Go to a local computer store (Staples has some of the best values) and get a wireless network adapter and a wireless hub. The NetGear brand is my fav but they're all about teh same. The adapters are available as a PC card connector, USB connector, and probably, but I've not seen it, firewire connector. The wireless hubs plug in to any current hub on your wired network. You have to twiddle with the settings and use the built in security, if you care

But my built in paranoia says don’t ever transact bank stuff or anything employing a user name/password on a wireless network. Everything you do can be monitored by a 3rd party.

Worse, it's akin to a prosthetic device. Painful to the point of being indispensable once you have it.

I've used it and other BSD variants. Fast and secure, but many more application and hardware compatibility issues than Linux. For certain special purpose applications, it's tough to beat.

My current firewall of choice is FreeBSD based - m0n0wall (link here.) Incredibly elegant and secure design, fast, and easy to configure. If you're into VPN's or traffic shaping, it's the best of the freebies I've seen. You can run it on cheap commodity hardware (again - pay attention to the compatibility list), but I run it on a solid-state, flash based embedded platform (Soekris 4801.)

It's also great for securing wireless access - I just run a generic access point of the third NIC in a DMZ. The captive portal functionality is more secure and flexible than WEP or MAC based security.

I hear you on the security issue. It's so bad that we are not allowed to access any agency network if we're using a wireless-ready computer. My kid has access to 2 neighbor's networks because they have no pswd protection. Good thing she's honest. She told both neighbors and they don't care.

Other kid has moved out (thank you jayzuz!) and wants to access the university wirelss system where she's in school so I'm trying to help her out with that.

BTW Tracey, what's the max BAUD rate on wireless? Somebody told me it was pretty slow. I'm used to either T1's (3) at work or Cox Cable at home. I can no longer tolerate dial-up.

Bot

Depends...on who controls the wireless network, and how connections are made. If you don't know, paranoia can be your friend. However, if you are good about keeping your system patched and run a software firewall, the risk is pretty minimal when accessing secure sites such as financial institutions. Unsecure sites (such as here) are a different story...just don't be a dummy and use the same ID/PW at your bank as you do in community forums. :D

Even on an untrusted wireless network, any web surfing over 128-bit SSL is virtually impossible to crack. If you see the 'https" in the URL, and the "lock" icon in your browser, the chances of your traffic getting sniffed are virtually nil. All that can be monitored is where you went, the information in the pipe is not at risk.

Unless...your system becomes compromised. Which is the primary reason for the "no wireless" policies many companies have for road warriors. Sniffing of data shooting across the airwaves is not really a concern - encrypting this data using VPN's and/or SSL is trivial. The primary security concern lies in the increased vulnerability to attack when using an untrusted network. You have no idea who you're sharing the wireless network with, and many wireless access points are not behind a firewall - making you vulnerable to attack from anyone on the Internet. Given Microsoft's track record with remote Windows exploits, the risk is very real. Software firewalls help, but they are way less secure than a properly managed hardware firewall.

And, once your laptop is compromised, the VPN and SSL you count on to encrypt your data actually works to the attackers advantage. The laptop essentially becomes a trojan horse, allowing the possibility for a skilled attacker to have unfettered, and untraceable access over connections which are presumed to be secure.

I don’t work with wireless all that much. I've done 2x to be exact. But I think the 802.11 g is the current public spec and it is 53 or 54 million bps, depending on what sources you read. I saw a reference to an 802.11 “H” and “I” but think those are distance and power management related, enhancements -- meaning a quick search didn’t tell me what I was after and I didn’t want to read an 80 page .pdf

For comparison a dial up is theoretically about 56 kbps but never really hits that, an average 2 chanel ISDN is 128 kbps, an average DSL “pro” is 640 kbps, a is T1 is about 1.5 mpbs. By comparison an average business network will sustain 100 mbps and the newest office stuff is 1 gbps. So while wireless has merely to double to be on par with office networks, internet connectivity has a very long way to go.

What I'm talking about is signing on to someone else’s wireless access point. While its not my field of specialty and I'm not pretending to be a final authority on the subject, a computer running a packet sniffer that shares a hub with a wireless router can record all traffic passing through the router. While decoding the information is a different issue it isn't all that hard to do, given access to the encryption spec and some tools are readily available.

Unless one has a specialized security encryption firmware it’s all standard technology that readily available.

Agreed. I had a case recently where an office was subject to a so called man in the middle attack.

THats why I went to the far greater effort to pull cat5 cables in my house for a home network....houses here are close enough you have way too much risk with a wireless network....A wireless would have been far easier adn only a nominal extra cost..but peace of mind knowing nobody is on the street hacking in...or a neighbor is doing the same is worth far more.

Nope...not possible with 128-bit SSL, not even realistic with the outdated and rarely used 40-bit SSL. The last contest I read about took over 3 hours to break a 40-bit key - with 250 networked computers. 128-bit SSL can not be brute-force cracked with current computing technology; it's a mathematical impossibility given the number of key combinations. Most cryptography experts expect it to last at least another 10 years before computing power puts it at risk.

WEP encryption between a wireless card and access point is a different story - it's theoretically possible to crack it with something as simple as a sophisticated PDA, but it's still very time consuming and not a huge risk. Even then - if you have an SSL browser connection to your bank over a WEP connection, cracking the WEP does you no good - you still can't crack the SSL packets it contains.

As far as e-machines, I havent seen one e-machine that was not full of problems. you do get what you pay for in regards to that.

I myself either build them myself or go with dellw hich I have had great luck with.

The server I setup in my dad's office, a Dell poweredge server, has been up and running with only 5 reboots due to me doing some maintenance since it was purchased 2.5 years ago.

It has been running flawless. I recently upgraded it to server 2003 and it has been working beautifully.

Even the old Nt4 server has been up and running without problems for over 4 years, and I built that one.

Alon

Good advice. I think my Dell's problem might have been the transformer giving power to the screen -- though it didn't seem to power up at all -- w/ or w/o video. Can that transformer be replaced? I imagine it's hard to get into the guts of those things.

I've heard about the seperate cooling fan -- I'm going to check that out.

Are you saying that trying to repair a laptop is folly? Would it be worth it to buy a new hard drive around the expiration date?

You might have gone to B & O Espresso on Broadway, they were around then (maybe still). The "Exit" was originally on Brooklyn and NE 40th and after the owner died in '92, may God rest his soul, they moved up to 52nd and University Ave, but it wasn't the same, and it's gone now. It was quite the scene.