ROUTING PROTOCOLS

A generic term that refers to a formula, or protocol, used by a router to determine the appropriate path over which data is transmitted. The routing protocol also specifies how routers in a network share information with each other and report changes. The routing protocol enables a network to make dynamic adjustments to its conditions, so routing decisions do not have to be predetermined and static.

Routing, Routed and Non-Routable Protocols

ROUTING | ROUTED | NON-ROUTABLE

ROUTING PROTOCOLS

ROUTING PROTOCOLS are the software that allow routers to dynamically advertise and learn routes, determine which routes are available and which are the most efficient routes to a destination. Routing protocols used by the Internet Protocol suite include:

· Routing Information Protocol (RIP and RIP II).
· Open Shortest Path First (OSPF).
· Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS).
· Interrior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP).
· Cisco’s Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP).
· Border Gateway Protocol (BGP).

Routing is the process of moving data across two or more networks. Within a network, all hosts are directly accessable because they are on the same

ROUTED PROTOCOLS

ROUTED PROTOCOLS are nothing more than data being transported across the networks. Routed protocols include:

· Internet Protocol
o Telnet
o Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
o SNMP
o SMTP
· Novell IPX
· Open Standards Institute networking protocol
· DECnet
· Appletalk
· Banyan Vines
· Xerox Network System (XNS)

Outside a network, specialized devices called ROUTES are used to perform the routing process of forwarding packets between networks. Routers are connected to the edges of two or more networks to provide connectivity between them. These devices are usually dedicated machines with specialized hardware and software to speed up the routing process. These devices send and receive routing information to each other about networks that they can and cannot reach. Routers examine all routes to a destination, determine which routes have the best metric, and insert one or more routes into the IP routing table on the router. By maintaining a current list of known routes, routers can quicky and efficiently send your information on it’s way when received.

There are many companies that produce routers: Cisco, Juniper, Bay, Nortel, 3Com, Cabletron, etc. Each company’s product is different in how it is configured, but most will interoperate so long as they share common physical and data link layer protocols (Cisco HDLC or PPP over Serial, Ethernet etc.). Before purchasing a router for your business, always check with your Internet provider to see what equipment they use, and choose a router, which will interoperate with your Internet provider’s equipment.

NON-ROUTABLE PROTOCOLS

NON-ROUTABLE PROTOCOLS cannot survive being routed. Non-routable protocols presume that all computers they will ever communicate with are on the same network (to get them working in a routed environment, you must bridge the networks). Todays modern networks are not very tolerant of protocols that do not understand the concept of a multi-segment network and most of these protocols are dying or falling out of use.

· NetBEUI
· DLC
· LAT
· DRP
· MOP

RIP (Routing Information Protocol)

RIP is a dynamic internetwork routing protocol primary used in interior routing environments. A dynamic routing protocol, as opposed to a static routing protocol, automatically discovers routes and builds routing tables. Interior environments are typically private networks (autonomous systems). In contrast, exterior routing protocols such as BGP are used to exchange route summaries between autonomous systems. BGP is used among autonomous systems on the Internet.

RIP uses the distance-vector algorithm developed by Bellman and Ford (Bellman-Ford algorithm).

Routing Information Protocol

Background

The Routing Information Protocol, or RIP, as it is more commonly called, is one of the most enduring of all routing protocols. RIP is also one of the more easily confused protocols because a variety of RIP-like routing protocols proliferated, some of which even used the same name! RIP and the myriad RIP-like protocols were based on the same set of algorithms that use distance vectors to mathematically compare routes to identify the best path to any given destination address. These algorithms emerged from academic research that dates back to 1957.

Today’s open standard version of RIP, sometimes referred to as IP RIP, is formally defined in two documents: Request For Comments (RFC) 1058 and Internet Standard (STD) 56. As IP-based networks became both more numerous and greater in size, it became apparent to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) that RIP needed to be updated. Consequently, the IETF released RFC 1388 in January 1993, which was then superceded in November 1994 by RFC 1723, which describes RIP 2 (the second version of RIP). These RFCs described an extension of RIP’s capabilities but did not attempt to obsolete the previous version of RIP. RIP 2 enabled RIP messages to carry more information, which permitted the use of a simple authentication mechanism to secure table updates. More importantly, RIP 2 supported subnet masks, a critical feature that was not available in RIP.

This chapter summarizes the basic capabilities and features associated with RIP. Topics include the routing update process, RIP routing metrics, routing stability, and routing timers.

Routing Updates

RIP sends routing-update messages at regular intervals and when the network topology changes. When a router receives a routing update that includes changes to an entry, it updates its routing table to reflect the new route. The metric value for the path is increased by 1, and the sender is indicated as the next hop. RIP routers maintain only the best route (the route with the lowest metric value) to a destination. After updating its routing table, the router immediately begins transmitting routing updates to inform other network routers of the change. These updates are sent independently of the regularly scheduled updates that RIP routers send.

RIP Routing Metric

RIP uses a single routing metric (hop count) to measure the distance between the source and a destination network. Each hop in a path from source to destination is assigned a hop count value, which is typically 1. When a router receives a routing update that contains a new or changed destination network entry, the router adds 1 to the metric value indicated in the update and enters the network in the routing table. The IP address of the sender is used as the next hop.

