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Re: ot>how to set up home network.. Posted by joe [Email] (#444) [Profile/Gallery] (more from joe) on Wed, 26 Apr 2006 08:49:17 In Reply to: ot>how to set up home network.., kooch, Wed, 26 Apr 2006 04:42:55 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
IMHO, the best setup for a printer is one that plugs into the router and claims a seperate IP address that the other computers can print to. This way, only the printer needs to be powered on and connected to the network, not a 'host' computer that the printer connects to. Unfortunately, most home printers do not support this, so you will be left with the 'host' pc option. (You can check your printer for an ethernet connection in the back.) I'm assuming you're using some variant of Windows (best case scenario is to use the same version across the board)? Are all computers set to the same network workgroup? I find that aids in setting things up initially.
The linksys router should come with some sort of encryption mechanism. WEP encryption [1] is the most popular and modestly secure. Unfortunately WEP keys can be decrypted by anyone interested enough, so think of it like a small lock on a door. Stronger encryption would be WPA [2] encryption. This is more secure, but not all routers support it so you would need to look at the linksys documents.
As far as protection from the internet, definitely place the router between your computers and the cable modem. Connecting a Windows machine directly to the cable modem is asking for trouble! Again, without knowing the model of your linksys router I cannot be certain, but most recent wireless routers include some form of a firewall. The firewall can be setup to filter inbound and outbound internet traffic. Other interesting features might be logs and content restriction (for children).
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wired_Equivalent_Privacy
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi_Protected_Access
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