Do you have more than one computer at home? More and more people are setting up home networks, so that their laptops can talk to their desktops, and both can talk to their printers. If you think it's time to introduce your computers to each other, watch this episode.
Guests
Trenton Raygor
Trenton Raygor
Trenton works as a field administration support technician at the University of Minnesota's Academic and Distributed Computing Services. He is a graduate of Minnesota State University, Mankato (MSU) with a bachelor's degree in computer and information sciences. He spent the majority of his college career working for the office of instructional technology supporting and building the MSU wired and wireless data networks. For the past year, Trenton has also been serving as the network administrator for a small non-profit organization.
Peter Oberg
Peter Oberg
Peter works at the University of Minnesota for Academic and Distributed Computing Services. He has been employed at the University since 1983 and has provided both mainframe and microcomputer software and hardware support to staff members, faculty members, and students. Pete is known to some people at the University as "the guy who goes around on rollerblades, installing the wireless network."
For Your Files
Trenton Raygor said there are multiple reasons you may want to have a home network:
"You might want to share files between multiple computers that are in your home, or share printers. Some printers are actually network ready; they'll be equipped with a network interface card. You also have the option when you're setting up a printer to share it. Just make sure you have file and printer sharing turned on."
Trenton explained the difference between an intranet and internet:
"An intranet is something that's kind of self-contained. An internet is a network that has the option to talk to other networks."
Trenton told us that if you are connecting computers to the Internet you should use the firewall that comes built in to Macintosh and XP machines.
"There are other firewall products out there as well. You can use Symantec Security, which has a firewall built in. Also keep in mind when you're turning on file and printer sharing, it's not the most secure thing."
Peter Oberg told us that when you set up your wireless network you need to keep one thing in mind:
"Location, location, location—so that wherever you are, the signal strength emanating from these units is strong enough. That will usually be in the middle of a house or an apartment complex. So if you have a rambler-style home, it would be best not to put it at one end of the house. Put it in the middle."
Peter also cautioned that there are items in everyone's home that use radio frequencies and can interfere with your wireless network:
"Number one is the portable phones—these transmit in the same frequency. Microwave ovens also send out radio frequencies that can interrupt the transmission of your wireless unit. Baby monitors work on the same radio frequencies as well. And finally those that are in apartments where you might have surveillance equipment, that's often wireless as well and that's fairly new now as far as being recognized as an interference problem."
Lastly, Pete discussed how you can limit those who can use your wireless environment:
"You can set a password. This has moved to a tech protocol called WPA (wi-fi protected access). This increases the encryption of the information that is sent over the airwaves, and it does not allow people to easily capture the packets that are being sent over from the laptop to your wireless device."
Access Point
A piece of hardware that acts as a hub and allows users to connect wirelessly to a network.
Intranet
A network that is internal to an organization.
Network Interface Card (NIC)
An electronic card that you install in your computer or printer to enable it to connect to a network.
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)
A Wi-Fi standard that encrypts information being sent over the airwaves.