RIP Stability Features

RIP prevents routing loops from continuing indefinitely by implementing a limit on the number of hops allowed in a path from the source to a destination. The maximum number of hops in a path is 15. If a router receives a routing update that contains a new or changed entry, and if increasing the metric value by 1 causes the metric to be infinity (that is, 16), the network destination is considered unreachable. The downside of this stability feature is that it limits the maximum diameter of a RIP network to less than 16 hops.

RIP includes a number of other stability features that are common to many routing protocols. These features are designed to provide stability despite potentially rapid changes in a network’s topology. For example, RIP implements the split horizon and holddown mechanisms to prevent incorrect routing information from being propagated.

RIP Timers

RIP uses numerous timers to regulate its performance. These include a routing-update timer, a route-timeout timer, and a route-flush timer. The routing-update timer clocks the interval between periodic routing updates. Generally, it is set to 30 seconds, with a small random amount of time added whenever the timer is reset. This is done to help prevent congestion, which could result from all routers simultaneously attempting to update their neighbors. Each routing table entry has a route-timeout timer associated with it. When the route-timeout timer expires, the route is marked invalid but is retained in the table until the route-flush timer expires.

Packet Formats
The following section focuses on the IP RIP and IP RIP 2 packet formats illustrated in Figures 44-1 and 44-2. Each illustration is followed by descriptions of the fields illustrated. RIP Packet Format

· Command—Indicates whether the packet is a request or a response. The request asks that a router send all or part of its routing table. The response can be an unsolicited regular routing update or a reply to a request. Responses contain routing table entries. Multiple RIP packets are used to convey information from large routing tables.

· Version number—Specifies the RIP version used. This field can signal different potentially incompatible versions.

· Zero—This field is not actually used by RFC 1058 RIP; it was added solely to provide backward compatibility with prestandard varieties of RIP. Its name comes from its defaulted value: zero.

· Address-family identifier (AFI)—Specifies the address family used. RIP is designed to carry routing information for several different protocols. Each entry has an address-family identifier to indicate the type of address being specified. The AFI for IP is 2.

· Address—Specifies the IP address for the entry.

· Metric—Indicates how many internetwork hops (routers) have been traversed in the trip to the destination. This value is between 1 and 15 for a valid route, or 16 for an unreachable route.

Note: Up to 25 occurrences of the AFI, Address, and Metric fields are permitted in a single IP RIP packet. (Up to 25 destinations can be listed in a single RIP packet.)

RIP 2 Packet Format

· Command—Indicates whether the packet is a request or a response. The request asks that a router send all or a part of its routing table. The response can be an unsolicited regular routing update or a reply to a request. Responses contain routing table entries. Multiple RIP packets are used to convey information from large routing tables.

· Version—Specifies the RIP version used. In a RIP packet implementing any of the RIP 2 fields or using authentication, this value is set to 2.

· Unused—Has a value set to zero.

· Address-family identifier (AFI)—Specifies the address family used. RIPv2’s AFI field functions identically to RFC 1058 RIP’s AFI field, with one exception: If the AFI for the first entry in the message is 0xFFFF, the remainder of the entry contains authentication information. Currently, the only authentication type is simple password.

· Route tag—Provides a method for distinguishing between internal routes (learned by RIP) and external routes (learned from other protocols).

· IP address—Specifies the IP address for the entry.

· Subnet mask—Contains the subnet mask for the entry. If this field is zero, no subnet mask has been specified for the entry.

·Next hop—Indicates the IP address of the next hop to which packets for the entry should be forwarded.

· Metric—Indicates how many internetwork hops (routers) have been traversed in the trip to the destination. This value is between 1 and 15 for a valid route, or 16 for an unreachable route.

Note: Up to 25 occurrences of the AFI, Address, and Metric fields are permitted in a single IP RIP packet. That is, up to 25 routing table entries can be listed in a single RIP packet. If the AFI specifies an authenticated message, only 24 routing table entries can be specified. Given that individual table entries aren’t fragmented into multiple packets, RIP does not need a mechanism to resequence datagrams bearing routing table updates from neighboring routers.

Summary

Despite RIP’s age and the emergence of more sophisticated routing protocols, it is far from obsolete. RIP is mature, stable, widely supported, and easy to configure. Its simplicity is well suited for use in stub networks and in small autonomous systems that do not have enough redundant paths to warrant the overheads of a more sophisticated protocol.

Review Questions

Q—Name RIP’s various stability features.
A—RIP has numerous stability features, the most obvious of which is RIP’s maximum hop count. By placing a finite limit on the number of hops that a route can take, routing loops are discouraged, if not completely eliminated. Other stability features include its various timing mechanisms that help ensure that the routing table contains only valid routes, as well as split horizon and holddown mechanisms that prevent incorrect routing information from being disseminated throughout the network.

Q—What is the purpose of the timeout timer?
A—The timeout timer is used to help purge invalid routes from a RIP node. Routes that aren’t refreshed for a given period of time are likely invalid because of some change in the network. Thus, RIP maintains a timeout timer for each known route. When a route’s timeout timer expires, the route is marked invalid but is retained in the table until the route-flush timer expires.

