MSBN S/W vs XP SP2 Wireless configuration

Hi there - I already have a working, stable, secure (I
think anyway - I use WEP and MAC Filtering on my MN-500)
wireless network. After installing the recent XP SP2
update, I see an option for configuring a wireless network
through XP. Since I already have a working network:
1) Is there any benefit to reconfiguring the wireless
network under XP vice MSBN?
2) If so, what might the benefit/advantage be?
3) Will I have to uninstall MSBN in order to avoid
conflicts between XPs wireless configuration and the MSBN
s/w or will the two co-exist without stepping on each
other?
4) If I do re-configure and uninstall MSBN, will XPs
configuration let me access the router as an administrator?
That's all I can think of off the top of the noggin'.
Thanks in advance for being here!
Dan

You can always access the BSMT from browsing to it's IP address, the
default is http://192.168.2.1.

The BNU is only needed on Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows 2000, &
Windows ME computers to configure the WEP connection.

I personally recommend using Windows XP instead because it supports WPA
while the BNU doesn't.

The main advantage is your network connection will be supported, as once
again Microsoft has announced they are no longer making networking hardware.

Dan wrote:

> Hi there - I already have a working, stable, secure (I
> think anyway - I use WEP and MAC Filtering on my MN-500)
> wireless network. After installing the recent XP SP2
> update, I see an option for configuring a wireless network
> through XP. Since I already have a working network:
> 1) Is there any benefit to reconfiguring the wireless
> network under XP vice MSBN?
> 2) If so, what might the benefit/advantage be?
> 3) Will I have to uninstall MSBN in order to avoid
> conflicts between XPs wireless configuration and the MSBN
> s/w or will the two co-exist without stepping on each
> other?
> 4) If I do re-configure and uninstall MSBN, will XPs
> configuration let me access the router as an administrator?
> That's all I can think of off the top of the noggin'.
> Thanks in advance for being here!
> Dan

--
Please do not contact me directly or ask me to contact you directly for
assistance.

If your question is worth asking, it's worth posting.

If it’s not worth posting you should have done a search on
http://www.google.com/ http://www.google.com/grphp?hl=en&tab=wg&q= or
http://news.google.com/froogle?hl=en&tab=nf&ned=us&q= before wasting our
time.

I understand the WEP/WPA issue, however, I run an MN-500
base station (think I mentioned that in my original post)
which doesn't support WPA (and probably never will
according to some of the MVPs postings I've read).

Since I don't really have a need for a more robust network
than what I have already (this is just for home office:
2 'puters, a MFU, a printer, file sharing), I can't see
spending more money to get the same set up just to have
WPA.

So I guess there's not a really compelling reason to
reconfigure anything at this point, eh? I mean, if ain't
broke, don't fix it, right?

Forgot about the default access to the router, you're
right on that point. I'd just gotten used to accessing it
through the BNU.

If anyone else can think of a reason to reconfigure, feel
free to post some ideas or reasons.

Thanks,
Dan

>-----Original Message-----
>You can always access the BSMT from browsing to it's IP
address, the
>default is http://192.168.2.1.
>
>The BNU is only needed on Windows 98, Windows 98 SE,
Windows 2000, &
>Windows ME computers to configure the WEP connection.
>
>I personally recommend using Windows XP instead because
it supports WPA
>while the BNU doesn't.
>
>The main advantage is your network connection will be
supported, as once
>again Microsoft has announced they are no longer making
networking hardware.
>
>Dan wrote:
>
>> Hi there - I already have a working, stable, secure (I
>> think anyway - I use WEP and MAC Filtering on my MN-
500)
>> wireless network. After installing the recent XP SP2
>> update, I see an option for configuring a wireless
network
>> through XP. Since I already have a working network:
>> 1) Is there any benefit to reconfiguring the wireless
>> network under XP vice MSBN?
>> 2) If so, what might the benefit/advantage be?
>> 3) Will I have to uninstall MSBN in order to avoid
>> conflicts between XPs wireless configuration and the
MSBN
>> s/w or will the two co-exist without stepping on each
>> other?
>> 4) If I do re-configure and uninstall MSBN, will XPs
>> configuration let me access the router as an
administrator?
>> That's all I can think of off the top of the noggin'.
>> Thanks in advance for being here!
>> Dan
>
>--
>Please do not contact me directly or ask me to contact
you directly for
>assistance.
>
>If your question is worth asking, it's worth posting.
>
>If it's not worth posting you should have done a search
on
>http://www.google.com/ http://www.google.com/grphp?
hl=en&tab=wg&q= or
>http://news.google.com/froogle?hl=en&tab=nf&ned=us&q=
before wasting our
>time.
>.
>

The design of WEP is not secure. It can be hacked in only a few
minutes. Some sort of a design flaw where a packet sniffer can figure
out the WEP key from the encrypted packets.

