How secure is it booting up with the wifi on? Should I boot up my laptop, enter the password to login to the OS (XP/Vista), wait for the firewall/av programs to load, and then turn on the wifi to connect to an encrypted wireless router? Or would it be okay in terms of security to simply leave the wifi on when I boot up and enter the password to login?
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You'll be fine. Entering your OS password is just so you can access your files.
You probably won't even be connected to the router until it's almost fully booted anyways. -
It is perfectly safe and secure.
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Alright, so it's me being paranoid then. It's just that normally when I login with the wifi on, I get connected to the wireless network first (at least the taskbar icon shows as connected) and my firewall/av programs load up afterwards (ie. the firewall/av icons show up after the wireless network icon). I didn't think that seemed as secure.
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Remember that the router has a built in hardware firewall that's infinitely better than the software one you're running. And yes, you're being way to paranoid for a few seconds of being online w.o and AV running (especially with a previously mentioned hardware firewall).
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Did you watch Die Hard 4?
jk
Thanks all. -
@OP: Yes you are being paranoid.
How secure is booting with the wifi on?
Discussion in 'Networking and Wireless' started by techNOguy, Dec 20, 2007.