Home networking

[marauder307]

For the last six months or so, I've been experimenting around with home networking. What I'm really looking to do is to be able to swap documents and picture files between my laptop and desktop computers without having to go to the bother of firing up the laptop, swap everything into my one USB memory key, fire up the desktop, plug in/download from the memory key, etc....

I've been leapfrogging through computers the last couple of years; I'll get a new laptop, transfer a buncha junk over to it, then get a new desktop some months later, put a buncha junk on it, etc. So now I've got stuff on the laptop that I don't have on the desktop, and stuff on the desktop that would probably be more useful on the laptop, and so on. On the advice of a CG bud of mine back in STL---who happens to work as a sales rep for Microsoft---I popped for a Linksys wireless-G/Speedbooster router this last summer, thinking that I'd be able to get the two computers to talk to each other. Haven't been able to figure it out yet, although the Linksys tech rep was very helpful on the phone when I moved out here to HI and enabled me to set up a secured home network. When my fiancee moves out here in a month we'll have three computers in the house---our respective wi-fi capable laptops and my desktop.

I've got a vague recollection of seeing TV ads for online file storage websites; I think that may be next idea although I don't know where to look. Can anybody help me with this?

[jimlam56]

Got my 18 year old computer genius working on it...
Expect an answer later on today.

[looking97233]

Basicly a hard drive with a wireless card built in.

Here's a link.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7070331&type=product&id=1108126237002

I do not have any intrest in what brand or which store anybody wishes to use, just posting this link as an example.

Rod.

[Breadfan]

Also, I highly suggest you have wireless security if you plan to stay wireless. A NAS like that (Network Attached Storage) may show up as an open share if not locked down correctly, and an open network makes that a cinch for neighbors, or passerbys.

For speed, if you don't mind routing some Cat5e cable, go wired. It's faster, more reliable, heck I just like it more than wirless. Sure G is great, it's plenty fast, but I still love wired LANs.

Grab a $35 gigabit switch, a few $25 gigabit LAN cards and you'll be cruising at 1000mbit instead of the (ideal) 54mbit from wireless. (I doubt you'll see much over 25mbit through G, and you'll see about 700mbit from wired gigabit when facotring in TCP/IP overhead.)

Grab a wired NAS device, or take an old box and build your own. All you'd need is a standalone system with Windows on it, toss a few big hard drives in it and setup a network share.

Now, I could be going too far here, so don't let me scare you away. I don't know how techy you are. For me though, I have a dedicated fileserver that any box in my house can hit. It's plenty fast, easily upgraded, and supports RAID so I can have redundant storage without having to worry as much about backups. However, it's kinda complex to setup if you're not a techie. (Nothing wrong with not being one!)

A quick and simple solution would be a USB Harddrive. Get a USB external harddrive and put it on the desktop. Keep the desktop on and setup a Windows share for the hard drive. Map the drive on the laptop, and when you turn it on you'll see the USB hdd. You can easily use that to share files, and moving it to a new system is as simple as unplugging it to move it to a new desktop, or just mapping the share again on any new system that joins the network. It also should be cheaper than a dedicated NAS device.

Don't forget though, you want some redundancy. If you have a single drive NAS device or single drive USB drive and the internal drive fails, you'll lose everything.

Perhaps a good and simple option for you would be a NAS device and a large external USB harddrive. Use the NAS for filestorage, and the USB harddrive to periodically take a backup snapshot of the data on the NAS device.

Network storage is the best - there is plenty that it can be used for. If you ever did a dedicated fileserver you can also use it for serving other things, I use mine to run all the printers in the house, be a patch and driver repository, etc.

Anyway, I could probably expand on anything above, just let me know. For a simple and redundant solution a wireless NAS and USB hdd for backup would be great.


Of course if you're like me (ie. a cheapskate) then just wait for someone to toss out an "old" PentiumIII system becuase it's "broken" (aka. full of spyware)...reformat it, load Windows, add a few hard drives on a $10 RAID card and call it a [cheap] day.

;)

Good luck, let me know if I can be of more assistance. Hope I didn't over complicate things, just showing some of the options for home networking / file storage.

[DEFYANT]

Subscribing......

[Breadfan]

Basicly a hard drive with a wireless card built in.

Here's a link.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7070331&type=product&id=1108126237002

I do not have any intrest in what brand or which store anybody wishes to use, just posting this link as an example.

Rod.

