technology filter: Tech Novice

Today in Tech; 2/21

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 14:20:19 GMT

Obama has the most MyFriends pals. The latest measurement of a candidates viability might be MySpace--sadly enough. Seems Obama has an early lead here with 44,445 people counting him as a MySpace friend, while only 23,667 count Hillary as an online buddy. Rudy Giuliani by contrast has only 651 friends. Wonder how those numbers will change by election time. Maybe we can crash MySpace! And why aren't the counting Windows Live Spaces friends?! (Source: Newseek via MSNBC)
Google says its plugged its desktop search hole. Seems that if you're using Google's desktop search tool you've been open to a cross-site scripting attack for quie some time ow. But Google just reported that it's fixed the vulnerability so make sure you're updated. (Source: MSNBC)
AMD releases next-gen CPU. For those who need the latest silicon, AMD just released its 90nm Athlon 64 X2 processor, which ues the ultra-high-performance Windsor CPU core technology. The new Athlon is clocked at 3GHz, which is purty darn quick even when compared to Intel's Core 2 Duo. It'll also cost you about $470 for one and $1000 for two of the new CPUs. Have to wait a while before we find out which CPU is actually faster in real world applications, tho. (Source: TG Daily)
Verizon trying to kill Vonage. Because it apparently doesn't have enough money, Verizon is taking Vonage to court this week accusing Vonage of infringing on some of Verizon's patents on voice over IP technology. Which is strange, because Verizon has been trying to kill VoIP since the concept first arrived. Guess this is their latest ploy to kill off this competitor once and for all. If they win, it'll set a precedent that will likely result in all of us getting to pay more for phone service again. (Source: BetaNews)

Posted by Oliver

Tech Term of the Day (Separate Post Today)

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 14:02:54 GMT

I'm doing the tech term of the day as a separate post today, not as part of Today in Tech, because it's a little long.

Tech Term(s) of the Day: Okay, today we do a little number work. I keep reporting on speed increases in home networking gear and the Internet, and people keep emailing me telling me they don't know what the measurements mean. So here goes:

Bit: the smallest type of data. Basically a '1' or a '0'. Sends the computer one binary instruction.

Byte: 8 bits. It's a string of '1's and '0's that can represent any number between 0 and 255. The 256-number convention is big in programming.

When talking about the speed of networking devices or the Web we usually use bits per second as the default measurement, though sometimes folks do use bytes per second. Typically this is represented by capitalizing the 'B'. So Kbps is kilobits per second, while KBps is kilobytes per second. And speaking of that (and in order of size, smallest to largest)...

Kilobit refers to 1000 bits. But because computers use binary, it's often meant as 1,024 bits. So two kilobits per second, or 2Kbps, means you're pumping 2.048 bits through the wire every second.

Megabit is the next step up referring to 1 million bits. This is how the Ethernet on most of your home networks is measured. Wired Ethernet today usually runs at about 100 megabits per second, or 100Mbps, so you're pumping about 100 million bits of info through the wire every second. Your wireless Ethernet, on the other hand, is probably 802.11g which runs at about 54Mbps.

Gigabit the next step from the mega is giga, which refers to 1 billion bits. Many PCs now have 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports, which refers to the older ethernet (10Mbps), the typical modern Ethernet (100Mbps) or the latest which is 1 gigabit per second or 1000 megabits per second.

Single gigabit networking is the norm in offices and the more wired homes nowadays. Really wired businesses use 10Gbps on some back-end data center stuff. 40Gbps equipment is presently being tested in development labs of the big networking companies, though some really early stuff is actually available. 100Gbps equipment is being talked about and maybe tinkered with deep in the bowels of some super secret R&D labs somewhere.

And that's what you need to know about the network speed game.

Posted by Oliver

Tech Novice: How to Add a Second Monitor to XP

Fri, 17 Nov 2006 23:36:52 GMT

Had some readers ask me how to do this--add a second monitor to your Windows XP system. So you've got two monitors that sit next to each other and act as one big monitor. Plus, it's coming up on the holidays, so in case you're asking for a second display, it's a good time to post this.

