WiFi users. I'm interested in getting Wifi but am worried about nefarious people messing

[applegrove]

with my downloads/uploads (can someone use your account to surf porn?). Tell me there are ways to keep evil people from using your account to dowload stuff. And if they do download or upload stuff using your account does it show up as going to their computer? I've had some really evil people messing with my life and don't want to give them an in to make me or my family look bad. They've messed with my phone number in the past to make me look like the one with the issues. I'm sure wifi would be an opportunity for them. New technology is always open to exploitation isn't it?

[CurtEastPoint]

1. If you use it at home, wireless routers are easily set up

to be private and passworded, encrypted and all that good stuff.

Now, if you're away and connect to a public one that's not encrypted, I guess people could snark it out.

[applegrove]

2. Thank you.

[sylveste]

3. you'll be fine,

use wpa2 encryption. and turn off your ssid broadcast if you're real paranoid.
here is a little buying guide if you're interested.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2388786,00.asp

[HopeHoops]

4. No need to worry. Use one of the security protocols.

WEP is fine. It works with M$, Mac, and Linux and isn't easy to break into. PM me if you need phone support to set it up. I've done it many times.

[hunter]

5. I got tired of family and friends asking for the wifi password so I leave it open.

Especially when my kids were teenagers and our house was always full of people and their electronic gadgets. (They're in college now.)

I'd walk to the kitchen in the middle of the night and wonder who was sleeping on the living room sofa. Which was the same as the house I grew up in, actually. You never really knew who'd open the bathroom door while you were waiting there. I remember banging on the bathroom door one morning thinking one of my siblings was being selfish, and this little old guy who looked like Gandhi opened the door, stepped out, bowed slightly and shuffled off down the hallway...

So for a few years now I've left our wifi open for anyone -- friends, family, neighbors, nefarious people in black SUVs parked on the street outside...

The computer I do my business on is hardwired and chokes off the wifi whenever I'm doing any heavy transfers. I've got no limits on data usage because the DSL connection I have ain't that great. It was originally a dry loop direct to my ISP long before AT&T even offered DSL. I think the line is now a tiny splinter in AT&T's foot, and they'd much rather sell me DSL direct, but I like being a splinter.

I kicked Comcast out of our house a long time ago, before digital cable, back when it was just 57 channels, nothing on...

[applegrove]

6. I was serious about nepharious people in my life. I do have a pschopath in it. He has

messed with my phone as well as everything else in my life. There are strange people who walk into my brother's back yard at times. My life is not a safe one. Thanks for your experience though.

[hunter]

7. If you have encryption on, does that make you LESS safe?

Say somebody gets your password or breaks your encryption... it makes it easier for whoever you are worried about to claim it was you doing the nefarious things even if it was them using the stolen password.

All the stuff that goes across an internet connection can be logged at various places along the way, otherwise computers couldn't connect with one another. But changing the identity and address of one computer to replicate another is easy too.

But that probably makes you worry more... sorry.

If you set up your wifi with good encryption and use strong passwords for your ordinary business, you are pretty safe. If you are really worried sbout it and you've got a computer with an ethernet port, just buy a really long cable, and don't use wifi at all. You ought to be able to turn wifi off however you are connected to the internet.

[applegrove]

8. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I do feel safer for the detailed information

you give me. Yes I can make the password really difficult to break. And yes I can turn the Wifi off when it is not in use. Both are great ideas. I knew nothing about all this but now feel better for knowing the details.

[hunter]

9. You can also specify which machines can connect and exclude others.

In the wifi setup menu it will be called something like "Wireless MAC filtering"

You can exclude all machines except your own from connecting to your wifi.

Here (for example) are the instructions for 2wire modems:

http://support.2wire.com/?page=view&article=47

[applegrove]

10. Bookmarked!