Yep, I have noticed that tendency in males. That’s why I think I decorate the bath like a library.

I’m gonna try to get that painting done up in wallpaper like this course its not realistic at all himself says you have to sit down to read.

In this context, "The Bookworm" takes on a disturbing meaning, no matter how you think about it.

On the semi-serious side ... and while I'm sure you all know this, just in case, make sure your encryption is turned on with your wireless devices. Otherwise literally anyone relatively nearby can log into your network - AND if any of your drives are shared, your hard drive information etc.

Perhaps an urban legend but ... like hobos during the Great Depression who marked the sidewalks of generous people with chalk to tell other hobos where a meal could be had, certain mobile surfers are cruising the odd neighbourhood and noting (and sharing) where open wireless networks can be found.

Safe surfing!

Jeff Mackwood

Not a legend...I have wireless at home (well encrypted with physical firewall) and one day I turned my router off but my laptop stayed connected to the Internet...seems someone in my neighbourhood is running an open network...free internet is tempting but unreliable

Thanks for the reminder. The whole wireless thing does open up a potential can of security worms, for all wireless devices.

Good ol' "war driving" -- cruising around with a wireless laptop and searching for unsecured networks. A couple of years ago (shortly before setting up a wireless network at home for my wife's laptop), I read an article about a guy in San Francisco who strapped a hefty antenna to his laptop's wireless card and found hundreds of open corporate networks while driving around town. It was purely an experiment in his case, but it wouldn't be hard for more unscrupulous individuals to do the same.

On the other hand, I do like our wireless network -- posting from it now, sitting on the couch in the living room.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

OAF: What are you using for a firewall? Most people use a singe Linksys type device between internet connection point and the wired network and attach their access points to that. This doesn't provide any security from attackers coming in on the wireless side. Potentially a more robust dual homed device could do this as could two firewalls but you don't see those very often in a home environment.

I am using an older PC running Linux as a physical fire wall between the internet and my wireless router. I have a hodge-podge of security and packet sniffing software on that PC that lets me track and control all TCP ports coming into my network. Unfortunately, I do not have the same on the wireless network itself so I have to trust the encryption to a large extent and I have blocked off a lot of the ports I do not use with-in the router software. But the tranmitter/receiver is barely powerful enough to get out of the house, much less off the property when I have it situated.

Oaf; I am planning on getting my system tonight. I am more than a little paranoid, so my tentative security plan is to put on MAC authentication on the Wireless access point so that only wireless devices I specify can attach. I will also be turning off SSID broadcasting and implementing a 32 character random SSID string. I will then use the strongest encryption I can install (hopefully full 802.1x). Finally, I will run ZoneAlarm Pro on each workstation so that only the specific addresses I define are trusted.

Should do the trick...I have avoided software fire walls so they do not slow down my network speed but since active virus checkers do that anyway...oh well!