Pre-requisites:

1. Two monitors. No, they don't have to be the same kind or even the same size. But it does look cooler on your desk if they're the same type.

2. A video card that has two monitor inputs (below). These can both be digital (the one on the right) or VGA (the one on the left), or one of each like here. Just make sure your monitors will each plug into one. Notebooks always have a second monitor plug, usually straight VGA.

That's it. Plug your second monitor into the empty input and turn that puppy on. You won't get anything right now. So turn to the monitor that is working and find the Control Panel off the Start menu. Once there, select Display (below).

Now you get the Display Settings dialog box (below). The monitor you're working with right now is represented by that big "1". Your other monitor is, somewhat predictably, represented by "2". Just click on that "2" and then check the "Extend My Windows Desktop to the Monitor" checkbox (circled). Now you can change the resolution and color to make monitor two match monitor one as closely as possible--again, this is easiest if they're both the same monitor, but a little bit of trial and error between two different monitors is no big deal.

And before you ask, Windows Vista does the same thing. You've just got to find the Display dialog box in the new Control Panel. Just go to Start, then click Control Panel, then click on Appearance and Personalization (below). Then just click on the "Adjust screen resolution" link and you're where you want to be. From there, it's the same as under Windows XP.

Posted by Oliver

Tech Novice: DIY Data Migration to a New PC

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 21:54:17 GMT

I'm what you'd call a power user. Mostly. Not as geek as some, but certainly geekier than most. I also swap between a lot of PCs--comes from reviewing computers for loads of tech magazines. In fact, I just moved off an ultraportable Gateway E100 (that's a sweet little machine) and a Dell Precision M90 to two new Core 2 Duo-powered Gateways, namely the M255-E (mobile work laptop) and the very sweetly configured M685-E desktop replacement.

Many folks spend about $40-$50 and a small learning curve on what's called a "data migration" utility. A piece of software specifically designed to move settings, data and sometimes even software applications from one PC (the old one) to another PC (the new one). Examples include Acronis' Migrate Easy 7, Detto's IntelliMover 4 or Laplink's PCMover. Aside from the basics, these guys offer a variety of little add-on niceties, like the ability to undo a move, checking for virus infections prior to moves and more.

Decent, but despite the fact that I swap between 5 and 10 machines a year, I don't use 'em. Moving all my stuff goes something like this:

1. Get a shared or external USB/Firewire hard disk. I've got both, but either one will do. As long as you can see one hard disk from your old PC that you can also see from your new PC.

2. Keep all your software installation CDs. This is the one that most people seem to choke on, and I can never understand why. What are you people doing with your install disks? Just keep them all in one drawer or shoe box or wall safe, so you can pull them out and enjoy.

3. Keep a passwords and settings file. Obviously, this should be encrypted. But it should also contain all the user names and passwords you need to access things like your online bank stuff, your email accounts (here you should also record your incoming and outgoing mail servers), and any other online accounts you might have (iTunes, World of Warcraft, whatever). Move this file to your shared or USB hard disk. Good idea to keep a copy on a small USB thmub drive and tuck that away in a safe place (like that fireproof lock box you keep the passports and the deed to the house in). Just in case something really bad happens, like the house burns down.

4. Backup Outlook 2003. I live in that app, so this is critical. Sure, you can use the Export feature and export everything one section at a time (your Inbox, your Contacts, you Calendar, etc.). But I like the free Outlook Backup utility from Microsoft better (REAL easy to use). Does everything in one shot including your Sent folder. The utility will backup Outlook regularly, so just make sure that you've got a real current backup ont eh shared hard disk before you start your migration.

5. Now backup your data. This is another area where I can't understand why some people think it's so complicated. I keep seeing people dump everything the create willy nilly into My Documents. Then they don't want to move that stuff because it's disorganized. Even if it is, tho, it's still movable. Just create a folder on the shared hard disk called "My Docs Old" or something, then go to your old PC, open My Docmuents and hit Edit > Select All > and then Copy and Pate into My Docs Old. Sure it'll take a while, but you get everything.