WPA does not have this security flaw in it's design. Since WPA is to
replace WEP I doubt if the flaw in WEP will ever be fixed.

Dan wrote:
> I understand the WEP/WPA issue, however, I run an MN-500
> base station (think I mentioned that in my original post)
> which doesn't support WPA (and probably never will
> according to some of the MVPs postings I've read).
>
> Since I don't really have a need for a more robust network
> than what I have already (this is just for home office:
> 2 'puters, a MFU, a printer, file sharing), I can't see
> spending more money to get the same set up just to have
> WPA.
>
> So I guess there's not a really compelling reason to
> reconfigure anything at this point, eh? I mean, if ain't
> broke, don't fix it, right?
>
> Forgot about the default access to the router, you're
> right on that point. I'd just gotten used to accessing it
> through the BNU.
>
> If anyone else can think of a reason to reconfigure, feel
> free to post some ideas or reasons.
>
> Thanks,
> Dan
>

--
Please do not contact me directly or ask me to contact you directly for
assistance.

If your question is worth asking, it's worth posting.

If it’s not worth posting you should have done a search on
http://www.google.com/ http://www.google.com/grphp?hl=en&tab=wg&q= or
http://news.google.com/froogle?hl=en&tab=nf&ned=us&q= before wasting our
time.

I know that.

Does anyone else have any thoughts? Again, this isn't
a "problem", I'm just looking for thoughts on whether or
not I should reconfigure an already working wireless
network.

Thanks in advance,
Dan

>-----Original Message-----
>The design of WEP is not secure. It can be hacked in
only a few
>minutes. Some sort of a design flaw where a packet
sniffer can figure
>out the WEP key from the encrypted packets.
>
>WPA does not have this security flaw in it's design.
Since WPA is to
>replace WEP I doubt if the flaw in WEP will ever be fixed.
>
>Dan wrote:
>> I understand the WEP/WPA issue, however, I run an MN-
500
>> base station (think I mentioned that in my original
post)
>> which doesn't support WPA (and probably never will
>> according to some of the MVPs postings I've read).
>>
>> Since I don't really have a need for a more robust
network
>> than what I have already (this is just for home office:
>> 2 'puters, a MFU, a printer, file sharing), I can't see
>> spending more money to get the same set up just to have
>> WPA.
>>
>> So I guess there's not a really compelling reason to
>> reconfigure anything at this point, eh? I mean, if
ain't
>> broke, don't fix it, right?
>>
>> Forgot about the default access to the router, you're
>> right on that point. I'd just gotten used to accessing
it
>> through the BNU.
>>
>> If anyone else can think of a reason to reconfigure,
feel
>> free to post some ideas or reasons.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Dan
>>
>
>--
>Please do not contact me directly or ask me to contact
you directly for
>assistance.
>
>If your question is worth asking, it's worth posting.
>
>If it's not worth posting you should have done a search
on
>http://www.google.com/ http://www.google.com/grphp?
hl=en&tab=wg&q= or
>http://news.google.com/froogle?hl=en&tab=nf&ned=us&q=
before wasting our
>time.
>.
>

Dan, some of the best information on securing wireless networks is in
Microsoft MVP Barb Bowman's networking columns on the Expert Zone:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/e...ts/bowman.mspx You
may want to take a look at some of them.
--
Chris H.
Microsoft Windows MVP/Tablet PC
Tablet Creations - http://nicecreations.us/
Associate Expert
Expert Zone - www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone


<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:160f01c4b46c$68b81a60$(E-Mail Removed)...
>I know that.
>
> Does anyone else have any thoughts? Again, this isn't
> a "problem", I'm just looking for thoughts on whether or
> not I should reconfigure an already working wireless
> network.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Dan

I'll check that out. Thanks Chris.

>-----Original Message-----
>Dan, some of the best information on securing wireless
networks is in
>Microsoft MVP Barb Bowman's networking columns on the
Expert Zone:
>http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/e...e/meetexperts/
bowman.mspx You
>may want to take a look at some of them.
>--
>Chris H.
>Microsoft Windows MVP/Tablet PC
>Tablet Creations - http://nicecreations.us/
>Associate Expert
>Expert Zone - www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
>
>
><(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:160f01c4b46c$68b81a60$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>I know that.
>>
>> Does anyone else have any thoughts? Again, this isn't
>> a "problem", I'm just looking for thoughts on whether or
>> not I should reconfigure an already working wireless
>> network.
>>
>> Thanks in advance,
>> Dan
>
>
>.
>