Laptop with wireless broadband - Setup & Security

[brayleyboy]

Hi everyone

Finally bowed to the pressure from the missus to get online at home

Have just ordered a new dell laptop and signed up for wireless broadband so am waiting for the computer to be delivered.

It is wireless ready and comes with a free router.

Just had two quick questions.

1) How easy is it likely to be to set up the wireless internet (i.e. do I just plug it in and go)

2) and more importantly what sort of internet security/firewall/virus protection should I be looking to get (you can probably tell from this that I know little about such things)

Its basically going to be used for basic personal wordprocessing/spreadsheets and to surf the web (facebook/hotmail/youtube etc).

I'm just wary as my parents computer has gradually slowed down almost to a halt since they got broadband even though they had some virus protection.

Ideally i'd like it to be like fort knox but don't really want to spend more than £75 suring it up.

[skiking]

It should be as simple as plug'n'play with the router and being able to surf the net.

However, you may need to go through a registration/set up process depending on your ISP - Who is it BTW ?

I would highly recommend setting security on your router. This stops people sitting outside your house and using your bandwidth to surf the net (altho' it is illegal!). Don't know the type of router you have so can't give specific answer but you will have a 'security settings' as part of the routers software. Go into this and set one of the security levels. WEP is popular altho' not as secure as some of the newer ones. There is a WEP2 thats supposed to be sufficient. Once you've set the security you will need to add the 'Key' to your laptops wireless connection software. Just go through the options or properties and you will find it!

If you give the specific suppliers of your router/ISP I'm sure there will be someone on here who has got the same and will be able to guide you step-by-step

[brayleyboy]

I've signed up to AOL on their wireless plus plan. Not sure what router they are providing (although somebody may know based upon what they normally dish out)

I've had a look on AOL and they seem to offer free McAfee Firewall, a spyware programme, and either a £3 a month subscription to McAfee virus protection or a recommended free one (AVG AntiVirus). Are these any good or should I be looking to buy one of these all in one security suites bearing in mind I'm no expert with computers (although reasonably literate as a user) and the other half even less so.

[RichieP]

AOL tend to provide Netgear modem/routers and they are fairly straight forward to set up if you want to use the CD that comes with it. WPA-PSK is the stronger security at the moment so use that. Enter a passphrase of random letters and numbers. When your laptop 'sees' available wireless networks and you click Connect, you will be asked for the network key that you entered as the passphrase earlier. Once entered, the computer rememberes it.

As for security, some of the all-in-one security suites tend to be a bit bloated and slow your system down. Norton have improved this with 360, but so they should for the amount of money they want for it.

If it were me, I'd use a combination of freeware, eg AVG Antivirus, Spybot (use the Teatimer for real-time protection) and a decent firewall like Zone Alarm.

[brayleyboy]

Thanks for the replies re malware protection.

I have another couple of questions though.

Obviously AOL will provide me with some software to install and use for the internet. But I've heard that it can gobble up a lot of resources and cause problems.

1) can I set it up to just connect through internet explorer without installing the AOL software (how easy is this?)

2) what will I be losing if I dont install AOL? (i.e. does it provide some functionality that I might actually want?)

[Slugster]

Obviously AOL will provide me with some software to install and use for the internet. But I've heard that it can gobble up a lot of resources and cause problems.

Oh yes - you are 100% right.

I'm with BT and their 'helpful' installation disk installs so much crap that your 'puter then takes a month to start. And it starts telling you how to do stuff and frankly drives me apeshit.

As long as you are fairly competent at fiddling with the network settings and internet explorer settings, there is nothing to stop you connecting directly to the internet.

Even if you are not, there are plenty of folk here who will offer to help.

But all the above is based on BT. Dad is with NTL and I pulled the same stunt with his 'puter.

But I've heard AOL can be control freaks so somebody with AOL specific experience is best placed to help you.

The only thing that might cause problems is getting to your email if you don't follow their path LOL. Most of the ISP's try to push folk to web/browser based email which means all your mail sits on their servers, you just look at it.

I don't like this so I set something up called POP email and used Outlook Express to download my emails onto my PC.

Problems is if the PC dies all your email can go phut along with your data.

Let us know if any of the above is of any interest and I can go into more detail.

[brayleyboy]

Thanks for replying so quickly - It is all of interest.

But specifically.....

I'm not worried too much about email as we will not use any email address/account that comes with the ISP. We both have work accounts that we use on a separate work laptop and yahoo accounts that are accessed on the internet.

I'd be interested to know how you adjust the internet explorer settings to hook straight up to the wireless router rather than use the install disk. I'm areasonably good 'user' (i.e. I can follow instructions) but wouldn't know where to start!

[Slugster]

Also one thing I would strongly recommend is to change the default admin password on your router.

All the defaults for all the models are posted on the web and if somebody does get onto your WLAN then they could have real fun.

BTW, what RichieP said about using WPA is correct.

Leave WEP well alone, it is very easy to crack with downloadable free tools. Don't know about WEP2

Change the encryption to WPA-PSK and change the password to a random collection of numbers and upper and lower characters as he says. DO NOT use real words or names, this makes it easier for folk to carry out dictionary attacks - where streams of real words are sent to your router hoping one of them hits home.

If you use random characters a brute force attack where every possible combination of every character has to be done. And this takes for ever.

The geeks seem to agree that a 31 character WPA key is unbreakable as a brute force attack would take longer than the predicted life of the universe. Don't laugh everybody has to have a hobby...