Me, I just keep things a little more organized. I work out of three general data folders: Freelance, Consulting, Personal and Fun. Inside of these I've got folders for all the different mags I write for, all the different consulting gigs I do, personal stuff like taxes and financial files and all the differenc goofy fiction experiments I try out. Moving this from one PC to the next is as easy as highlighting the three folders, pointing and clicking. Then waiting a while because we're talking about a few gigs worth of data.

And before you ask--yes, I've got many gigs of music, movies and TV shows. But I tend not to store those on any of my PCs. I keep those on my shared hard disk and just access them from there. No need for migrating.

Unfortunately, this doesn't get you out of looking in My Documents. Many apps put their own stuff there. Microsoft OneNote, for example, drops its files into a new sub-folder under My Documents, called My Notebook. FrontPage does the same, and we all know that Windows Media Player uses My Photos and My Music. Just create corresponding folders in the shared disk (Notebook, Web sites, Music, Photos, etc.) and copy everything one folder at a time.

And, no, this doesn't cover saved games. Doing real well in Doom 3 and trying to migrate that particular game file from one PC to another is something I've never done--but then I don't play many games. I'm sure it's doable, but I don't think the data migration apps listed above can do that either. You'll need to log onto the game maker's site and ask for instructions.

6. Backup your browser bookmarks. This is REALLY complicated: Open your browser. Find the Export button (if it's IE then it's right off of the File menu; if it's Firefox it's under Manage Your Bookmarks). Pick a folder to backup to. Click, "Export". You're done. Three seconds, three clicks.

7. That's it for the backup portion. Now migrate those apps. I usually do this in front of the TV. A good football game or movie is best. Setup the PC, put your software installation disks next to you, make sure you can see your networked hard disk or that you've got your external USB hard disk handy, and make sure you've got a Web connection, too. Beer and snacks are must haves for me, as well.

First, patch Windows. You can run an Automatic Update from the Control Panel or go to Microsoft's Web site and hit Microsoft Update, then just say "yes" to installing the ActiveX control. Either option requires a Web connection--and about 15 minutes after you hit "Download and Install" if you've got a DSL or cable modem connection. Time to watch some Football.

Next, I install Microsoft Office. It's usually a one-disc installation, so just hit Install, give it your product key and watch some more TV.

Now, don't forget to update Office--almost as many security holes in Office as there are in Windows, so do this before you do anything else. Again, it's either Automatic Update or head on over to Microsoft's Web site and click on Office Update.

Now it's my other disk-based applications (Trend Micro anti-virus [remember to update the virus signature file online right away], Microsoft's Digital Photo, Quicken, World of Warcraft, and ActiveSync). Then it's my online applications--apps that I can install off the Internet (Acrobat Reader (often it's there already), Audacity sound mixer, ZoneAlarm firewall, Firefox, Paint.NET, TrueCrypt, Ethereal network analyzer, and a couple of others). The whole operation takes about an hour, so I'm usually done near the end of 4th quarter.

8. Last step: Migrate your data. This is important: if your Outlook Inbox is like mine (meaning is it about three gigabytes or more), then save that part for last. First, find those data file folders and just point and click back to where you want to save them on the new PC (usually the Desktop or My Documents). For those dedicated My Documents sub-folders (My Music, My Notebook, My Photos, etc.) just make sure to copy the DATA from the shared disk into the empty folder on the new PC. Don't copy the whole folder from the shared disk into the same folder on the new PC--apps will have trouble finding that.

I'm mobile and paranoid, so here's how I do encryption. I don't migrate the personal financial stuff while it's encrypted. I decrypt first, copy to the shared/USB hard disk, migrate to the new PC and then encrypt there. Reason? In case something goes wrong with the encryption software, it's always best to have a decrypted version of the data on something that won't leave the house.

Now, I backup the Outlook files. Just download the free backup utility again and do a restore. For me, this can take a couple of hours by itself--I've got six years of email history in there. That's why I leave it till the end. Click restore and go to sleep. The following morning, I hook everything to the old hardware--install my printer driver, hook up my smart phone and do a sync operation, make sure my MP3 player can see everything, that kind of stuff.

Don't forget to restore your browser bookmarks. Under IE it's still off the File menu, and under Firefox it's under Manage Your Bookmarks.

