Wireless Rounter Advice Appreciated

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Hey Folks,

Just installed a wireless router.

I don't know much about them. How far can someone access the internet thru a wireless router?

Can someone access our computers with the router?

Is securing the network recommended? I have it working right out of the box now.

And to tell you the truth, I know so little about networks that I probably don't even know what questions to ask, so any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Dave
  • Profile picture of the author Dave Patterson
    Secure FOR SURE.

    I can check for wireless networks now and see no less than 8 (FOUR of which are not secured meaning I could use them instead of paying Comcast) from my living room. Of course I live near a college and students rent houses all around me...

    If I take my laptop outside and down next to the street I can pick up a McDonalds WIFI which is almost half a block away.
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  • Profile picture of the author Roaddog
    Depending on what they included in your brand

    two fairly important things are, don't use wep, been compromised for a while,
    use the tkip/aes for encryption.

    also on the ssid...don't use anything identifiable...even secured, anyone looking for a signal can read it.

    I was gone for a couple of months one time my wife had someone (a pro, supposedly) install a new router,
    I go to check the ssid and it's the address of the house..couldn't believe it.

    It's now in Tagalog...walang pera dito (no money here) my Filipino neighbors must get a kick out of that.. lol

    If I think of anything else I'll put it in the thread...I haven't really had to mess with it for awhile now.

    Jim
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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by Roaddog View Post

      Depending on what they included in your brand

      two fairly important things are, don't use wep, been compromised for a while,
      use the tkip/aes for encryption.

      also on the ssid...don't use anything identifiable...even secured, anyone looking for a signal can read it.

      I was gone for a couple of months one time my wife had someone (a pro, supposedly) install a new router,
      I go to check the ssid and it's the address of the house..couldn't believe it.

      It's now in Tagalog...walang pera dito (no money here) my Filipino neighbors must get a kick out of that.. lol

      If I think of anything else I'll put it in the thread...I haven't really had to mess with it for awhile now.

      Jim
      WOW, when you said "don't make it something identifiable", I thought WHY NOT? Almost EVERYONE does that! But YEAH! DON'T use YOUR name, something like 3 kids, address, or phone number. And CERTAINLY don't use ssn or birthdate! Your computer name, with the above restrictions, company name, unless you are a big company someone might want to hack, etc... may be fine. Heck, one customer had a password of reddog. If I knew about where she lived, I could have found her home. And some people look for kids.

      BTW a neighbor here installed a garage door for me, because I let him have free use of the space, and set up the door opener with like 3404 and mentioned it was the last four numbers on my phone number, so NOBODY would guess it. Guess what? and we BOTH had a laugh at this! My address is like 34040! I wanted to get a phone number that matched my home! But I doubt anyone would try to steal, etc... I am known for being gone for long spans of time, but I have been home for almost an entire month now. I may not have been away from the house for more than 3 hours at any time the whole month! And if someone comes in at night, they COULD get shot.

      BTW one person here has one named linksys. Outside of being too general, and MAYBE showing what it is so hacks can be tried, what is wrong with that? Of course, it COULD be a sort of honeypot! If 3 say linksys, and you pick the wrong one, they could intercept the password.

      Out of 20 here, only about 4 are identifiable in any way. With full names or possible last names. Most are like 5 char alphanumeric. We have frank, linksys, and thehouse!

      Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Algorithms
    As others have said, if you have a wireless router, you need to secure it. If not, your neighbors or anyone passing through can hop onto your network.

    It amazes me as well the names people give to their networks. One of my neighbors uses his last name, another uses his house adddress, and others refuse to change it from the default dlink, linksys, etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author David Maschke
    Thanks guys,

    I was able to set up a secured network. Didn't think I could do it, but I guess they made it to be simple.

    Also gave it a name that did not identify who we were, which I would not have known without your help.

    Dave
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  • Profile picture of the author David Maschke
    One more question,

    Looking at my logs, I am seeing DoS attacks.

    Is that anything to be concerned about?
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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by David Maschke View Post

      One more question,

      Looking at my logs, I am seeing DoS attacks.

      Is that anything to be concerned about?
      That shouldn't really be possible from outside. Check for the source. They may come from your system, or another port they went through. I'm assuming of course that you mean on your side of the router. AND, if you have a routable address setup on your side, that is DIFFERENT.

      Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author TG12
      Originally Posted by David Maschke View Post

      One more question,

      Looking at my logs, I am seeing DoS attacks.

      Is that anything to be concerned about?
      Definitely, Well I would be anyway its my job to worry about these things. You need to scan all your PC's for spyware with something like MalwareBytes. You need to reboot your router to get a different IP address so that DoS will stop
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    • Originally Posted by David Maschke View Post

      One more question,

      Looking at my logs, I am seeing DoS attacks.

      Is that anything to be concerned about?
      If you have hi-speed internet, and it's on 24/7, you will get noticed, and you'll be getting quite a few of those, among others. That's why you need a good, up-to-date firewall. BTW, if you have a PC, do NOT use the one supplied by Windows. It's total crap, so find yourself a good one.

      If money is an issue, Comodo Internet Security is a good free one. MalwareBytes the poster above mentioned is also an excellent free software. Those are the two I have been using for the last 3 years, and I've never had a successful intrusion yet. MANY have tried, but none have succeeded.
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  • Profile picture of the author dellinqwartz
    The server is easy to connect and networks a advanced ambit of USB peripherals including alien printers, MFPs, scanners, and USB storage devices including hard disk drivers and card readers by converting it from USB to Ethernet for instant network connectivity.
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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by dellinqwartz View Post

      The server is easy to connect and networks a advanced ambit of USB peripherals including alien printers, MFPs, scanners, and USB storage devices including hard disk drivers and card readers by converting it from USB to Ethernet for instant network connectivity.
      If you replaced the ar in your handle with en, it would make more sense.
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    • Originally Posted by dellinqwartz View Post

      The server is easy to connect and networks a advanced ambit of USB peripherals including alien printers, MFPs, scanners, and USB storage devices including hard disk drivers and card readers by converting it from USB to Ethernet for instant network connectivity.
      And what does that have to do with his questions?
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  • Profile picture of the author Virtualghost
    Secure is good tried out a laptop my mom received and took outside to pick an open wifi,found one but the funniest thing was the guy we tapped into had some alarm system well the bells and whistles went off at the back of his house made a mad dasher inside can't say I seen that before.My brother and I laughed about it my mom well not amused.Mines secure to the point my high tech brother who runs computer networks for big banks in Bermuda couldn't even crack the code.
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