Need Basic wireless info

Hi all!

Can anyone show me a link to very basic info on wireless and laptops. I need to get a laptop and use it in my travels to access the web. I know very little about it.
i hope somebody is bored and feeling benificent tonight!

Thanks in advance, LOL, Crickette

 

Cricket, could you please post the make and model of your laptop, as well as the OS that you are using?

 

Thanks for responding. I thought had notification set up for this thread, guess not.

I ended up getting a toshiba satelite and a pc card and services.

I am running Windows XP SP2. I am not getting the best of connections with the card.
I am using ZA Suite and I hope the provider can tell me which ports to allow or IP's or programs I need to allow. I have been checking the logs and there is a certain one that keeps trying to get in, but without knowing they are actually supposed to, I don't want to allow them. Their name is not the same as my provider.

If you, or anyone knows about some hidden thing in XP that is holding back that connection, please let me know. I have checked the network connections folder and the card is listed and functional. It does connect, but I keep getting the "the page cannot be displayed" page, where ever I try to go. I have set permissions for those sites in IE and ZA. If I do get to a page it takes forever to load because the connection is so weak.

As for IE connection settings, I don't know if there is a proxy or if I should set it to auto configure. I tried it with auto off and with it on and it doesn't seem to matter.

I am kinda ticked that the provider didn't give me better info. I don't have a lot of time to work it all through this time. I have to pay for the darn thing. $649 after rebate for 15.4, with 512 ram, 1.8 Mhz and 80 G HD. It is realy nice. I am keeping it at work for now, for security reasons.

Thanks for any info I can get here. Thanks again, Crickette

 

here are some podcasts which pretty much explain it all, you can learn what you need to know from them then maybe CH can help with your setup

MAC address filtering, WEP encryption, and SSID hiding

WPA

VPN

VPN Pt 2

the perfect way to secure your connection on the road

wireless access points

OpenVPN

a new, free, VPN solution called Hamachi

 

With Zone Alarm, you are going to get a lot of reports of systems probing your computer. You get so many that it can easily make the novice paranoid. If Zone alarm is blocking it, I would not worry about it. It's the ones that get throught that you have to wory about. That is why most people recommend using a hardware firewall in conjuction with a software firewall. Applying all of your security patches as soon as they are released is also HIGHLY recommended.

As for your wireless connection. If your wireless router is in the same room, and you are still getting a poor connection, then it usually is means that something needs to be updated; the flash BIOS in the router, the flash BIOS network card, the BIOS of the computer, the network drivers on the computer, or all of these. I have seen these problems lots of times, and they can be a pain to troubleshoot for the novice.

As for proxy settings, in most cases you do not use them. My company requires us to use a proxy server, so the only way that I can get outside the company network is by using it. My ISP on the otherhand has a proxy server, but I choose not to use it. In your case, you would only want to use a proxy server if you want to put a layer of isolation between your computer and web sites that you are using (Please use Wikipedia link above for more info).

If you need more help on updating your systems, I need more specific information, such as make and model of the equipment, and drver versions that you are using.