Q—What two capabilities are supported by RIP 2 but not RIP?
A—RIP 2 enables the use of a simple authentication mechanism to secure table updates. More importantly, RIP 2 supports subnet masks, a critical feature that is not available in RIP.

Q—What is the maximum network diameter of a RIP network?
A—A RIP network’s maximum diameter is 15 hops. RIP can count to 16, but that value is considered an error condition rather than a valid hop count.

This article is submitted by Kashif Raza http://www.networkingtutorials.net

The first installment in this two-part series of Tech Tips provided an introduction to the basic capabilities and hardware involved in wireless networking. In the final installment of this two-part series, we will look at some of the basic setup and security considerations that should be addressed. The physical installation of a wireless network may be easier than a wired network, but the more difficult part is setting up the software and security to make sure everything stays up and running without incident.

Although this Tech Tip is by no means an exhaustive resource on configuring a wireless network, it will provide information and pointers that can be applied to most typical installations. Many of these tips are general enough that they may provide some good advice for those utilizing wired networks as well.

For the sake of this article, we will assume that the hardware has been successfully installed physically, and that the user is now prepared to set up and secure the system through software. Wireless devices, especially routers / access points, generally include a web-based configuration utility that allows the user to customize the hardware to meet their needs. The hardware will most likely work with minimal configuration, but to make it work so that the integrity of the network is protected may take a few more steps.

In addition to the configuration interface provided with the wireless networking hardware, Microsoft has integrated a “Wireless Network Setup Wizard” with the release of Windows XP Service Pack 2 that will lead a user of any expertise through the installation of their network. In addition, the “Microsoft Broadband Network Utility” will help them monitor and maintain the network just as easily once it is set up.

Change Default Password

Routers, whether wired or wireless, require a password for configuring the various settings, and all of them ship with extremely simple default passwords. The first step taken in setting up the router should be to change the default password to something more difficult to guess. Longer passwords that use a combination of letters and numbers are preferable as they make hacking attempts that much more difficult.

Change Router IP Address

Most routers ship with a default IP (Internet Protocol) address, something like 192.168.1.1, which is utilized by the user for accessing the configuration utility interface, as well as by the network itself for negotiating the LAN and WAN connections. The configuration utility of most routers will include a page that will allow for the default IP address to be manually changed by the user. Although changing the default IP address doesn’t provide a great amount of security since it can easily be discovered anyway, it may deter intrusion by local users that may be casually scanning the network.

Configure Router or Access Point Use

In the first part of this series of Tech Tips, I mentioned that almost all routers intended for home use can also double as wireless access points, and this is generally accomplished by clicking a check box within the control panel software. If a wireless router is being added to a network with an existing router and broadband connection, the new device needs to be set to access point mode. Otherwise, there could be a conflict as the network may not know where to expect the internet connection, since it will now have two routers that both want to serve as the gateway. If the wireless router is replacing an existing router, or is the only one on the network, this should not be an issue as these devices generally ship configured to operate as a router by default.

Broadcasting the SSID

The SSID, or Service Set Identifier, is basically the name assigned to a particular wireless network. The user can choose just about any name they want, as long as it is less than 32 characters long, and they just need to be sure that all computers on the network are configured to use the same name. Two steps related to the SSID can be taken to help improve the security of the network:

First, change the default SSID to a unique name that includes a combination of letters and numbers that doesn’t reveal anything personal about you or your network. Second, disable the broadcast of the SSID once all of your computers are successfully connected, even if your router / access point recommends broadcasting it. I have used a few wireless routers, and all of them have a check box in the control panel for enabling/disabling the broadcast of the SSID, and they have all recommended leaving broadcasting enabled. Broadcasting the SSID allows new computers to easily find your network, and then all they have to do is access it given the proper credentials. Broadcasting your SSID puts it out there for anyone within range to see, and it just allows would-be hackers to get one step closer to compromising your security. In a home environment, there are probably few computers that need to access the network, and if more are ever added, you can temporarily enable the broadcast to get them set up.

DHCP Server

The DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) Server is a feature of most routers that makes adding new computers extremely simple. Whenever a new computer connects to the network, the router will assign an IP address to it, instead of the user having to assign an IP address to each manually while sitting at that particular computer. This makes configuring a network very easy, but it also leaves the network vulnerable, as any new computer detected will be welcomed to the neighborhood and assigned an IP address automatically. Two different approaches can be taken to improve security, as related to the DHCP server:

One method, and the best as far as security is concerned, is to disable the DHCP server. This will require that all computers that are authorized to connect to the network be configured manually, but it will prevent unauthorized computers from obtaining an IP address. The second method, which doesn’t provide bulletproof security, is better than doing nothing. In general, a DHCP server can support up to 250 computers, and by default leaves a range of addresses readily available for that many to connect. If disabling the DHCP server doesn’t seem convenient for a user, they can limit the DHCP server to only provide as many IP addresses as they know they need. If you know there will never be more than five computers connected, limit the range of available IP addresses to a total of five within the configuration utility.

Different Levels of Encryption

All wireless components support some sort of encryption, which simply scrambles the information being sent across the network so that it can not easily be read by anyone else connected to the network. There are different types and levels of encryption, and a brief overview is provided for them below:

WEP, or Wireless Equivalency Protocol, was the first format of encryption available on wireless networks. WEP allows the network administrator to assign an encryption string to be shared by all computers authorized to access the wireless network. The encryption through WEP is either 64bit, 128bit, or 256bit, where the higher number represents greater encryption, and the strings can be generated by the administrator as a series of letters and numbers.