Finito. Happy and cool on a new PC. I could have spent $50 on a data migration app, and it would have let me do MOST of this with just a few clicks; but odds are it wouldn't have done everything. Plus, you've got to deal with connecting the two PCs somehow, which may make some users uncomfortable. So you're stuck doing some of this no matter which app you choose--so I choose to do all of it and become that much more intimately acquainted with how my PC is storing data and settings.

Tech Novice: 8 Steps to DIY Internet Security

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 20:22:57 GMT

Symantec's Norton 360, Microsoft's Windows Live OneCare and now competition from other packages like McAfee (which already has Internet Security Suite 2007) and Trend Micro's Internet Security 2007. Thing is, these new suites are taking the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach to Internet security -- and they're charging the same way. At least $50 a year and up to $80 out of the gate. Not to mention quite a bit of system overhead.

So for those of us to whom that's still a mite high, what else can we do to protect ourselves? Well, here are five basic steps to Internet secuurity without the associated buckeroos:

1. Get a personal firewall. The Windows XP firewall is pretty good. ZoneAlarm's free version is better. The Vista Windows Firewall is good enough for anyone.

2. Get an anti-virus scanner. If you can't afford the $24 a year for a commercial one, then try ClamWin. I've used it on test systems and it's been fine--even has an email scanner. It's just not recognized by Windows Security Center so every time you start up, SecCenter will tell you that you don't have AV installed. Don't worry, you do.

3. Get a spyware scanner. I like AdAware SE Personal from Lavasoft, but there are others. You can just run these manually once per week.

4. Enable Windows Automatic Updates. Your office IT guy may hate Auto Updates, but that's because he has business cncerns. Home users should always have Automatic Updates turned on.

5. Watch which emails you open. Anything with an attachment is suspect. If you don't know the sender and it has an attachment, don't even open the email. Just delete. If you know the sender but normally wouldn't get an attachment from him/her/it then you can double check or delete automatically--I tend to err on the side of deletion.

6. Get paranoid about phishing. Never take chances here. Any email that asks you to log into a Web site via a supplied link in the email is phishing. Always, no exceptions. See it, delete it.

7. Get a second Web-only email account. Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, whatever. Something where all the messages stay on a server and you need a Web browser to access it. Anytime you need to register for ANYTHING on the Web, you use that email address. You;ll soon find most of your spam being directed there. Much easier to control that stuff when it never hits your PC.

8. Stay away from porn, P2P file sharing services (like BitTorrent of Kazaa) or any fringe Web site (certain music ssites or the underground rebellion's Web site, for example). At least on your primary PC. If you need to access one or more of these services, use an old computer or some kind of anonymous Web service. Some people like Microsoft's Virtual PC for this--just create a second software machine on your primary and wipe it every time you need to surf on the edge. If you're comfortable with it, running Linux in a virutal machine to surf these kinds of sites will really foil the bad guys since most of the bad software is still written for Windows.

That's it. Eight fairly simple steps and you're as protected from the Internet as you're likely to get. Eight simple steps that are also--importantly--free of charge. Yeah, the all-in-one suites are probably somewhat more thorough, but if you can't afford them, these steps'll do you.

Tech Novice: How To Install RAM in Your MAc

Wed, 06 Sep 2006 21:21:31 GMT

Just in case your Mac hasn't burst into flames, you may be ticked at all your friends with their new Intel-based Macs. And if you're in that boat, you're looking for a way to speed up performance without buying a whole new machine. While Macs aren't quite as easy to boost as Windows PCs, there is one universal OS speed-up rule:

Slam in some RAM,

and SHAZZAM

You get Power with BAM!

Hey, I just made that up, so leave me alone. But what if you don't know how to add RAM to your Mac? Well, glad you asked and clicked here, because I just saw this tutorial on Lifehacker that not only has step-by-step text, but also some step-by-step video. Enjoy.

Tech Novice: Recover Lost Files

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 19:26:22 GMT

Yesterday, I posted about Kiltak's tutorial on making sure that deleted files stay deleted. He used special software to ensure proper deletion of data. Fortuitously, ExtremeTech just did an article on recovering lost files. Whether you deleted them semi-unintentionally or you had some hard disk hiccups, the tools that ET reviews are designed to get your data back safe and sound. They look at three tools, including Search and Recover, Digital Photo Recovery and Undelete. Good grounding for anyone who uses their PC to manipulate data that's really critical to them.