Great example! Something like that would work fine. Most of the linksys routers have 4-port 10/100 switches so the NAS does not have to be wireless to talk to the network.

One word of caution - when buying an external drive or NAS, try to stay name brand or atleast try to find out what brand drive is being used. Some of the cheaper brands will use low-end hard drives that may not last as long or carry much of a warranty.

Seagate's stuff is generally very reliable, and Western Digital and Maxtor are also good. I would avoid the Hitachi drives (old IBM "death"stars) and others. Just, some of the cheaper manufacturers skimp on the quality of the harddrive inside. That scares me away from the cheaper models...remember, you'll be putting 3 computers worth of data on this drive - do not skimp on the reliability.

[Breadfan]

PS a great store for buying computer hardware: http://www.newegg.com

They get a fair amount of business from me, they're always fair and priced pretty low. I don't mind recommending them.

[fastblackmerc]

Two other egood places for hardware:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/

http://www.geeks.com/

I use an older system with a bunch of hard drives and a tape backup.

[jawz101]

You don't need to buy any file storage devices if you don't want to.
I'm guessing the pc's are running Windows.

Here's what you do:
On each machine right click on My Computer, Properties, select the Computer Name/Network tab, press the change network tab, name your workgroup something like 'home', reboot for changes to set.

Now you have a workgroup if you do this on each machine.

Next, share your files out. Goto My Computer and right click on C: or a specific subfolder on your hard drive and right click on it and goto sharing/security share & share what you want out. Do this on each pc if there are files that you want shared or just leave one as the main file repository. You can specify if you just want a user to have read rights or read/write to make changes. Hit ok and a little hand is placed under that folder icon.

If you then goto My Network Places or Network Neighborhood on your pcs and drill down in your workgroup you should see all the pcs you have set up. If you drill down one more level you'll see the shared drives for that pc. Create a shortcut on your desktop to the shared drive and there ya go.

I'm sure if you google for windows workgroup file sharing you'll probably find some pictures

Windows xpsp2 may req you to add an exception in the firewall for file and ptr sharing (yes, you can share a ptr too if you do the same kinda steps for a printer.) Goto control panel | Windows Firewall | exceptions tab and check the box for f&p sharing.

XP also has a file and settings transfer wizard that is pretty nice (start/all programs/accessories/system tools/f settings xfer wizard)
They also have a new free app at OneCare Live (http://ideas.live.com/programpage.aspx?versionId=b78 afccd-47f0-460e-b09b-33c2d53ac53b). It's still in beta but it is kind of an all-in-one pc maintenance tool that automates backups, antivirus, and cleans up your hard drive temp files. It also replaces your xp firewall with one that protects outbound traffic as well.

[marauder307]

All good suggestions. They just opened a new Best Buy out here so I'll be looking around at the HD idea. Jawz's idea looks pretty good, but I'm still scratching my head as to how doing that on both machines will enable them to talk to each other. For some reason I've got this idea in my head---and I don't really know where I got it from---that the router should enable both computers to do file sharing. One thing that may be messing me up is that while the desktop is direct-connected (10/100 port) to the router, the laptop connects through its internal wireless card. Maybe they've both got to be direct-connected...

Jawz is right, both machines are working Windows XP (Home version) SP 2. The desktop is a Sony Vaio, 3Ghz P4, RS-710GX or something like that. Dual-stack burners, top one's DVD-R, and a 3.5 drive plus a multimedia card reader. Think the HD's about 200 gigs. I picked it up as the floor model at the STL Costco last summer, got it home, and promptly replaced the factory Nvidia 128mb video card with a Nvidia GeForce 6600 256mb card with video capability; now I can watch cable TV through the computer if I want to. Also slammed another 512mb of system RAM into it for a total of 1 gig. Quake 4 and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory fairly rock on this machine now; I actually have to back off the speakers on Quake 4 to keep from upsetting the neighbors...heh, heh, heh...:rolleyes:

The laptop is a contribution to Logan's car payments; Dell Inspiron 8600. Went ahead and spent some money on it; 2.2Ghz P-M with (I think) 512mb sys RAM and a 100 hd. Got the ATI 128 mb video card option, internal wireless capable, and the single all-in-one CDROM/Burner/DVD setup. When I bought it, the very next month Dell discontinued production.

[dwasson]

I bought the Tritton - TRI-NSS160 - 160GB Simple Network Attached Storage (NAS) (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1209343&CatId=0). I'm happy with it.

