General network questions

My PC supports 801 b and g. How can I tell which is
being used on my wireless network?
WEP and WPA - how can I tell which one I am using?
I have heard WAP is stronger? Does it make a difference for a home
network? (tech rep says no.)
Can I use more than 10 characters in my 40 bit password? Is it case
sensitive?
Do I need a firewall on my notebook if my router has a firewall?

I can't answer all of your questions, but here's what I do know:

If you are connecting at 54meg you are connected on a G network (B is 11m).
WPA is definitely better, probably no big deal if you have other security
measures in place.
You should run a software firewall on your notebook, even if your router has
a firewall, reason being the router firewall filters inbound, not outbound
traffic (usually). So if you get a Trojan and you don't run a software
firewall you'll never know it. I use the free Zone Alarm, it is quite good,
in my opinion.

Joseph




"old guy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:tEMLd.4878$(E-Mail Removed)...
> My PC supports 801 b and g. How can I tell which is
> being used on my wireless network?
> WEP and WPA - how can I tell which one I am using?
> I have heard WAP is stronger? Does it make a difference for a home
> network? (tech rep says no.)
> Can I use more than 10 characters in my 40 bit password? Is it case
> sensitive?
> Do I need a firewall on my notebook if my router has a firewall?

Joseph Stewart wrote:
> I can't answer all of your questions, but here's what I do know:
>
> If you are connecting at 54meg you are connected on a G network (B is 11m).
> WPA is definitely better, probably no big deal if you have other security
> measures in place.
> You should run a software firewall on your notebook, even if your router has
> a firewall, reason being the router firewall filters inbound, not outbound
> traffic (usually). So if you get a Trojan and you don't run a software
> firewall you'll never know it. I use the free Zone Alarm, it is quite good,
> in my opinion.
>
> Joseph
>
>
>
>
> "old guy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:tEMLd.4878$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>>My PC supports 801 b and g. How can I tell which is
>>being used on my wireless network?
>>WEP and WPA - how can I tell which one I am using?
>>I have heard WAP is stronger? Does it make a difference for a home
>>network? (tech rep says no.)
>>Can I use more than 10 characters in my 40 bit password? Is it case
>>sensitive?
>>Do I need a firewall on my notebook if my router has a firewall?
>
>
>
Joseph,
Thanks. Next obvious question. How do I know if I'm running 54 or
11M? I get the impression I don't set this on the router/PC/notebook.

Hi

If you would like a little general education in the matters that you asked
about, read the content of the following Links.

Internet - Basic protection: http://www.ezlan.net/firewall.html

Wireless - Basic Security: http://www.ezlan.net/Wireless_Security.html

As far as Wireless "Speed", if would like to know the real "story".

Start by putting Wireless client (Computer) close to the source(Wireless
Router).

801.11b is rated 11Mb/sec in reality it would provide about 6-8Mb/sec.

Translating 8b (bit) =1B (Byte) it means about 700KB/sec to 1000KB/sec.

I.e. if you transfer a 10MB file from the Wireless computer to a Wired
computer that is on the same Router, it should take about 15 - 10 sec. to
transfer the file.

802.11g is rated 54Mb/sec. in reality it would provide about 16-22Mb/sec.

I.e. transfer rate of 2MB/sec. 2.7MB/sec. same file as above should take
4 - 5 sec. to transfer.

All numbers are approximate for demonstration purposes YMMV according to
your system actual capacity and tuning.

Jack (MS, MVP-Networking).







"old guy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Joseph Stewart wrote:
> > I can't answer all of your questions, but here's what I do know:
> >
> > If you are connecting at 54meg you are connected on a G network (B is
11m).
> > WPA is definitely better, probably no big deal if you have other
security
> > measures in place.
> > You should run a software firewall on your notebook, even if your router
has
> > a firewall, reason being the router firewall filters inbound, not
outbound
> > traffic (usually). So if you get a Trojan and you don't run a software
> > firewall you'll never know it. I use the free Zone Alarm, it is quite
good,
> > in my opinion.
> >
> > Joseph
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > "old guy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > news:tEMLd.4878$(E-Mail Removed)...
> >
> >>My PC supports 801 b and g. How can I tell which is
> >>being used on my wireless network?
> >>WEP and WPA - how can I tell which one I am using?
> >>I have heard WAP is stronger? Does it make a difference for a home
> >>network? (tech rep says no.)
> >>Can I use more than 10 characters in my 40 bit password? Is it case
> >>sensitive?
> >>Do I need a firewall on my notebook if my router has a firewall?
> >
> >
> >
> Joseph,
> Thanks. Next obvious question. How do I know if I'm running 54 or
> 11M? I get the impression I don't set this on the router/PC/notebook.

Joseph,
Thanks. The links are quite helpful. BTW, my speed at a distance of
~20 feet is 36 - guess that's G.

