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Chapter 4: Network Management 25
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Educate yourself about how viruses are commonly spread so that you do not spread
one yourself:
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Do not load a program from an untrusted source onto one of your network
computers. Files from the Internet or online bulletin boards are particularly risky.
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Never open attachments to e-mail messages that you are not expecting.
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Use your antivirus software to scan all floppy disks before copying or opening
files from them, or before starting your computer from them.
Help Protect Your Network from Hackers
If you have not already done so, consider purchasing the Microsoft Broadband
Networking Wireless Base Station (sold separately) to establish a security layer
between your networked computers and the Internet. The Microsoft Wireless Base
Station provides network address translation (NAT) and a firewall to help secure your
system from hacker attacks over the Internet.
NAT hides the Internet protocol (IP) addresses of the computers on a network from the
Internet so that only the base station IP address is visible. Without the IP address, it is
more difficult for hackers to access the computers on your network.
The firewall specifies what information can be communicated from the computers on
your network to the Internet, and from the Internet to the computers on your network.
Like an actual firewall built to prevent fire from spreading between adjoining buildings,
computer firewalls help prevent the spread of unauthorized communication between
an individual computer or group of networked computers and the Internet.
Help Protect Your Network from Unauthorized Access
Because wireless networks use radio signals, it is possible for other wireless network
devices outside your immediate area to pick up the signals and either connect to your
network or capture the network traffic. To help prevent unauthorized connections or
the possibility of eavesdroppers listening in on your network traffic, do the following:
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If you have a base station, router, or gateway, place it toward the center of your
home. This decreases the strength of the signal outside your home.
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Enable 128-bit wireless security (WEP) or WPA on your network when you run the
Setup Wizard. When you enable WEP, you establish a WEP key that scrambles or
“encrypts” the data being transmitted between wireless nodes so that it is
decipherable only by computers that have the correct WEP key. In addition, only
users who know the network WEP key can join your network and use your Internet
connection. If you did not enable wireless security when you ran the Setup Wizard,
you can do so from the Broadband Network Utility.