[BruteForce]

Here's a quick and dirty diagram of how I have my home network wired. 10/100/1000 12 port Switch, firewall, and DSL router are in my office where 4 PCs are directly connected to the switch. I also run two wires into a dual port wall jack with Cat6 running in the crawlspace to 2 other rooms. In either of those rooms i can just connect my lappie to the wall jack port and I have full access to the net and whatever user access I have designated on the office PCs. I also run a print server connected to the switch which exposes 2 printers to any machine on the network no matter what PCs are running.

8275

I tried the wireless route (have 2 full sets of access points, lappie net card, etc) but can't seem to be able to keep them both secure and reliable for any period of time. Either one or the other but never both. Make an offer 'cause I'm staying with wire. Its 100% no matter what and no security issues with wardrivers or neighborhood bandwidth thieves.

[MENINBLK]

If you won't share it with the neighbors,
it doesn't belong shared on the Internet either...

Keep you data in your house.
Don't share ANYTHING on the internet other than pictures,
and what you post on MM.net.
Keep everything else locked up SECURELY AT HOME...

That's all I have to say.

The Networking suggestions given here are very good ways
to accomplish what you want -> AT HOME.
If you have BroadBand (DSL/Cable/FiOS), you can setup outside access,
so you can access your Home Network from the outside,
via the internet.
This is going to require that at least one PC be on at all times.

[MENINBLK]

I tried the wireless route (have 2 full sets of access points, lappie net card, etc) but can't seem to be able to keep them both secure and reliable for any period of time. Either one or the other but never both. Make an offer 'cause I'm staying with wire. Its 100% no matter what and no security issues with wardrivers or neighborhood bandwidth thieves.

There are only TWO sure fire ways to secure a Wireless Network.

1 - MAC ID Filtering.

2 - Power Off the Router when not in use...

[DEFYANT]

I really need to get edumakated in this stuff! Breadfan, I am sure that is great info you posted, but that sounds like something Scotty would say to Capt Kirk.

[BruteForce]

There are only TWO sure fire ways to secure a Wireless Network.

1 - MAC ID Filtering.

2 - Power Off the Router when not in use...

Did/done both as well as 256k WEP (sp?) encrypted keys. The problem is that with all that armor on, I can't keep the connection alive. While I can see the AC and it accepts my credentials, it just decides that it can't keep the connection alive. In the time it takes me to coax it to re-connect, I could have just walked in the other room and used a wired PC. Thus the decision to go "all wire".

PS. Not kidding about have two full sets of hardware for a "wireless to wired network" connection. Let me know if you're interested in a good bargain on parts. :D

[CRUZTAKER]

You don't need to buy any file storage devices if you don't want to.....

This is how we do it with our wireless laptops in the house.

What's involved accessing a printer connected to a desktop computer in another room from our laptops?

I am tired of walking to the basement and manually plugging the laptop into the printer each time to print.

WinXP sp2, 2eWIRE wireless through SBC YAHOO, HP all in one printer. Printer is connected to desktop pc via usb, and pc is hardwired cat5 direct to wireless router/modem.

[MENINBLK]

Did/done both as well as 256k WEP (sp?) encrypted keys. The problem is that with all that armor on, I can't keep the connection alive. While I can see the AC and it accepts my credentials, it just decides that it can't keep the connection alive. In the time it takes me to coax it to re-connect, I could have just walked in the other room and used a wired PC. Thus the decision to go "all wire".

PS. Not kidding about have two full sets of hardware for a "wireless to wired network" connection. Let me know if you're interested in a good bargain on parts. :D

A lot of access problems. believe it or not, have to do with your ENVIRONMENT...
In most NEW HOME BUILDS, all of your interior walls are filled with some form of metal backed insulation.
This metal backing forms a barrier for the signal that comes from any wireless device.

A sure test is this...
If you can't get a signal through a wall from an adjacent room,
move the devices between the rooms until you have a direct "Line-of-Sight".
If you can get 100% or a much better signal with Line-of-Sight,
then the walls have the insulation in them, blocking the signals between the rooms.

Floors are also a culprit.
Moisture barriers are sometimes made with a thin metal film.
So if a staircase provides a better signal, then directly throught the floor,
your moisture barrier is blocking the signal.

Homes built 15 - 30 years ago, just aren't technology friendly...

