wireless router setup/security [Archive]

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yoMAMA

07-08-2006, 11:40 PM

Hi guys,

I just ordered a macbook a few days ago (it will arrive sometime next week), and I already have a desktop pc (crappy celeron with xp pro).

I want to get a wireless router so I can use my dsl connection on the macbook.

Is there any particular brand/model that you guys like?

Also how do you get a secure wireless home network? (went to bestbuy and the geeksquad guys wants to charge me $50 to set it up :rolleyes: )

Thanks :smile:

ares

07-09-2006, 12:21 AM

Any company like Netgear or Linksys is decent. The big difference between brands is ease of setup. If you want cheap, go for one of those brands. If you want simple to setup, get Apple. After it's setup, the difference isn't too great.

Except...

Apple Airport lets you stream music to a stereo. Imagine wirelessly streaming your iTunes music to your stereo--any computer sounds if you want. Only with Airport Express.

Apple Airport (as well as many other brands) lets you link routers together. WDS (Wireless Distribution System). If you have a huge house and need a range of more than a few hundred feet, you can space routers apart.

For security, all you need to do is choose a password and security level. The types of encryption are variations of WEP and WPA. WPA is newer and more secure. It's slower but shouldn't notice that too much with the net. And there are ways like using MAC addresses (each wired or wireless network device has a unique ID). Radius is another step but probably not needed in this case.

yoMAMA

07-09-2006, 01:00 AM

so airport will work well with my wintel pc?

or is it mac-centric....

ares

07-09-2006, 01:04 AM

It's still a wireless network. There are standards. :)

And your PC with iTunes can wirelessly play music too.

Wireless music requires a cable from the Airport Express router to your stereo. If your stereo is close to your internet modem then you're ok. If not, then you'd need Airport Extreme and Airport Express.

You could start off with Airport Express and add when you need to.

yoMAMA

07-25-2006, 07:14 PM

ares

07-26-2006, 07:30 AM

I just finished set up my netgear wireless router (I use a dsl connection which requires a dial up at the beginning).

however I've noticed that my internet connection has became very slow ever since the routers set up.

Also, my macbook can't log on to my network just set up (it recognizes it but i couldn't log on to it).

it shouldn't be this difficult :(

:) Non Apple routers are more difficult to setup. Then again, any router does require some computer knowledge. It's the stuff it's connected to that still takes time to understand.

What's going on?

The router can be setup so it's doing the DSL "dialing." PPPoE most likely.

How are you not able to logon? Your Macbook sees the wireless network?

If it's slower over wireless, it could mean you have a DSL connection that is faster than what wireless is capable of. There are home internet connections that offer much more than what wireless can currently do.

yoMAMA

07-26-2006, 05:50 PM

:) Non Apple routers are more difficult to setup. Then again, any router does require some computer knowledge. It's the stuff it's connected to that still takes time to understand.

What's going on?

The router can be setup so it's doing the DSL "dialing." PPPoE most likely.

How are you not able to logon? Your Macbook sees the wireless network?

If it's slower over wireless, it could mean you have a DSL connection that is faster than what wireless is capable of. There are home internet connections that offer much more than what wireless can currently do.

well, the netgear router that I bought is capable of doing 56 mbps, so i don't think it's the DSL speed higher than the router's capabilities. (although the ethernet cord that I connect with is capable of 100 mbps.

and I connect through the airport's little radar logo, it recognizes my network's name, although i couldn't log in because I couldn't click in "log in" button, it's not clickable.

Also, I have a question:

now that I'm in the OSX world, do I need the same armors (anti virus, anti spyware...etc)?

I know OSX is secure, but still I doubt it's that secure.:biggrin:

ares

07-26-2006, 06:03 PM

well, the netgear router that I bought is capable of doing 56 mbps, so i don't think it's the DSL speed higher than the router's capabilities. (although the ethernet cord that I connect with is capable of 100 mbps.

Real world speeds of 802.11g are far far less. :)

and I connect through the airport's little radar logo, it recognizes my network's name, although i couldn't log in because I couldn't click in "log in" button, it's not clickable.

You selec the network and you're able to type a password? If you're manually selecting the type of wireless network, OS X only lets you click OK when the password is the right length. When it autodetects the type, I think OK is always selectable.

now that I'm in the OSX world, do I need the same armors (anti virus, anti spyware...etc)?

not for now. There are pretty much no viruses out in the wild. As far as I know, everything so far has been proof of concept and never made it out into the real world. Eventually yes but I'm sure that time we'll also see more secure operating systems. Not enough security is built into any OS, yet.

For anti-virus, you could try Norton or Virex. ClamXav is free. Never tried it and I haven't worried about viruses ever since using a Mac. Though I've been in the computer industry before so I'm a bit more conscious of how things work.

OS X asks you for your password if you install a program or run anything that wants to make changes to the system. Changes to your own files, it lets you do. So whenever there is some malware that can damage more than just your files, it'll need to find some vulnerability or ask you for your password.

yoMAMA

07-26-2006, 06:13 PM

Real world speeds of 802.11g are far far less. :)

You selec the network and you're able to type a password? If you're manually selecting the type of wireless network, OS X only lets you click OK when the password is the right length. When it autodetects the type, I think OK is always selectable.

yes, it's the OK bottom!

I must have typed the wrong password. :wink:

not for now. There are pretty much no viruses out in the wild. As far as I know, everything so far has been proof of concept and never made it out into the real world. Eventually yes but I'm sure that time we'll also see more secure operating systems. Not enough security is built into any OS, yet.

For anti-virus, you could try Norton or Virex. ClamXav is free. Never tried it and I haven't worried about viruses ever since using a Mac. Though I've been in the computer industry before so I'm a bit more conscious of how things work.