PC Mag's Ultimate Digital Music Guide

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 17:34:14 GMT

For those of you just beginning to explore the wonderful world of digital music, PC Mag has recently published an A-Z guide to digi-tunes. Read this and you get the skinny on downloading, ripping, organizing and playing back on everything from mini-players to your stereo.

You won't get the scoop on downloading pirated tunes from BitTorrent or some newsgroup...but nice people don't do that anyway. Right? Yup. Definitely. We don't do that. Never. Especially not me. Not a lick.

Tech Novice: Build Your Own 80GB External Hard Disk for $84 (Part 2)

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 21:59:30 GMT

Ok, you've put together your hardware. The previous post may have been about 800 words, but in real-time the whole hardware thing only takes a few minutes (provided your enclosure screws don't strip!). Next comes the software part. In the next few posts, we'll configure our hard disk so it's formatted and recognized by Windows, then we'll setup backup software, and then we'll add encryption software so you can keep the important stuff safe in case your new portable treasure gets lost. Best part? All these software smarts are free. You've paid as much as you're going to pay, so don't worry about the budget anymore.

First things first, tho. Windows needs to recognize the drive. (Oh and for those of you getting miffed that I'm ignoring OS X, not only is this a Microsoft-sponsored blog, I also don't have a Mac handy to do this on. Sorry.) Back to Windows.

Plug the drive into your PC. For PCs with Firewire ports, you can use those, but frankly, USB 2.0 is more than fast enough to manage the 5400rpm Samsung disk we got on sale. It also should supply enough power so you don't need to plug your drive into the wall separately. If the USB port you choose doesn't have enough power, the CompUSA enclosure has a second USB plug that will slip into another USB port on your system and provide enough juice.

Whether it's the MadDog or the CompUSA enclosure, the enclosure will configure itself via USB 2. You'll see some text ballons pop up on the bottom right hand corner of your screen. They'll see things like "New USB hardware detected." "Disk drive." And finally, "Your USB hardware is installed." Only it's not--at least not fully. The enclosure is configured, but the drive inside it still needs some work.

Once the balloons stop, click on Start => Control Panel => Administrative Tools => Computer Management. You'll see a work window on the right and a tree-style list of options on the left. Click on Disk Management in the tree (click on the first image below for a full-size screen shot). The right-hand work window will split into two panes, with the bottom part listing your external hard disk as an unformatted drive. Just right click on this drive letter and you'll see an option for New Partition. Click on that to start the New Partition wizard. This is real easy, just follow along with the following caveats.

First, the wizard will ask how big this new partition is going to be. It'll default to the maximum size of the disk, which is most likely where you should just leave it. (Click on the second thumb image below to get a full-sized screen shot.) This just means that the entire drive will be visible as a single drive folder on any PC you plug the drive into. That's less work for most of us than configuring multiple partitions on the drive.

Now you'll be asked to assign a drive letter to the drive. You'll be presented with three options (click on the third thumbnail below for a full-size screenshot): Drive letter, an NTFS volume name, or not assigning anything. Stick with the first one. We're going to format the drive as NTFS (so that you can save movie files of more than 3.5GB, which you can't do under FAT32). So you might be tempted to simply call the drive an NTFS volume name like "PortaDisk". That'll work for the most part, but a whole lot of Windows software--even today--is drive letter-dependent. If it sees a volume name insteald of a drive letter, much of the software out there today can't function properly. By taking the default drive letter you bypass that difficulty, and if you plug it into a PC where that drive letter is already taken, Windows will just assign the next available letter. No problem.

