linksys wireless stuff...security tips please ?

[RJK]

Hello all you WEP ..or is it WAN aware people in here , ...(...grovel
....grovel ....)

I've been using a Linksys WAG354G Router for a while now, and RJ45 LAN leads
to access the internet - on my main and 2nd PC's. 2nd PC now needs to go
downstairs for Dad and nieces to use, due to the PIII 600EB on an ancient
glitchy Asus board, down there, which now is going to pay dearly for its'
glitchiness by being replaced !! ...so earlier today I put a Wireless-G
PCI adapter into my 2nd PC, (with its' sort of rubber arial that sticks out
the back near the bank of expansion card plates), and sort of stumbled
through the "quick set-up," and switched on the wireless part of my router
by stumbling through the WAG354G menus that are accessed through IE6 and
going to http://192.168.1.1 ...what a hideous procedure !, ...and every
time one changes settings they take ages to save, almost as though an eeprom
is being written to, which suggests to me that I could be reducing the life
of the router by occasionally switching on or off the "wireless" part of the
router !

I now seem to have some sort of wireless network called "linksys" (should
that be changed ?) and I had to enter a passphrase during installation of
the wireless PCI card that generated a 128 bit "key," and I think I chose
WEP whatever WEP is ! ...and I noticed that it's using Channel 11, should
I change that ? Could I be providing free internet access to neighbours who
might happen to have a Linksys router ?

Any tips gratefully recieved.

regards, Richard

 

[Rock]

Hello all you WEP ..or is it WAN aware people in here , ...(...grovel
...grovel ....)

I've been using a Linksys WAG354G Router for a while now, and RJ45 LAN leads
to access the internet - on my main and 2nd PC's. 2nd PC now needs to go
downstairs for Dad and nieces to use, due to the PIII 600EB on an ancient
glitchy Asus board, down there, which now is going to pay dearly for its'
glitchiness by being replaced !! ...so earlier today I put a Wireless-G
PCI adapter into my 2nd PC, (with its' sort of rubber arial that sticks out
the back near the bank of expansion card plates), and sort of stumbled
through the "quick set-up," and switched on the wireless part of my router
by stumbling through the WAG354G menus that are accessed through IE6 and
going to http://192.168.1.1 ...what a hideous procedure !, ...and every
time one changes settings they take ages to save, almost as though an eeprom
is being written to, which suggests to me that I could be reducing the life
of the router by occasionally switching on or off the "wireless" part of the
router !

I now seem to have some sort of wireless network called "linksys" (should
that be changed ?) and I had to enter a passphrase during installation of
the wireless PCI card that generated a 128 bit "key," and I think I chose
WEP whatever WEP is ! ...and I noticed that it's using Channel 11, should
I change that ? Could I be providing free internet access to neighbours who
might happen to have a Linksys router ?

Any tips gratefully recieved.

regards, Richard

You might want to post to the wireless newsgroup for this:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windows.networking.wireless

 

[RJK]

Thanks Rock, I'll have a quick read through that NG first.

regards, Richard

 

[Rock]

Thanks Rock, I'll have a quick read through that NG first.

regards, Richard

You're welcome.

 

[Jim]

Hello all you WEP ..or is it WAN aware people in here , ...(...grovel
...grovel ....)

I've been using a Linksys WAG354G Router for a while now, and RJ45 LAN
leads to access the internet - on my main and 2nd PC's. 2nd PC now needs
to go downstairs for Dad and nieces to use, due to the PIII 600EB on an
ancient glitchy Asus board, down there, which now is going to pay dearly
for its' glitchiness by being replaced !! ...so earlier today I put a
Wireless-G PCI adapter into my 2nd PC, (with its' sort of rubber arial
that sticks out the back near the bank of expansion card plates), and
sort of stumbled through the "quick set-up," and switched on the wireless
part of my router by stumbling through the WAG354G menus that are accessed
through IE6 and going to http://192.168.1.1 ...what a hideous procedure
!, ...and every time one changes settings they take ages to save, almost
as though an eeprom is being written to, which suggests to me that I could
be reducing the life of the router by occasionally switching on or off the
"wireless" part of the router !