WPA, or “Wi-Fi Protected Access,” is an improvement over WEP that starts off with a similar master encryption string and then mathematically derives encryption keys to keep the security dynamic. WPA continually changes the encryption keys used for each packet of data, and due to the extra processing required to support this protocol the overall throughput of the connection may suffer slightly. Despite the potential for decreased speed, WPA is considered to be far more robust than WEP, and should be implemented where possible. In some instances, WEP encryption has actually been defeated, making WPA all that more appealing.

Although most components support both of these encryption formats, and users can select the type they wish to use from within the control software, not all do. All devices on the network must be set to operate at the same level of encryption, which may mean that some devices will force others to be less secure than they are capable of. For example, a wireless network setup around this router (http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=DI-824VUP&cat=NET) could support either WEP or WPA encryption. When two computers are added to this network using one of these network adaptors (http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=WN-4054P&cat=NET) in one case, and one of these network adaptors (http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=PBW006-N&cat=NET) in the other case, things change. Note that the second adaptor does not support WPA; therefore the whole network must now be configured to use WEP to accommodate it.

Router Position

As discussed in the first part of this Tech Tip, wireless devices can have a range of up to a few hundred feet in free space. When installed inside a home, this range may decrease greatly due to walls, floors and other obstructions, but the signal may still be strong enough to carry beyond the confines of the dwelling. A simple step that may help reduce the strength and reach of the network signal outside the house is to position the router / access point as close to the center of the house as possible. The potential for someone to detect the network from outside the home when positioned like this is now much less than if the router was placed near a window, for example.

Final Words

There are definitely additional issues that could be considered when setting up a wireless network, but covering these basics will make a wireless network much more secure than it was straight out of the box. Many people are confident that no one would be interested in their home network and feel security is just one more headache of technical mumbo-jumbo that they would rather not deal with. Whether a hacker wants access to personal files on the network or to simply gain unauthorized access to the Internet, a few simple steps are worth the peace of mind to know you are as secure as possible.

Jason Kohrs
Computer Geeks tech tips and computer help.

Wireless Consulting and Solution Providers have always been important to african american small businesses and now after several years of having the most technologically advanced homes in our neighborhood, we are beginning to realize that our neighbors could benefit from the same technology in educating our children. With the future our african american children are facing being dependent on computers and broadband access it is critical to have the proper tools for our children to have the confidence necessary to face the future.

Psyche. There is a very good friend that is a Wireless Solution Provider in Chicago, whose wife "suggested" that he share his expertise with a neighbor who had been visiting his family’s computer homeschool. Well after one thing led to another he finally enabled about 18 african american computer homeschools in the Chicago area, thus becoming a african american homeschool resource for wireless.

This little story is related because while I myself was working in Chicago for 4 years, he came to me for assistance in selecting a networked computer system that would be affordable for his clients. I had success with using thin client computers before with african american owned small businesses, networking them through a small server and then upgrade them to an additional firewall for full strength protection. He tried this with one family and for around $1700 they received 2 thin pc’s and a server, they were excited to say the least. The thin pc benefits kept working for him and his clients over and over again when creating a computer homeschool.

Now I begin to work in North Texas and my sister "suggests" to me that I consult for a african american single mom in Dallas. *Side note… for those who perhaps may be uninformed about my use of the word "suggest" let me share with you how an african american woman "suggests" anything to men. First she will begin by asking you to handle a certain situation and if you don’t respond correctly (never have, never will, women are smarter) the next level of the speech will be at a volume that will make the suggestion clear.

Back to the benefits of thin client and how they make an excellent option.

Thin clients have no CD drive, floppy drive, and don’t look for a hard drive because it’s on the server the actual workhorse of the network. The point is that it is ‘thin’ and most of the really hard work is done by another computer with all the bells and whistles as it needs them to ‘manage’ the thin pc’s. That alone saves you money, and when it comes time to upgrade (and you know it’s coming), all your processing power is actually in the server that manages your network.

Even if you do have to replace one of your thin pc’s, it costs $500 or less and a full blown fat desktop starts at $900 on up. Installing thin client networks are a breeze, setup the server and load it with the software you need to use, plug in the wireless thin client pc’s and go for it! Lower upfront costs, easy to upgrade and install makes this a better option for today’s computing homeschool.

Daviyd Peterson: 10-year consultant, instructor, trainer
Helps african american homeschools bridge the digital divide by becoming computer homeschools. Free article on "Computer Homeschooling" and other related articles http://www.homeschoolwireless.com/homeschoolwireless.htm

Have you ever felt like throwing the fax machine out the window? Well you may not know it but you can, but not literally please.

There have been services available for some time which allow you to take your fax needs online and save yourself the hassle of wrestling with the fax machine.

Any provider should be able to supply you with a basic fax-to-email service. You are usually assigned your own fax number and any faxes sent to this number are then attached as an image file to an email. That is then delivered to your email account. You will need to keep your fax machine for sending faxes but you can set it to not answer the phone and keep it on your main business line.

