network key" on PCs in order to get them connected to the network.

If you have the option to use WPA turn that on - you'll need to read up on this yourself as it's not an option on my netgear router...!

Cheers Steve, you're a star!

Still haven't had another go yet but thanks to everyone

All sorted now (I think )

I'm all MAC'd, WEP'd and SSID'd up

Thanks again.

use WEP.

WEP, isn't really that secure. The wireless access point/router will still show up using Netstumbler, WPA is better. I would also lock it down by specifying what MAC address can connect...

On the basis of this thread I thought I would give this wireless thing a go (been meaning to do it for ages). So after a quick look on broadbandbuyer.co.uk, spotted what looked like a good setup - Linksys WRT54G and associated card - shot down to PC World and aquired the kit (nothing like instant gratification).

I was expecting trouble getting this to work with my NTL setup - imagine my surprise when I hooked it all up and it worked first time out the box with no faffing about, I was expecting to have to enter DNS details, clone MAC addresses and all sorts, but nope, none of that it just worked, amazing.

Subsequently set up the security side, No broadcast, WPA, MAC address filtering and were off.

Brian

I'm on my second WRT54G now, powersupply gave up after 3 weeks!

I'm on my second WRT54G now, powersupply gave up after 3 weeks!

Hmmm, thanks for the heads-up.

Brian