OS X asks you for your password if you install a program or run anything that wants to make changes to the system. Changes to your own files, it lets you do. So whenever there is some malware that can damage more than just your files, it'll need to find some vulnerability or ask you for your password.

That's good to know.

other than some minor issues/annoyances (such as not being able to double click on the laptop pad-although I heard theres a clever trick to override it), overall I love my macbook experience.

OSX runs like a dream (although I'm still getting used to it, and prob. will ask you and other mac enthusiasts a billion questions).

I don't miss windows one bit :biggrin: :smile:

ares

07-28-2006, 07:16 AM

other than some minor issues/annoyances (such as not being able to double click on the laptop pad-although I heard theres a clever trick to override it), overall I love my macbook experience.

Double clicking works. As far as I know, there are no settings to change.

OSX runs like a dream (although I'm still getting used to it, and prob. will ask you and other mac enthusiasts a billion questions).

I don't miss windows one bit :biggrin: :smile:

Glad you like it. I really really recommend getting the book Mac OS X Killer Tips. You could get general usage books; this one shows the tips to really make you super efficient.

Apple has so many hidden interface tricks. You know clicking the red button or pressing command-W will close a window. did you know holding down option while clicking or pressing command-option-W will close all windows within an app? You could have 20 Safari windows and close them all at the same time.

Get the book.

Shinkai

07-28-2006, 08:40 AM

You could have 20 Safari windows and close them all at the same time.

You should never have more than 2-3 windows open for any web browser in my opinion. You might want to check out Safaristand (freeware) or Saft (payware) for omniweb style tabs and session saver. Shiira 2.0 (http://www.duggmirror.com/apple/Meet_the_next-generation_browser_for_the_Mac_Shiira_2.0/) (web browser) is coming some time in the future. There is a nightly beta build but interface is in Japanese, so I would recommend you to wait for the final release.

OSX is designed to be intuitive. I guess if you want to be more efficient, then definitely get a book. Personally I've rarely used spotlight, automator, or other interface keyboard tricks.

ares

07-28-2006, 08:47 AM

Safaristand, Saft, and PithHelmet are great Safari extensions. I use them all.

I have tons of browser windows open all the time. I might also have many windows open in some other app. Why not be able to close them all in one step.

The shortcuts available go so far beyond just this. It all depends on how much time you want to save.

hooligan

08-08-2006, 10:18 AM

Enable WPA and think of a random 63 digit passkey.

Turn on MAC Address Filtering.

Don't broadcast your SSID.

This will keep out most of the script kiddies. And that's about as much as you can do to secure your wireless.

You can also use a VPN, but I don't have very much knowledge about that.

bluemonq

08-08-2006, 12:35 PM

WPA-PSK is still breakable by script kiddies if they're willing to put it in a background process, while going after other routers. There are services that help personal users implement VPN, and judging from the flaw inherent in MacBooks, you should seriously consider subscribing to it at least until it's fixed. The downside is that your connection will slow a bit; the upside is that you can turn off WPA, removing that particular slowdown. Plus, it works everywhere, so if you're at a library or cafe and you need to use wireless you're still secured. Witopia gets good reviews; runs $40 a year.

http://www.witopia.net/personalmore.html

OSX is designed to be intuitive. I guess if you want to be more efficient, then definitely get a book. Personally I've rarely used spotlight, automator, or other interface keyboard tricks.
That's great. It doesn't mean that other people wouldn't find them useful. The entire point of building OSX on Unix - excuse me, Unix-like foundation was so that power users can do things in a more efficient way. At least that's what the Apple ads said when it came out; I might be wrong :rolleyes:

hooligan

08-08-2006, 12:54 PM

WPA-PSK is still breakable by script kiddies if they're willing to put it in a background process, while going after other routers. There are services that help personal users implement VPN, and judging from the flaw inherent in MacBooks, you should seriously consider subscribing to it at least until it's fixed. The downside is that your connection will slow a bit; the upside is that you can turn off WPA, removing that particular slowdown. Plus, it works everywhere, so if you're at a library or cafe and you need to use wireless you're still secured. Witopia gets good reviews; runs $40 a year.

http://www.witopia.net/personalmore.html

That's great. It doesn't mean that other people wouldn't find them useful. The entire point of building OSX on Unix - excuse me, Unix-like foundation was so that power users can do things in a more efficient way. At least that's what the Apple ads said when it came out; I might be wrong :rolleyes:
Yeah, guess what encryption I'm running, WEP 64 bits. I need to talk to the guy who has that router. This is dumb.

As for WPA-PSK, yeah, but the only other encryption that's available now is only on enterprise equipment that's probably the most secure, isn't it? Not available to local consumers. Aren't there freeware VPNs?

bluemonq

08-08-2006, 01:25 PM

Aircrack (http://freshmeat.net/projects/aircrack/?branch_id=52141&release_id=204121)
How to crack WEP (http://www.tomsnetworking.com/2005/05/18/how_to_crack_wep_/)
I'll need to dig through my old bookmarks to find the instructions for cracking WPA, but it's definitely doable.

WPA2 is more secure than WPA (having fixed the flaw in initialization) and is available to consumers; I know for sure that it's on recent (past year or so) Linksys consumer/prosumer-level routers.

As for VPN, yes there is freeware available, but it takes time to setup a properly-secured VPN, and for people who buy MacBooks because they don't want to deal with technical issues like crashes and dlls, they probably wouldn't be the type to want to go through that sort of stuff (no condescension intended, yoMAMA). $40 a year ain't bad.

hooligan

08-08-2006, 02:05 PM

bluemonq

08-08-2006, 03:14 PM

Netgear, then. It's available on their RangeMax line I think.