Most but not all fax services also provide a facility to send faxes by email, web or straight from the desktop. This feature can be utilised to send invoices or forms to customers without first needing print and then fax the document. Fax-to-email allows you to compose an email to faxnumber@provider.com and attach each document you want to be faxed. You are then notified by email when your fax is complete.

Traditionally to enable your business to fax has meant ordering a separate phone line and number and purchasing a fax machine or fax software for each user. Which is an expensive proposition for a communications channel that is still essential but often rarely used these days. With online fax services these costs are all rolled in to a single monthly fee which is paid to your fax provider. Often this fee is just a fraction of the cost of phone line rental alone. Add the savings in paper and ink and using an online fax service starts to make a lot of sense.

If your customers fax through a lot of forms that you need to process and archive you’ll know how tedious it can be to flick through a whole binder just to find a specific fax. With an online fax service your fax correspondence can be filed along with all your electronic correspondence.

Points to consider when choosing a provider:

There are some things to be aware of when switching over to online fax:

The first is that a fax machine makes a copy of a piece of paper and that online faxing makes a copy of an electronic document. You’ll no longer be able to rapidly scribble out a note and fax it anymore. However, you can just as rapidly send a quick memo by email-to-fax or through a fax printer. Filling out a form that has been faxed to you is no longer simple but it can be done by opening the fax in an image editing program and typing with the text tool.

The second caveat is that you may be used to signing almost every fax you send, this is no longer possible as there is no paper stage. The author recommends that if you have access to a scanner you can scan your signature and save it as a black and white image ready to be inserted at the footer of every document you type up.

All in all if you or your staff don’t use the fax machine much, or use it for a lot of repetitive work, then faxing online can save you a lot of money in ink, paper, communications costs and most importantly - productivity. If you can’t give up the routine of walking up to the fax machine with a piece of paper then you might still consider online faxing; but only to receive your faxes. Remember to turn off the auto answer feature of your fax machine.

Kimble Young is the product development manager for Fax Online an Australian online fax services provider. He has many years experience in the communications and Internet industries.

http://www.faxonline.com.au/

Running a business from home has its advantages, including no commute, a more accommodating work schedule, fresh coffee and home-cooked meals at any time you want.

But running a business from home using a home wireless local area network (WLAN) with your computer may lead to thievery of confidential information and hacker or virus penetration unless proper actions are taken. As WLANs send information back and forth over radio waves, someone with the right type of receiver in your immediate area could be picking up the transmission, thus acquiring access to your computer.

Here is a list of things that you should consider as a result of implementing a home wireless network setup used your business:

Viruses could be loaded onto your laptop which could be transferred to the company’s network when you go back to work.

Up to 75 per cent of home wireless network WLAN users do not have standard security features installed, and 20 per cent are left completely open as default configurations and are not secured, but are made for the users to have their network up and running ASAP.

It is recommended that home wireless network router/access point system setups be always done though a wired client.

Always change the default administrative password on your home wireless network router/access points to a secured password.

Enable at least 128-bit WEP encryption on both card and access point. Change your WEP keys periodically. If equipment does not support at least 128-bit WEP encryption, consider replacing it. Although there are security issues with WEP, it represents minimum level of security, and it should be enabled.

Change the default SSID on your router/access point to a hard to guess name. Setup your computer device to connect to this SSID by default.

Setup router/access points so as to not broadcast the SSID. The same SSID needs to be setup on the client side manually. This feature may not be available on all equipment.

Setup your home wireless network router to block anonymous internet requests or pings.

On each computer having a wireless network card, network connection properties should be configured to allow connection to Access Point Networks Only. Computer to computer (peer to peer) connections should not be allowed.

Enable MAC filtering. Deny connection to wireless network for unspecified MAC addresses. MAC or physical addresses are accessible through your computer device wireless network connection setup and they are physically written on network cards. When adding new wireless cards / computer to the network, their MAC addresses should be registered with the router /access point.

Your home wireless network router should have firewall features enabled and demilitarized zone (DMZ) feature disabled. Periodically test your hardware and personal firewalls using Shields Up test available at http://www.grc.com. All computers should have a properly configured personal firewall in addition to a hardware firewall.

Update router/access point firmware when new versions become available.

Locate router/access points away from strangers so they cannot reset the router/access point to default settings. Also, locate router/access points in the middle of the building rather than near windows to limit signal coverage outside the building.

You should know that nothing is 100%. While none of the actions suggested above will provide full 100% protection, countermeasures do exist that will help. The good collection of suggested preventative actions contained herein can help you deter an intruder trying to access your home wireless network. This deterrant then makes other insecure networks easier targets for the intruder to persue.

Greg Lietz is an internet business man, freelance writer and computer enthusiast. His websites provide information on wireless internet networking and personal computer hardware that may be of interest to you.

We live in an age of technology and as such we are always looking for ways to make life easier or ways to make things look better. In the home or office (or even the home office) making things look better involves getting rid of clutter. This is where the wireless desktop comes into play. No wires means less clutter and because when using Bluetooth wireless devices line of sight is not needed, you can use your desk space to its optimum with no worries.

