Window XP Tweaks

Making the Best of WEP By M. David Stone

I keep hearing that WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) is too weak a security scheme for wireless networks, but I’m not prepared to throw out my old access point and card to buy new ones with better security. Recognizing that WEP is imperfect, how can I best take advantage of whatever security WEP provides my home network?

Using WEP instead of more sophisticated security schemes like WPA (Wireless Protected Access) is a little like putting a padlock on a door. It won’t stop someone who is determined to break in, but it will discourage anyone who isn’t willing to make an effort. Here’s a check list of things that will make breaking though WEP harder. Not all of the following features are available on all 802.11b hardware, but you should take as many of these steps as your hardware allows.

Check the manufacturer’s Web site for the latest firmware, which may have additional security features.

Make sure your access point is set to require WEP, not just use it as an option.

Set WEP for the highest-level encryption that you can. Alas, 128-bit encryption may not work among products from different manufacturers (the IEEE standard is 64 bits), but it’s worth a try. In an informal test, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the 128-bit encryption in a Linksys WAP11 access point works with the 128-bit encryption in a D-Link PC Card.

Don’t use default settings for SSID (Service Set IDentifier), your administrator password, or the WEP key. And avoid using a password that the teenage hacker across the street might guess—such as your dog’s name. As with any password, mix some numbers and letters and change the settings on a regular basis.

Disable the automatic SSID broadcast feature.

Set your hardware to refuse connections from systems with SSID set to Any.

Look for a feature that lets you define the MAC addresses to accept, and make sure that the only addresses in the list match the addresses for the systems you want to connect. MAC addresses (unique identifiers for network components), can be spoofed, but this is another hurdle for a would-be hacker to jump over.

There are further steps you can take, but they are more than a home network is likely to need. The steps mentioned here are enough to keep out anyone who isn’t highly motivated to break in.

If your equipment is less than a year old, you may be able to upgrade and install WPA. Check out “Wireless Security: WPA Step by Step”.

COMPUTER IS REALLY SLOW. How do I fix it?

Check how much drive space you have vs the size of the hard disk. the slowness might not be because of the drive space.

The most common reason that computers slow down is because of “spyware”. Its software that loads itself into your computer while the computer is booting up. Its useless and you dont need it, and it will slow your machine down.

here is how you kill these programs:

START > RUN > MSCONFIG

1. select the STARTUP (picture attached)

2. uncheck all checkmarks (unless you need it)

the checkmark indicated that it will load, unchecking it will say dont load it. the majority of these programs you dont need.

After you do this, delete the contents found in the following folders:

c:\windows\temp

c:\temp

then run disk cleanup:

START > PROGRAMS > ACCESSORIES > SYSTEM TOOLS > Disk cleanup

then finally run defrag:

START > PROGRAMS > ACCESSORIES > SYSTEM TOOLS > disk defragmenter

Change the windows Default prgram install path

Registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

Key: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

Name: ProgramFilesDir

Data Type: REG_SZ

Value: d:\Program Files

404 Errors

common errors

1XX: 100s are informational status codes.

2xx: 200s are successful status codes.

3xx: 300s are redirectional status codes.

4xx: 400s are client errors.

5xx: 500s are server errors

Here is a list of five common client errors.

400: Bad request

401: Unauthorized request

402: Payment required

403: Forbidden request

405: Method not allowed