Girl Geekette dotNet

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Discussing wireless networks can be a very broad subject. It can lead to many different subjects. One of the best ways I have found to sum it all up - the good and the bad - is by presenting it as a movie. Although this movie covers the very basics of wireless networks, it is one that the average person might even discover a few new things about wireless networking and what it can do.

There are many people like John Hancock in this world. They hear about the benefits of Wireless Networking and decide it is a great opportunity. As mentioned earlier, it can be a break from the "Corded World". It is easy to set up most wireless connections out of the box. Technology has pretty much made them plug and play. Most of the time, you do not have to have much knowledge of what goes into wireless to get it to work. Answer a few questions in the setup about how you normally connect to the internet and you are on.

In the first article, it was mentioned that the Wireless Access point he had bought also had a firewall built into it. So, he did not even blink twice when his Norton Firewall alerted him the the fact that someone else was on the network. This other computer that joined the network might have broadcast a "HELLO" to other computers on the network to see if there were any other computers on the network that answered. This is most likely what set off the alarm on Norton’s Firewall on John’s computer.

By leaving his wireless connection open, John left it wide open for anyone within range to connect to the wireless internet connction. Maybe the next door neighbour or the neighbour across the street accidentally got on the wireless networking thinking it was their own. It could be a number of things. In John’s eyes, this was nothing to worry about. He went right on doing what he was doing becuase he figured he was protected from anything by the "Firewall" of his wireless router. What he did not consider was that it was someone ON his network that might have triggered the alert, not someone from the internet where he is protected.