Almost done. Now the wizard will show you formatting options. Again, you've got a couple of options (click on the fourth thumbnail below for the full-size screen shot): Don't format or Do Format. You want to format, so highlight that second one. Next, pick how you want to format it (usually between FAT32 and NTFS). These are two Windows-compatible file systems. FAT32 is fine, but NTFS is typically a bit quicker and it also supports larger volumes as well as larger file sizes. So if you want to run movies off this drive so you can be entertained on airplanes and such, you want NTFS because that system can handle files bigger than 4GB (your typical two-hour MPEG2 movie). Just select NTFS in the drop menu. After that, you've only got one other decision--whether to do a low-level format or a quick format. If the drive is brand new, select quick format. If you're recycling a drive off an old notebook or something, then you'll want to do a low-level format to make sure all the crud is off it. The quick format takes only a minute or two. The low-level format will take some time, so if you're going that route get ready to take a break.

The wizard will now display a summary page, just listing all the options you've selected. Click okay and the drive will get its new letter and formatting. After that, you've got a working external hard drive.

You could stop here and the thing will work fine. But if you follow through the next couple of posts, I'll show you how to enable the one-button backup that comes with the CompUSA enclosure, or build a software-only one-button backup alternative. After that, we'll cover putting an encrypted folder on the drive so you can put any confidential files in there and make sure that no one except you can decrypt them. Stay tuned.

Tech Novice: Build Your own 80GB External Hard Disk for $84 (Part 1)

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 18:13:05 GMT

I've done a couple of posts in the past few months on external hard disks with added security. Generally, these run around $200-$400 depending on manufacturer, size and the type of additional security. Well, for folks who need some portable storage, some easy backup and some additional security all on a budget this post is for you. We're going to build an 80GB external hard disk that's light and easy to carry, connects via USB 2.0, has built-in backup and built-in data encryption for that added security. All for $84.

So this all began with a stroll through CompUSA last weekend. The store was running a series of specials in the "Value" section (as they often do). One box that caught my eye was a Samsung 80GB 2.5-inch hard disk on sale for $59. For most folks, 80GB is plenty; and for those who need more...hey, buy two. My external hard disk at home is a few years old and a little anemic at 20GB. So I figured it was time to upgrade. Building one of these external hard disks is pretty easy, so naturally I screwed it up first.

Along with the Samsung 80GB, I purchased a 2.5-inch external disk enclosure from a company called MadDog. It had a cool blue glowing front bezel, a (sort of) heat sink to keep the disk cool and it cost about $80. Unfortunately, the first one was an $80 paper weight because MadDog torqued the screws down so tight that they would strip before you could get the enclosure open. Since you need to open the enclosure in order to stick the hard disk in there, a sealed enclosure is...useless. So I brought it back and CompUSA gave me another one. This one, I had them open for me--it took 20 minutes and they were cranky by the time they gave it back to me.

I then installed the drive (like we'll talk about in a little lower down), only to find out that the enclosure has not only power problems, but reliability problems, too. A 5MB podcast file was recorded as being stored on the drive only to be lost when the drive was reconnected to another PC. Not good. Stay away from MadDog.

So what else to get? Well, it turns out that CompUSA makes its own enclosure hardware. Their 2.5-inch enclosure didn't look quite as cool as MadDog's, but it sure worked better and it has one-button backup software included. For $24.99--about a third of what that MadDog garbanzola cost. Sometimes cheaper really is better.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Even if you've never messed with naked hard disks before, don't shy away. Assembling your external hard disk is darn easy. First, open the enclosure--typically secured via two phillips-head screws (stripped twice on the MadDog disaster, fine on the CompUSA unit). You'll have a pamphlet of directions to follow that will come with the enclosure, but the upshot goes as so:

First, make sure you've got all the necessary equipment. I took a snap (above) of everything required using the MadDog stuff, but it'll be the same for any enclosure. The enclosure will come with...the enclosure case, a software CD for folks still not using Windows XP (don't be that guy), USB 2.0 cables, Firewire cables (if the product supports firewire), mounting screws (only if the enclosure requires them), and the pamphlet of directions. Additionally, you'll need a 2.5-inch hard disk (make sure it's an IDE disk not a SATA disk, just ask the guy at the store), and a phillips head screw driver.