My home is almost 80 years old.
I can get a singal from the first floor center room,
to the back bedroom on the second floor with 95% strength.

Unfortunately, the walls in my house are EMPTY. :(

[Petrograde]

wow,.. I didn't even realize I knew so little about networks. :rolleyes:

I've tried connecting my laptop to my desktop for file sharing. I can't make the damn thing work. :mad: Shouldn't it be as easy as plugging in a LAN cable to both LAN cards and running the Network Wizard?

I even bought a 10/100 hub so I could surf the internet from both computers, that won't work either. :mad2:

[MENINBLK]

wow,.. I didn't even realize I knew so little about networks. :rolleyes:

I've tried connecting my laptop to my desktop for file sharing. I can't make the damn thing work. :mad: Shouldn't it be as easy as plugging in a LAN cable to both LAN cards and running the Network Wizard?

I even bought a 10/100 hub so I could surf the internet from both computers, that won't work either. :mad2:

You can do this but NOT with a LAN Cable.
You need a CROSSOVER CABLE.
The difference is in the wiring.

Lan Cables are wired the same at both ends.
A Crossover mirrors each end.
When you get the cable, look at the wire colors inside the plug.
You will see what I mean.

A Hub is not going to do it.
You need a ROUTER.

[Mad1]

I went wireless about a year ago. Got a Motorola SBG900 Wireless Cable Modem Router. (Only one thing to plug in instead of a separate cable modem and a router.) Just slap a wireless card in the computer, setup the encryption and off you go. Easy and fast enough.

The flexibility is worth it, not to have to hassle with cables snaking everywhere. Plus, since I have the ability to lock down the wireless access, I don't have to go in an unplug anything when the children lose their Internet privelages. And locking down the wireless security is pretty straight forward if you take the time to do it right. (Though on a six-acre spread in farm country, I'm not sure who else is gonna be close enough to log in anyway?)

As for configuring ... this site http://www.portforward.com/ is extremely helpful in getting a firewall or router configured to let you do what you want without letting every Tom, Dick or Harry into your network.

Jeremy
Mad1

[Petrograde]

You can do this but NOT with a LAN Cable.
You need a CROSSOVER CABLE.
The difference is in the wiring.

Lan Cables are wired the same at both ends.
A Crossover mirrors each end.
When you get the cable, look at the wire colors inside the plug.
You will see what I mean.

A Hub is not going to do it.
You need a ROUTER.

AH HA! Suddenly a bright light appears and I am shown the way! Thanks Pete!

I thought something was amiss.

[MikesMerc]

Wireless security is pretty simply for home use.

First, get over parannoia. The chances of having someone out there who is seeking YOU out, parking in front of your house, and tapping into your network are pretty slim. Its just like anything else you are trying to secure. Your only goal is to make yourself less vulnerable...not water tight. The "bad guys" have more than enough to prey on with all those that have no security at all. Your security measures are only there to deter, not prevent. If you go too far, you'll only spend too much money and loose functionality and convenience.

Second, your security will be well established with three simple steps. One, use a hardware firewall (a typical linksys cablemodem router does this). Two, set your router NOT to broadcast your network name (your wireless router manual will tell you how to do this. Do NOT skip this step and except the defaults in the router. Name your network and disable the broadcast of the network name). Last, use WEP encryption. (again see the manual).

The above will not be 100% risk free, but it will be enough to lower your risk to a point where you don;t have to worry. If you think there are strange men patroling your neighborhood looking for a way into your wireless network, you have bigger things to worry about.

Final point. Be very careful about allowing outside access into one of you computers at home. You can open some ports on your router that will allow incoming pings (to host a game server or FTP) but this will significantly increase your risk. If you do this, its best to have a seperate connection for that PC and not have that PC configured into your home LAN. Be warned.

I've been running a home LAN for a few years now. Mostly wireless now. My Server is hard wired for the speed needed for top quality streaming media such as HD vidieo. My HTPC is also hard wired for the same reasons. Everything else is wireless.

[fastblackmerc]

Wireless security is pretty simply for home use.

First, get over parannoia. The chances of having someone out there who is seeking YOU out, parking in front of your house, and tapping into your network are pretty slim. Its just like anything else you are trying to secure. Your only goal is to make yourself less vulnerable...not water tight. The "bad guys" have more than enough to prey on with all those that have no security at all. Your security measures are only there to deter, not prevent. If you go too far, you'll only spend too much money and loose functionality and convenience.