One time should be all you need. You go through the router setup once, then
you make sure that the settings for each computer agree with those of the
router. The only setting among all of them which was the least bit
difficult for me was the encryption key. It is long and very very hard for
me to enter correctly. If you don't get this right, the wireless part will
not work.

I now seem to have some sort of wireless network called "linksys"
(should that be changed ?) and I had to enter a passphrase during
installation of the wireless PCI card that generated a 128 bit "key," and
I think I chose WEP whatever WEP is ! ...and I noticed that it's using
Channel 11, should I change that ? Could I be providing free internet
access to neighbours who might happen to have a Linksys router ?

WEP is an encryption scheme. You can change channels if you wish. You
might find less interference on another channel. If you should happen to
have a wireless telephone which uses the 2.4 GHZ band, you should certainly
insure that the telephone equipment is not using the same channel as your
wireless signals. You may also find that the systems are a might far apart
for reliable always on connectivity.
That is the way my network operates. The difficulty is most pronounced in
rainy weather.

You will most assuredly be furnishing your neighbours with free service if
you do not encrypt your signals regardless of which company makes the
router. Whether they take advantage of your carelessness depends on them of
course.

My router allows me to specify MAC addresses as wells, and ones not
contained in the table will not connect. Yours might also.

Any tips gratefully recieved.

regards, Richard

Jim

 

[NoStop]

Hello all you WEP ..or is it WAN aware people in here , ...(...grovel
...grovel ....)

I've been using a Linksys WAG354G Router for a while now, and RJ45 LAN
leads
to access the internet - on my main and 2nd PC's. 2nd PC now needs to go
downstairs for Dad and nieces to use, due to the PIII 600EB on an ancient
glitchy Asus board, down there, which now is going to pay dearly for its'
glitchiness by being replaced !! ...so earlier today I put a Wireless-G
PCI adapter into my 2nd PC, (with its' sort of rubber arial that sticks
out
the back near the bank of expansion card plates), and sort of stumbled
through the "quick set-up," and switched on the wireless part of my router
by stumbling through the WAG354G menus that are accessed through IE6 and
going to http://192.168.1.1 ...what a hideous procedure !, ...and every
time one changes settings they take ages to save, almost as though an
eeprom is being written to, which suggests to me that I could be reducing
the life of the router by occasionally switching on or off the "wireless"
part of the router !

I now seem to have some sort of wireless network called "linksys"
(should that be changed ?) and I had to enter a passphrase during
installation of
the wireless PCI card that generated a 128 bit "key," and I think I chose
WEP whatever WEP is ! ...and I noticed that it's using Channel 11,
should
I change that ? Could I be providing free internet access to neighbours
who might happen to have a Linksys router ?

Any tips gratefully recieved.

regards, Richard

Read this article to see how easy it is for someone to crack your WEP
encryption:

http://www.tomsnetworking.com/2005/05/10/how_to_crack_wep_/

Now knowing that wireless networking has major security issues, you can
follow the advice in the article about how to protect your system as much
as is possible considering you're using a wireless network.

--
A Windows user finally clues in and sets up a dual boot system and loves
it!:

http://www.winxperts.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=1377

The ULTIMATE Windoze Fanboy:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2370205018226686613

The New and Improved Ballmer:

Is this a modern day equivalent of a Nazi youth rally?:

http://www.ntk.net/media/developers.mpg

A 3D Linux Desktop (video) ...

View Some Common Linux Desktops ...
http://shots.osdir.com/

 

[RJK]

Thsnkd Jim and NoStop

I've had a more in depth look at all this wireless "stuff", and have set my
router to only allow network / internet suppy / connection, (or whatever
its' damned well called), to a single specified MAC address i.e. that of the
pci wireless carded PC !! ...downstairs ...phew !

I also changed the name of my wireless network, and made some other feeble
attempts to change other things, I will be reading up in your supplied
hyperlinks, thanks again.

regards, Richard

 

[bill]

You need to get the firmware update for your LinkSys. It is painless
and fixes lots of security issues besides advanced features for WPA
and WPA2(??).
Bill