There is more to the wireless desktop than you might think as well. You will all be aware that you can get a wireless keyboard and mouse. But wireless technology and Bluetooth in particular stretches much further than that. Your mobile phone if a recent one will probably have Bluetooth technology built into it. This means that you can easily connect it to your PC. Companies such as Logitech offer software that really gets your mobile phone and your PC working together. Synchronization is just one aspect of this, but how about being able to type an SMS text message on your keyboard and send it without having to touch your phone. This is all possible with the power of Bluetooth. Communication with your mobile phone is not the only method of contact with Bluetooth. You can also get Bluetooth headsets that work with Microsoft Messenger so you can add an easy chat functionality to your desktop. As new products come on the market Bluetooth becomes more and more popular. Peripheral devices such as Printers and Scanners can now be found.

The Wireless Keyboard and Mouse

This is the first device that you will probably buy for your wireless desktop. This is the basic starting point and probably the most effective. The keyboard and mouse wires cannot be hidden away from sight as they have to be straight in front of you. plus limiting the mouse wire can mean limiting the mouse movement as well. So A wireless keyboard and mouse will give you a better looking desktop as well as freedom to move your keyboard where you want it. You can have it on your lap or anywhere else in range. Having a wireless mouse will also help in gaming. Most wireless mice are just as responsive as corded ones and your wire wont snag at that vital moment when online gaming.

Wireless Printers

While printers are not being produced as wireless as yet. The idea is very much being worked on. Currently what you can by for your USB connected printers is a two small connecters that plug into your printer and USB port which connect together like a wireless network. Its almost a wireless USB connection if you like. I doubt that is how it will be described though. The advantages of the wireless printer as well as the lack of wires behind your PC is the range can be increased as well as you being able to place your printer in a place where a USB cable would be unsuitable to travel. A second advantage would be that connecting your printer to a wireless network for sharing will be much easier.

Wireless Networking

I think the biggest advantage of wireless technology has to be Wireless Networking. While Bluetooth technology is does not have the range in which to be affective at networking computers together. RF technology is still used however and is very easy to setup. For a simple network (peer to peer) on two computers all you need is two wireless networking cards setup to the same channel. More complex networks can also be setup using a server and workstations. Anything you can do with a wired network you can do with wireless technology.

While we keep saying that the main advantage of wireless technology is that you don’t have wires lying around everywhere, this is more true than ever when we are talking about wireless networking. When your computers are likely to be located in different room, the last thing you want is for wires to be laid around your home or office being an eyesore. Plus should you wish to move your computer at anytime, you don’t have to re-route the wires connecting your network together. Security on Wireless networks is set by adding a name for your network which all computers on that network must be assigned to connect to, plus then you can add a password to keep unwanted intruders out from your files. Software firewalls are also recommended on wireless connections (as well as wired) just for added security against unwanted virus’ or Adware/Spyware.

Wireless Headphones / Microphone

Wireless headphones are readily available from many manufacturers. These are really one of the most practical uses of wireless technology behind the networking. Wireless headphones allow you to freely listen to your music, game or whatever noise your PC is making anywhere in your room without the restriction of wires. Even if your wires are long enough they will still be a little dangerous stretched across the room. And we all know you like to dance around your room listening to your favourite tracks. A set of wireless headphones could save you a few quid on broken items that your headphone wires have snagged on and brought crashing down to the floor .

Wireless Speakers

Wireless speakers are poking out of the woodwork and those of you that have a 5.1 or above sound system will just how many wires are involved in that setup. Not only do you have connection to the computer but each speaker is connected to the sub / power box and and you also have the volume control to deal with. At time of writing this the US seem to have a decent supply of wireless speakers where as only a few can be found in the UK. I am very sure that wireless speakers will become a lot more popular in the UK over the next couple of months. Wireless speakers will remove loads of wires from the back of your computer. Using a 5.1 wireless system will allow you to place your speakers in the perfect position without any restrictions or ugly wires running along your walls or floor.

Stephen Orgill Editor / Webmaster - http://www.pantherproducts.co.uk Computer related articles and reviews

You will never meet that 108mbps that most wireless routers are saying to have but to come close you will have to purchase a wireless adapter from the same manufacture.

Installing your wireless adapter

1. Stick your adapter into your PCIMICA slot on your laptop. Windows xp will automatically recognize the card and ask you for the driver. If you are skilled at installing drivers then I recommend finding the driver manually not by using the manufacturers’ software to install the driver.

If you use their disk installing program you will also install a bunch of other crap that you don’t need. It will install wireless scanning software and wireless monitors that will just bogg down your system.

2. Now that you have your driver installed you should be able to scan for wireless networks. In the bottom right hand taskbar you will see a computer symbol with radio waves coming out of it. This is apart of Microsoft’s zero config wireless utility. This feature is good and bad because it will try to connect to any wireless network in range and once you have connected to that network once it’s available it will always try to connect.

This is bad because if you connect to a network called "Linksys" you will be connecting to a unsecured network because this is the default SSID of alll Linksys wireless routers.

Connecting to wireless networks can be dangerous because they could be a hackers rogue access point meant to collect password info on you.

3. I assume you know which network you want to connect to so lets go to the your wireless adapters properties by clicking twice on the wireless icon in the task bar and clicking properties.

Click on the wireless networks tab and click add. Type in your SSID of you network. If this is your Home wireless network make sure you have changed your SSID to something obscure and change your wireless channel to something other than channel 6.