Second, your security will be well established with three simple steps. One, use a hardware firewall (a typical linksys cablemodem router does this). Two, set your router NOT to broadcast your network name (your wireless router manual will tell you how to do this. Do NOT skip this step and except the defaults in the router. Name your network and disable the broadcast of the network name). Last, use WEP encryption. (again see the manual).

The above will not be 100% risk free, but it will be enough to lower your risk to a point where you don;t have to worry. If you think there are strange men patroling your neighborhood looking for a way into your wireless network, you have bigger things to worry about.

Final point. Be very careful about allowing outside access into one of you computers at home. You can open some ports on your router that will allow incoming pings (to host a game server or FTP) but this will significantly increase your risk. If you do this, its best to have a seperate connection for that PC and not have that PC configured into your home LAN. Be warned.

I've been running a home LAN for a few years now. Mostly wireless now. My Server is hard wired for the speed needed for top quality streaming media such as HD vidieo. My HTPC is also hard wired for the same reasons. Everything else is wireless.
Also change the Administrator ID and password on the router, everyone knows the defaults.....

[jawz101]

This is how we do it with our wireless laptops in the house.
What's involved accessing a printer connected to a desktop computer in another room from our laptops?

I am tired of walking to the basement and manually plugging the laptop into the printer each time to print.

WinXP sp2, 2eWIRE wireless through SBC YAHOO, HP all in one printer. Printer is connected to desktop pc via usb, and pc is hardwired cat5 direct to wireless router/modem.

If you already have the workgroup set up:
1) goto printer setup on computer1 (or whatever you named your computer)
rt click on a ptr locally connected to computer1 and share it out w/ a ptr name.

2) goto the computer2 and goto 'start | run' and type in \\computer1 click on its shared printer and it's added to the laptop's printer list.

This setup requires that computer1 is powered on since all prints you send to its locally connected ptr get spooled up at some point in computer1's memory before getting sent to the printer.

Does that make sense? I work in tech support so I assume I might skip something when explaining things

This is the free idea that make sense to use in a home.
You can buy printer servers just like people have mentioned to use independent file servers. I think that's a waste of money in a home though. I already have a computer and hard drive. Why buy something else? If your playing music off one pc onto another just put it on both hard drives and stop wasting your connection. A good network is a quiet network.

[jawz101]

A lot of access problems. believe it or not, have to do with your ENVIRONMENT...

Also, think about the fact that you have a 2.4 ghz cordless phone, neighbors with their wireless crap, and other wireless traffic (maybe). Your router config webpage should have options to switch channels (or frequency ranges) of your wireless broadcast.

By default most routers have channels 1 thru 11. Try channels 1, 6, or 10 and see if your signal strength picks up.

Realistically if you can set up WEP security, which is the easiest to do, just use the lowest they have (40-64 bit). The higher the encryption strength the more your computer and router have to translate to talk to one another. If someone is really geeky and bored they would probably walk around your house or drive up and use a few hacker tools. You can just call the cops or bring out mr. shotgun and tell him to leave. I'm sure the nerd will flee immediately.

Also, go out to your router and wireless adaptor's company sites. Router firmware upgrades and wireless adaptor updates are usually a good thing. Get the latest and read the release notes to see if they made their product work better.

[MikesMerc]

Also change the Administrator ID and password on the router, everyone knows the defaults.....

Absolutely...that kind of goes without saying....but you are right on for mentioning it:up:

[MikesMerc]

If someone is really geeky and bored they would probably walk around your house or drive up and use a few hacker tools. You can just call the cops or bring out mr. shotgun and tell him to leave. I'm sure the nerd will flee immediately.


LOL...this is the paranoia I refer to. What is the chance of someone "geeky and bored" deciding to pick this one house out of the worlds population to walk around and try to hack. Truly, if you have folks trying to do this, there are bigger problems.

No offense meant guys....I just find this type of concern comical. Hackers don't troll neighborhoods looking for modestly secured networks. They either hit up the totally unsecured broadcasted hotspots for fun, or sit in the parking lot of BestBuy and rip the credit card information that flows from the registers to the cashiers office. Mild deterence is all a residence needs.

[Petrograde]

or sit in the parking lot of BestBuy and rip the credit card information that flows from the registers to the cashiers office.

really?

...great.

[BruteForce]

Mild deterence is all a residence needs.

