Wireless Routers and Networking

[Kevin]

I have a laptop with Windows XP Home. It has integrated wireless and an
ethernet port. I have a D-Link wireless router. Both the wireless
connection, and the etherlink port work well. Two other computers in my
house are part of our home network. I enabled file sharing, and I am able to
share files between computers.

If I run the Network Setup Wizard, which Windows says is recommended for
security, Windows creates a "bridge" in My Network Connections, and then
neither the wireless or the etherlink port will work. If I delete the
"bridge", they both work again. I am not selecting the option in the Wizard
of "connecting directly to the internet" since I am using the D-Link router.
What's going on here? Do I have some kind of security risk because I can't
run the Wizard? What is a "bridge" for in my case?

thanks, Kevin

 

[kawipoo]

It sounds like you might have a firewire card which the network wizard is
reading as a connection and is bridging the ethernet and the firewire.
There is no security risk of not running the wizard especially since you are
behind a router.

 

[Rick]

Unless the wireless router is encrypted you are at risk. Try taking
your laptop and PCMCIA wireless card and drive around You will very
likely be able to access somebody's computer.