Next you need to choose the same type of encryption you have chosen for your wireless router or adater. Hopefully you have chosen WPA2-PSK with TKIP or AES encryption.

You might have to install the Microsoft update for WPA2 support for windows xp- click here

You will Know if you have to install the update because you will not see the option of WPA2.

Now enter you encryption key hit OK and you should be able to connect to your network.

Advance options

Go back to you wireless adapters properties and lets take a look at some advance options. Options will vary in name but not in general function.

1. You should be on the general tab of the wireless adpaters properties and click on the configure button next to the name of the wireless adapter.

2. Click on the advance tab, (warning some of these setting can cause you to drain your laptop battery a lot quicker but it will improve performance.

3. First change your channel to 11 or the same as your wireless network. The default channel for most wireless networks is 6.

4. You can change you MAC address if want

5. If you want to reduce your power output you can. This will most often be done for security reasons to maks client positions so hackers can’t attack them.

6. You will have some sort of powersave mode or performance standard to either save battery life or concentrate on the most performance

7. Roaming options of Maximizing Bandwidth or distance - If you are really close to an access point and are downloading music then you will want to maximize your band with. If you are not close to an access point then you will need to change it to distance.

These are just some of the advanced options for your wireless adapter. Many people don’t even know they are there.

Don’t let another minute go by with out visiting http://www.wirelessninja.com Sign up now for the most popular wireless networking newletter on the planet.

A router is a computer device that receives or forwards data packets to and from the Internet towards a destination in the process called routing. A router is the essential component of the computer networking that enables any sent data to arrive at the right destination.

As an illustration, imagine that the Internet is the world and one computer is one household. Other computers connected through the Internet are households around the world. Say one household will send a letter to another household in any part of the world. The letter has an address right? And that address would determine the destination of the letter. But without one reading the address, the letter would not arrive to the right receiver. The letter also would not be able to reach the intended receiver if there is not medium. This medium would be the courier. And the courier of the computer data is the router.

A router (broadband router) is also a device that enables two or more computer to receive data packets from the Internet under one IP address at the same time.

Remember that to be able to connect to the Internet, a computer must have an IP address unique from the rest of the computers. Therefore, every computer connected to the Internet has it own IP address. It is like having a fingerprint or ID as an access pass to be able to enter the web. With the presence of the router, this “fingerprint” or “ID” could be shared by two or more computer at the same time.

In simplest form, a router makes two or more computer use the Internet at the same with one access pass.

One more thing: a computer with cable modem could also be considered as a router. In this, the computer would do the process of routing like normal routers do. Other computers are then connected to the computer with Internet connection that would give it with the Internet connection. The computer with cable modem has the direct contact with the Internet and the ones connected to it are sharing the connection.

Why would anyone need a router?

For households with two or more computers who would want to have Internet connection to every computers they have, taking subscription for each would be too much. The solution is to buy a router that would enable every computer in the house to have an Internet connection. In the definition above, the broadband router would act as a hub to the existing Internet connection.

If the router is comparable to a hub, would it affect the Internet speed?

It should be taken into consideration that once a single Internet connection is divided, the connection speed is affected. But there are some broadband routers that would bring minimal slowdown to the Internet speed and the effect might not even be big.

Internet speed would also depend on the type of application used in a router. While some would inflict little effect on the speed like online games, others would terribly slowdown your connection and even hinder you to use the Internet at all.

Usually, offices use a more sophisticated router to redirect Internet connections to the large number of computers. These routers would give better data packeting compared to a typical router used at home that results to faster Internet speed.

Robert Thatcher is a freelance publisher based in Cupertino, California. He publishes articles and reports in various ezines and provides router resources on http://www.about-routers.info

Since the mid 90’s we have seen the birth and growth of a connective technology called Universal Serial Bus (USB). Originally designed to connect computers and telecoms equipment, it has slowly become the primary means of connecting a whole host of other devices and has made significant contributions to today’s IT world.

The sheer number of USB products on the market today is just staggering, from mice and keyboards, modems, external hard drives to USB fans, lights and coffee cup warmers! Most external computer related devices today connect to a computer via a USB port. So it’s no wonder that before long, most computer users find themselves wondering what to do when the USB ports (sockets) on their computer are all used.

There are two solutions to the problem, constantly plug and unplug connectors when swapping between USB devices, or invest in a simple, low cost device called a USB Hub. A USB Hub is a small unit with two or more USB ports, which plugs into an USB port on your computer, allowing you the freedom to connect more USB devices without disconnecting others. Expanding the number of USB ports of your computer in this way not only saves wear and tear on your USB ports and connectors, but also puts and end to all that clambering around behind your PC! Generally speaking, there are four types of available:

1. Internal USB PCI Card
An internal PCI USB Card needs to be installed by opening up the case of your PC and inserting a card into a vacant PCI slot on the motherboard, this type of USB expansion is not advised unless you are familiar with working with and inside computers. If you have the older USB1.1 and upgrade to USB2.0, your version of Windows will also need to be updated so that your PC can support USB2.0 functionality.

2. USB Hub (Non Powered)
An external non-powered USB Hub is a cheap and simple device that plugs directly into one of your computer’s existing USB ports and that’s all there is to it. These are usually very compact and so make ideal solutions for mobile users with laptops and for desktop users.