Just unpack the hard disk--that's all you need to do there. Once the enclosure is open, match the connector pins on the hard disk to the connectors on the enclosure's inner card. This is the only semi-tricky part, so just take it slow and you'll be fine. Face the top of the hard disk (the silver part with the stickers and drive information) towards the top. Now check the pins. You'll see two rows of pins on the hard disk and two rows of holes on the enclosure. You'll see two sets of pins (four pins total) that are slightly offset from the rest on one side. You'll also notice that these four pins don't have corresponding holes on the enclosure. Don't let this worry you. Just line up the other pins so they match with their corresponding holes and the four errant pins will simply live in space. They're not necessary for an external enclosure.

Voila, you've completed the essentials of the hardware part. Some enclosures (the better ones) also require you to screw the drive to a support plate in the enclosure (screws will come with the enclosure). Once the pins are connected, all the screw holes should be lined up, so just screw them in. You like to see this feature, because this is, after all, a portable drive--meant for moving around. If only the pins are holding the drive to the enclosure, there's a good chance it'll eventually work itself loose and you'll need to open it up and reconnect.

After that, just slide the drive and the enclosure internals back into the enclosure case and tighten up those phillips head screws (don't strip 'em). That's it for the hardware. The next step is configuring the drive using Windows' software. This is already a long post, tho, so I'm breaking here and we'll pick this up in the next Tech Novice. After that, we'll also cover setting up the drive for instant back-up capability and free security with bullet-proof encryption. Stay tuned.

Tech Novice: How to Do a BIOS Upgrade

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 14:21:20 GMT

For non-nerds, the idea of a BIOS upgrade invokes a fear similar to performing spleen surgery on oneself. Fortunately, that's simply due to an unknown terror factor inspired by the acronym. In real life it's pretty easy.

BIOS stands for Basic Input/Output System, and that's exactly what it is. You can think of the BIOS as the software that lets your computer's hardware talk to the operating system. The difference between BIOS and other software is that its closely related to firmware--which is software that's permanently etched into certain types of processors. BIOS is reprogrammable, but it's not stored anywhere on your PC's hard disk or RAM, but directly on the motherboard that's the heart of your PC.

Why would you want to mess with something like that? Because just like Microsoft or any other software maker, motherboard manufacturers update their BIOS software periodically. Doing a BIOS upgrade can get you better PC performance, support for more and different types of hardware and all-new features like added security or connectivity options.

Generally, the update process is as simple as finding your motherboard vendor's Web site, doing a download and following the instructions, but in case you want a real step-by-step, check out this in-depth tutorial on the subject from Hardware Secrets.

Tech Novice: What's a "Strong" Password?

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 18:22:55 GMT

You've heard your IT manager say it: "Why don't you use a strong password?" And maybe you're wondering how a password gets stronger? Gym workouts? Secret locker room deals with Barry Bonds? Here's the scoop:

The strength of a password is measured by its resistance to attack. The basic hacker attack against a password is termed 'brute force". That refers to the hacker's computer(s) just trying a large variety of words and/or letter combination until they happen to hit the right password.

If you stick with just letters, or worse just lower case letters, you're weakening yourself against this kind of brute force attack. Those passwords might be easier to remember (like for me, "oliver" might be easy), but now the brute force attack simply has to run through a list of semi-common names to guess my password. Even if I capitalize a few letters in the password ("OliVeR"), it still won't slow down a decent cracker.

So how do you put together a strong password that isn't impossible to remember? The password "2mn!$0Uir" may be pretty strong, but try remembering that unless you use it every day. Here's a few variations:

1. Start with a phrase that's important to you. As an example, try your Mom's address -- 1438 Atlantic Blvd., Blingblang OH 02887. One possible password here might be all the numbers and the first letters of each word combined with the two-letter abbreviation for the state: 1438ABBOH02887. That's a pretty strong password, but it could be stronger. Instead of capitalizing everything, let's cap only the state abbreviation. And instead of using all the numbers, let's just use the <shift> characters for the four numbers in the address. So you get !$#*abbOH02887. That's a strong password.

2. Link two things that only you would link. Try your two favorite books. For me, that might be Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Hemingway's A Moveable Feast. For starters, pick a word from each title and combine them into a unique phrase: LordFeast. Still pretty easy to crack. So associate some numbers with each word. There were 3 books and 9 heroes in the fellowship and the last time I was in Paris (where A Moveable Feast takes place) was on the 14th of July--the French 4th of July. So now you might have 39LordFeast714. Better, but you could still take it a step further.

