Microsoft Corporation MN730 User Manual

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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) 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 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.