[soap box on]
How is my checking account data less important than BestBuy's charge data? The way you phrased this is irresponsible. Coming from some one in the field makes it even worse. My opinion is that every computer out there should be as armor-plated and locked down as a DoD mainframe. Lackadaisical attitudes on the part of consumers/end-users allows computer vendors to continue to put out machines/software that can be accessed without your permission.
[/soap box off]

[marauder307]

While I have the home network already secured, I'd rather not discuss what type online. Remember, "guests" can read these threads too.

MM2004, stand by for that phone call.

I think the stance that hackers probably will leave home neighborhoods alone is mostly correct. When I was back in STL, I was the only wireless network in my neighborhood. If I'd started magically pulling extra bandwidth, I would've noticed.

Here in Honolulu, there's wi-fi activity everywhere. As I look at all the wireless networks within reach of my laptop's card, I'm reminded of Benjamin Franklin: "Good fences make good neighbors." I'm sure my neighbors are good and decent folks...I just want to keep them that way.

Relating back to my comment on hackers and home neighborhoods, my particular domicile is part of a semi-walled-in townhouse development. There's only one entrance to the place, and an informal sort of neighborhood watch. If a hacker tried the cruise-and-scan thing, they'd be noticed...and somebody would ask what they're doing here. Any good hacker worth their microchips isn't going to want attention; they're going to want to be able to do their thing and have nobody notice them. Easy to do at wi-fi hotspots, because everybody's got a computer out, and they can hide in plain sight. Also easy to do at Best Buy parking lots, because they can hide in the traffic flow of bodies/cars.

I appreciate all the responses folks; this is allowing me to tap a good well of information here. :up:

[Mad1]

When I was covering technology for a major daily, I would often run into uber-technofiles. I know one guy, who was the first Internet provider in Nashville, and sold his co. to PSINet for !CASH! not stock before the bust in 2000. He took me out to a park near downtown Nashville and showed me all the unsecured corporate and personal WIFI networks that he could access from just his laptop with a little antenna booster. Pretty scary stuff, when you think of all the junk on your computer that might be "interesting" to someone.

Wouldn't you love to find the spreadsheet for employee salaries at your company making the rounds of the office after someone pulled it off your "wireless" network?

My personal favorite is unsecured Internet sites ... where you can get into a directory that leads you into places someone thought was "unavailable" to outsiders. (I pulled off some "vacation" photos from a local corporate honcho's business trip to Carribean ... I've saved the picture of him mooning an underwater camera for a slow news day or for when he runs for public office.)

Mad1
Jeremy

[jawz101]

[soap box on]
How is my checking account data less important than BestBuy's charge data? The way you phrased this is irresponsible. Coming from some one in the field makes it even worse. My opinion is that every computer out there should be as armor-plated and locked down as a DoD mainframe. Lackadaisical attitudes on the part of consumers/end-users allows computer vendors to continue to put out machines/software that can be accessed without your permission.
[/soap box off]

Mainframe... ugh. Those programmers are about to retire.

I've heard of some mil/gov't policies where if you have a virus or anything they just walk into your office and cut your network cord until your pc is up to par :)

Well, what's nice is that Microsoft is starting to realize this in the past few years. xpsp2 was a big initiative they took on to finally tighten their code.

A good free publication I subsribe to is TechTarget's Information Security (http://informationsecurity.techtarget .com/). During the Homeland Security scare every business out there stood at attention and started budgeting for more security. Retail stores will always be behind since they aren't as regulated as say a hospital, gov't agency or financial inst (Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, California Act, Basel II, CLERP-9).

Some credit card companies have realized this and are now at least making strides to tighten how transactions are made. One of my roommates runs several online businesses and to comply with one credit car company's recent safe-transaction policies... well, he found out from them that essentially they had no customers that have put that effort into making the compliance to date (yes, even the big businesses out there).

Windows Vista is going to be a further big step for Microsoft. They're shutting down a lot of stuff that a home user doesn't really need turned on and in effect making your pc boot up faster and leave more processor power to give you almost a mac-like look and feel. Vista (http://www.winsupersite.com/vista/)

All hackers do when they target big networks and Microsoft is realistically make them pay attention and tighten their code. Linux and other OS distros had a leg up for a few years because they turn a lot off before you can even use your machine. The only reason *nix is good is for larger server-type setups (just my opinion).

Next time Windows XP ever asks you to send an error report because something doesn't work right- click to send it. It makes a difference.