The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    How to secure my lappy for wireless at school?

    Discussion in 'Networking and Wireless' started by EricDB, Sep 15, 2006.

  1. EricDB

    EricDB Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    116
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I've got a Dell M1210 on order (woohoo!), and I'm trying to educate myself on wireless security before it arrives. I have a wireless network at home, and I will want to have file sharing enabled there. However, I do NOT want to hop on the WiFi at school and have my files open for people to browse.

    Is there a guide somewhere that will tell me what settings I need to make so that I can access WiFi at school without opening up my PC, while still allowing me to do file sharing on my wireless network at home?

    Thanks!
     
    EricDB, Sep 15, 2006
    #1
  2. root

    root Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    12
    Messages:
    143
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    do you have xp pro?
     
    root, Sep 15, 2006
    #2
  3. EricDB

    EricDB Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    116
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    No, I ordered it with MCE.
     
    EricDB, Sep 15, 2006
    #3
  4. drumfu

    drumfu super modfu

    Reputations:
    436
    Messages:
    3,651
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    1. firewall ON
    2. sharing OFF

    that's about it
     
    drumfu, Sep 15, 2006
    #4
  5. EricDB

    EricDB Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    116
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Thanks for the replies. Does that mean I'll have to manually change my settings when I get home, and again when I leave for school? Or can I automatically detect which network I'm on, and set my security policy accordingly?
     
    EricDB, Sep 15, 2006
    #5
  6. Reezin14

    Reezin14 Crimson Mantle Commander

    Reputations:
    365
    Messages:
    934
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    If everything is setup properly it should automatically detect the networks with no problems as long as you have the right security settings (WEP orWAP).It will tell you what networks are availible just click the one you want and set security policy.But make sure you do as drumfu says when your at school if you don't want to share files.
     
    Reezin14, Sep 15, 2006
    #6
  7. EricDB

    EricDB Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    116
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Ah, I think I see...so I can set policies per-network, then? That sounds ideal. Thanks again!
     
    EricDB, Sep 15, 2006
    #7
  8. blue68f100

    blue68f100 Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    1,020
    Messages:
    3,439
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    Make sure you change your wireless networks to only connect to prefered networks. The defaults is to connect to the any and all networks in the clear. Change it to connects to AP only.
     
    blue68f100, Sep 15, 2006
    #8