BTW all this talk about cracking wireless security is a bit pointless.

It's very unlikely that anybody here is of interest to the security services to the extent that they will try to hack you.

And if you were, they would not hack your router, they would just trundle up to your ISP and force then to hand over all your traffic.

All you are trying to do is stop a saddo on the same street using your broadband for a) free or b) downloading kiddy porn - which incidentally you would be liable for.

[Slugster]

I'd be interested to know how you adjust the internet explorer settings to hook straight up to the wireless router rather than use the install disk. I'm areasonably good 'user' (i.e. I can follow instructions) but wouldn't know where to start!

The only thing I can't tell you for sure is if you have to use AOL's disk to configure your router.

Once we get past that bit we can get on with it.

One question, before you do anything....

Are you talking to us on the 'puter you want to play with, or are you wasting works valuable time and electricity

We don't want to cut you off from the folk trying to help LOL...

[brayleyboy]

Fistly I am on works computer but 1) I'm taking a break 2) The way i see it the quicker I get my personal BB connection up and running the less I'll have to use theirs.

I have no idea about whether I need the AOL software to configure the router. I'm expecting the router in the post this week with the AOL welcome set up pack thingy, was just doing some research in advance!

[Slugster]

OK, lets see if somebody here can answer that question with 100% confidence.

Then we can have a crack at it.

[RichieP]

No you don't need to use the AOL CD, and as has been mentioned, it does install bloated software. I just suggested using the CD as it's a bit easier.

Post back here when you get it and I'll go through the steps to set it up manually using Internet Explorer.

[brayleyboy]

OK, I now have my net gear router and wireless ready laptop (windows vista basic).

As I've mentioned I'd prefer not to use AOLs easy install disc as I dont want all their cr*p on my system.

Unfortunately this will be my first and only internet connection at home so I'll have to take instructions home from work (where I am now) and try them out.

So I can get as far as booting up the lappy and I assume opening internet explorer, selecting tools>options>connections (at a guess). But once I've got this far I'll be stuck!

How do I go about getting the computer to talk to the router and make sure the router is secure? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

As soon as I have the connection up and running the first thing I'll do is download all the antivirus/firewall/syware that has been suggested.

Thanks

[Selfbuild 007]

You do not need to use the Aol software as long as you can access your router. Plug everything in as requested in the Startup. Have a look at the bottom of the router it may have an IP address so you can access it via a web browser.. Use an RJ45 cable from your lappie into one of the ethernet ports on the router as this is easier to configure than stright into wireless

You will need the router settings from your ISP. You may find these on their website or by calling. They should give you them. The only problem with AOL is that you can't POP e-mail onto outlook unless you have their premium account.

If your router has an IP adddress on the bottom type this into your browser like this

Example

http://192.168.1.1

it should open the router logon

username is usually admin
password is usually admin or password.

Once in you will access the setup menu, this is where you need the router settings. There is usually only one page to install the settings and account info. There should also be a tab stating Wireless Settings or wap enter these to configure your AP.

Let me know make and model of the router and I can assist further, even if you want me to phone you and talk you through it. Once you have done one, you will be an expert and able to help others in the future lol

DON'T INSTALL THE DISK. AOL IS CRAP FROM THE DISK

[brayleyboy]

Many thanks for your help. I've been doing a little research into this to try and work it out.

I havent had a go yet, but I think I'll have no problem connecting my computer to the router via the ethernet cable (which they provide) and accessing the router set up page (The IP address is supplied).

When you talk about router settings I assume you are talking about this lot that i got off the AOL website:

Connection Protocol: PPPoE
VPI: 0
VCI: 38
Note that sometimes you will be asked for both figures together (VPI/VCI). In that instance, you enter them separated by a comma: 0,38
Username: yourscreenname@aol.com
Password: youraolpassword
MTU Setting: MTU (Maximum Transfer Unit) defines the largest data packet size you can transmit in one go across a network. The AOL network runs at an MTU of 1450. Many routers have inbuilt auto-configurations where the hardware identifies that the AOL traffic has an MTU of 1450 and dynamically adjusts. Alternatively you may have to manually change the MTU setting on the modem router.
If the router hardware does not have this facility, the MTU setting can manually be changed on the computer to 1450.
You can change the MTU setting on your computer by using DrTCP. This is a free software utility that is a shortcut to editing your registry. This is available at: http://www.broadbandreports.com/drtcp.
MRU Setting: MRU (Maximum Routing Unit) is required by some modem routers and should be set to the same value as the MTU of 1450.
MSS Setting: MSS (Maximum Segment Size) is required by some modem routers and dynamically adjusts the packet size to fit the MTU. It should be set to 1410.
Wireless Settings:
When configuring a wireless router, you may also be prompted for the following:
• SSID: This is the 'name' of the router that you are using and is used by wireless adapters when they attempt to establish a connection.
• WEP Key: The WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) key is the equivalent of a password on your router. Depending on your setup, it may be necessary to define one of these and ensure that any wireless adapters that connect to the router have the same key in their settings.
• Network Type: There are a number of possible choices available here, but, if the option is available, you should choose Base Station.

Sorry thaere's a lot there.

Once I've put all that in and set up the WAP (rather than WEP as above), I'm sure my router supports it (its a netgear DG834G i think) I assume its a simple case of unplugging the lappy from the router and trying to make a connection and inputting the WAP key/password that I chose?

Many thanks for the offer of a walkthrough, I might yet need it! I'll PM/email you if I am having trouble.

Cheers