 One of the biggest threats when using a wireless network is that an unauthorised hacker, neighbour's computer etc connects to it.
Once passed your routers firewall your PC can be directly attacked as can your internet connection itself. To guard against this you must enable encryption. Common standards are: WEP - this is Wired Equivalent Privacy, but is old and obsolete - don't use this unless there are no other options - it is better than nothing by a long way though! EDIT - read our blog post on how WEP is broken to see how easily this can be bypassed with the correct tools WPA - WiFi Protected Access, until recently the recommended standard - if you have this use it. WPA2- WiFi Protected Access, err 2! This protocol is the best and supports two standards - look for routers that support the AES standard. Connecting to a WPA or WPA2 secured network is actually simpler than with the deprecated WEP standard. All you need is to know the network password. Some wireless routers also allow you to turn down the strength of the signal. If you can establish coverage across your house with a reduced signal strength, then do so. During configuration of a wireless network you need to give the router/connection a name. This name is sometimes called the SSID and can be anything you want. You can hide your SSID - but if you're using encryption there is no real need to (hiding the SSID superficially stops other PCs 'seeing' the router - sometimes called "Allow broadcast of name (SSID)" in set-up programs - un-check this if you want to). Beware that vista's built in wire-less software will still detect it - and list the network as "Unnamed". Also - make sure that your router firewall is turned on. Some routers come with it turned off by default! Once you've set-up or adjusted as above - test your system. Use another computer and see what happens when you try and connect. | 
PC System Threats & Scams 