Jack wrote:
> Hi
>
> If you would like a little general education in the matters that you asked
> about, read the content of the following Links.
>
> Internet - Basic protection: http://www.ezlan.net/firewall.html
>
> Wireless - Basic Security: http://www.ezlan.net/Wireless_Security.html
>
> As far as Wireless "Speed", if would like to know the real "story".
>
> Start by putting Wireless client (Computer) close to the source(Wireless
> Router).
>
> 801.11b is rated 11Mb/sec in reality it would provide about 6-8Mb/sec.
>
> Translating 8b (bit) =1B (Byte) it means about 700KB/sec to 1000KB/sec.
>
> I.e. if you transfer a 10MB file from the Wireless computer to a Wired
> computer that is on the same Router, it should take about 15 - 10 sec. to
> transfer the file.
>
> 802.11g is rated 54Mb/sec. in reality it would provide about 16-22Mb/sec.
>
> I.e. transfer rate of 2MB/sec. 2.7MB/sec. same file as above should take
> 4 - 5 sec. to transfer.
>
> All numbers are approximate for demonstration purposes YMMV according to
> your system actual capacity and tuning.
>
> Jack (MS, MVP-Networking).
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> "old guy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>>Joseph Stewart wrote:
>>
>>>I can't answer all of your questions, but here's what I do know:
>>>
>>>If you are connecting at 54meg you are connected on a G network (B is
>
> 11m).
>
>>>WPA is definitely better, probably no big deal if you have other
>
> security
>
>>>measures in place.
>>>You should run a software firewall on your notebook, even if your router
>
> has
>
>>>a firewall, reason being the router firewall filters inbound, not
>
> outbound
>
>>>traffic (usually). So if you get a Trojan and you don't run a software
>>>firewall you'll never know it. I use the free Zone Alarm, it is quite
>
> good,
>
>>>in my opinion.
>>>
>>>Joseph
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>"old guy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>>news:tEMLd.4878$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>
>>>
>>>>My PC supports 801 b and g. How can I tell which is
>>>>being used on my wireless network?
>>>>WEP and WPA - how can I tell which one I am using?
>>>>I have heard WAP is stronger? Does it make a difference for a home
>>>>network? (tech rep says no.)
>>>>Can I use more than 10 characters in my 40 bit password? Is it case
>>>>sensitive?
>>>>Do I need a firewall on my notebook if my router has a firewall?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>Joseph,
>>Thanks. Next obvious question. How do I know if I'm running 54 or
>>11M? I get the impression I don't set this on the router/PC/notebook.
>
>
>

Sure , but you can download OidScope from www.ndis.com which show different
data for wired/wireless adapters
Arkady

"old guy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Joseph,
> Thanks. The links are quite helpful. BTW, my speed at a distance of
> ~20 feet is 36 - guess that's G.
>
> Jack wrote:
> > Hi
> >
> > If you would like a little general education in the matters that you
asked
> > about, read the content of the following Links.
> >
> > Internet - Basic protection: http://www.ezlan.net/firewall.html
> >
> > Wireless - Basic Security: http://www.ezlan.net/Wireless_Security.html
> >
> > As far as Wireless "Speed", if would like to know the real "story".
> >
> > Start by putting Wireless client (Computer) close to the
source(Wireless
> > Router).
> >
> > 801.11b is rated 11Mb/sec in reality it would provide about 6-8Mb/sec.
> >
> > Translating 8b (bit) =1B (Byte) it means about 700KB/sec to 1000KB/sec.
> >
> > I.e. if you transfer a 10MB file from the Wireless computer to a Wired
> > computer that is on the same Router, it should take about 15 - 10 sec.
to
> > transfer the file.
> >
> > 802.11g is rated 54Mb/sec. in reality it would provide about
16-22Mb/sec.
> >
> > I.e. transfer rate of 2MB/sec. 2.7MB/sec. same file as above should take
> > 4 - 5 sec. to transfer.
> >
> > All numbers are approximate for demonstration purposes YMMV according to
> > your system actual capacity and tuning.
> >
> > Jack (MS, MVP-Networking).
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > "old guy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> >
> >>Joseph Stewart wrote:
> >>
> >>>I can't answer all of your questions, but here's what I do know:
> >>>
> >>>If you are connecting at 54meg you are connected on a G network (B is
> >
> > 11m).
> >
> >>>WPA is definitely better, probably no big deal if you have other
> >
> > security
> >
> >>>measures in place.
> >>>You should run a software firewall on your notebook, even if your
router
> >
> > has
> >
> >>>a firewall, reason being the router firewall filters inbound, not
> >
> > outbound
> >
> >>>traffic (usually). So if you get a Trojan and you don't run a software
> >>>firewall you'll never know it. I use the free Zone Alarm, it is quite
> >
> > good,
> >
> >>>in my opinion.
> >>>
> >>>Joseph
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>"old guy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> >>>news:tEMLd.4878$(E-Mail Removed)...
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>>My PC supports 801 b and g. How can I tell which is
> >>>>being used on my wireless network?
> >>>>WEP and WPA - how can I tell which one I am using?
> >>>>I have heard WAP is stronger? Does it make a difference for a home
> >>>>network? (tech rep says no.)
> >>>>Can I use more than 10 characters in my 40 bit password? Is it case
> >>>>sensitive?
> >>>>Do I need a firewall on my notebook if my router has a firewall?
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>Joseph,
> >>Thanks. Next obvious question. How do I know if I'm running 54 or
> >>11M? I get the impression I don't set this on the router/PC/notebook.
> >
> >
> >