Be aware that some USB devices require a small amount of power through the USB port, usually mechanical devices such as printers, scanners, digital cameras and so on. This type of USB Hub may not be able to supply adequate power to these devices especially if you are using a few USB devices together.

3. Powered USB Hub
An external Powered USB Hub is also compact and plugs directly into one of your computer’s existing USB ports, so again there is no need to open up your computer to install it. The only difference is that the Powered Hub comes with a separate power supply that must be plugged into the mains socket, supplying the power to all the USB ports on the hub allowing ANY type of USB devices to function properly.

Most Powered Hubs come with a sensible length of USB cable allowing the Hub itself to be positioned in a more accessible place e.g. on top of your computer or on your desk, making plugging and unplugging USB devices much easier. This makes the Powered Hub the all round best solution for desktop computer users.

4. USB PC Card
If you use a Laptop and are on the move, you have an additional choice to the USB Hub, the USB PC Card also known as the PCMCIA USB Card. This device slots into the PCMCIA slot/port found on the side of a Laptop and instantly provides two extra USB ports without using up any of your existing USB ports on the Laptop.

This is the most popular solution for mobile Laptop users. When buying a suitable external USB Hub, consider the location of your computer’s USB ports. If they are located at the back of your computer or in an awkward position, you can make your life so much easier by using a USB Hub that comes with a USB extension cable, or by buying a separate USB extension cable. This allows the USB Hub to be positioned to a more accessible place for plugging and unplugging your USB devices.

Article by Iggy Quazi director of Ecommerce business Mouse2House based in Essex, England stocking a wide range of digital imaging devices. For more info see http://www.mouse2house.co.uk for the latest digital media products. For Flash Memory Cards visit http://www.mouse2house.co.uk/index.php?CatURN=637.

My new laptop is fantastic, with it’s nice new squeaky-clean operating system it runs like a dream. But it wasn’t long before I had to face the technical challenge of getting all my old data from my old desktop computer (which was bursting at the seams with data!) onto my new laptop.

I was also intending to format and give away my old computer, so I could not afford to lose any of this data in the process.

I sat down at my old computer and listed all of my important files to assess exactly what and how much data I needed to transfer over to the new laptop.

Including my pictures, MP3’s, Office documents, work backup’s and so on, I was looking at transferring about 20 Gigabytes worth of data, it seems to build up so quickly! Thank goodness for my new laptop’s 100 Gigabyte Hard Drive, which will allow me to transfer all of my data to it and still have room for a lot more. I know that the main application programmes (Word, Excel and so on) from my old computer will all have to be reinstalled on to the new laptop from their original install disks, but how do I get all the rest of the data over to the new laptop?

Floppy disk? - no way, even if my laptop had a floppy disk drive I would need about 14,000 disks!

CD or DVD? - Both my new laptop and my old computer have CD ROM drives, to get all my data over using CD’s I would need about 30 disks as well as some software to package all the data up nice and tidily across the 30 disks, viable but a lot of work and time needed. DVD’s would be better but my old computer does not have a DVD drive! There must be an easier way.

USB Memory Stick? - Not really a viable option, the maximum capacity of the USB Memory Stick that I can afford is 512MB, so this would require about 40 swaps from the old computer to the new and as my old computer is only USB1.1 which transfers at 1.5 mega bytes this process is going to be possible but really slow.

Networking? - Apparently I could network my two machines together with a "Cross Wired Network lead" and a copy of "Networking Computers for Dummies", but unfortunately my old dinosaur of a computer does not have a network card! Network cards are cheap enough but I still don’t want to spend any money on this old computer and really don’t fancy fiddling around inside the desktop. Although it does sound good to be able to connect the two computers together and transfer the data through the cable.

This is when I came across a very handy cable called a USB Data Link Cable. Apparently I can just plug one end into the USB port on my old PC and the other end into the USB port on my new laptop and then as if by magic, I should have a USB Network between both computers. Now this sounds more like it! Both my computers have USB ports and even though my old computer is USB1.1 and my new laptop is USB2.0 the cable should work anyway, although the transfer rate will only be at the lower USB1.1 speed.

After finding more about this cable on the Internet I found out that it is also known as a USB File/Data Transfer Cable. Once connected, the transfer of data is done quickly and effortlessly by simply dragging and dropping files from one window to another, just as you normally would when moving files around on your system. So I ordered one online right away.

The USB Data Transfer Cable arrived the next day and I got down to the business of getting the thing to work, the hardest part was working out the blatantly "translated" instructions. All I had to do was install the included software from the CD, once only on each of my computers, then plug the cable into a USB port on each computer and run the software. Two Windows Explorer type windows appeared, one showing files on the laptop and the other showing files on the PC, then I simply dragged and dropped files between the two computers.

I was amazed, this USB cable solution was fantastic. It was so easy to set up and turned out to be the cheapest option by far at only £15 and much less hassle than any other option, almost too good to be true, magic!

Article by Iggy Quazi director of Ecommerce business Mouse2House based in Essex, England stocking a wide range of digital imaging devices. For more info visit the Mouse 2 House company website at http://www.mouse2house.co.uk where you will find the latest in digital media products.