For example, just change all the vowels into numbers--I have a little code for that:

a = 4

e = 3

i = 1

o = 0

u = 7

Now you'd get 39L0rdF34st714. And if you decided to hit <shift> for all the numbers that used to be vowels, you'd get 39L)rdF#$st714. Damn hard to crack, yet pretty simple to remember if you just follow your own rules.

Yeah, strong passwords can be a pain. But when you're protecting things like your bank account or corporate resources that might get you fired (or worse) if they got stolen through your weak password, it's worth the effort. And besides, with a little imagination on the variations described above, you can pretty quickly come up with a strong password that's still easy to remember...for you.

Tech Novice: Free Security Scans

Thu, 27 Jul 2006 16:42:12 GMT

All my PCs have a personal firewall as well as an anti-virus and anti-spyware package installed. But because the malware freaks play a constant game of cat and mouse, whenever I think I may be infected with something I tend to back these installed packages up with some free on-line scanning tools. Just good sense to run your system through multiple detection engines to make sure you're really squeaky clean. An online scan is gret for this because (1) it's free and (2) you don't have to install any additional software, just click "yes" on a Web page. So here's a list of a few places on the Web where you can get free malware scans:

Windows Defender: It's free, but it's really a locally installed application, not an online scan. It's also still in beta, so I usually back this up with something else anyway.

ClamWin: Another free anti-virus program. But again, it's a full-fledged local app not just an online scan.

BitDefender Online Scanner: This is a pretty good scanner, does viruses and requires Internet Explorer to run. They also have a BitDefender Free Edition that's a full-fledged detection app, just not as feature rich as the commercial version. Even have a Linux version.

Freedom Internet Security & Privacy: This is a free online scanner that looks for viruses, Trojans and worms.

Jottie's Free Malware Scan: This is a file-by-file scanning service. Just submit your file and Jotti will scan it for malware. Frankly, the upload process always skeeves me out so I don't use this service.

Panda Software: Panda makes the Platinum Internet Security desktop package based on TruPrevent, but also runs Panda ActiveScan as a free scan. This is a combination virus and spyware scanner, so make sure you've got some time to let this run.

StopSign: This is an independent online virus scanner. Not bad, but not my favorite.

Trend Micro: TM makes PC-cillin but also has a HouseCall product that can scan for both viruses and spyware. Entirely free, but you will need to install an ActiveX control to run the scan. I also have bad luck when trying to run both types of scans simultaneously so I tend to run them separately.

Tech Novice: Moving Your iTunes

Thu, 01 Jun 2006 00:00:24 GMT

Hey, I get to post a Tech Novice that someone else wrote. Geeks Are Sexy just did a good post on migrating your iTunes music library from one PC to another. Tech Teacher, a new contributor over there, points you to another how-to article on the smae topic from Apple, but then fills in the gaps left in that piece with a step-by-step of her own. Perfect for all you iSheep who just scored a new PC.

See, we iRiver folks just kinda do a copy/paste and then plug in our little blue boxes, but I'll shut up now. Enjoy.

(via GeeksAreSexy)

Tech Novice: Do an Online Backup

Thu, 25 May 2006 16:53:26 GMT

Today, computers are ever more important to the life of the average American homo sapien. That means that the data on those computers is also growing in relevance to your daily quality of life. With things like tax returns, legal documents, important email threads and similar records becoming just as important digitally as they might have been on paper, you can't go through your digital life without thinking about keeping that data safe.

So aside from the usual shared hard disk or tape drive, the Internet has spawned another alternative for keeping your bits and bytes safe and toasty warm: Online backups. Basically, this boils down to a Web site that can backup selected folders on your computers and restore them to pretty much anywhere you want. Some require backup software to do this, some don't. All of them require some kind of subscruption charge.

So why pay a monthly tariff when you could just buy an external hard disk and be done? One reason might be to simply have yet another place for the really important stuff. Another, that because these services are on the Web, you can access them from any PC with just a password. So if your house burns down and your PC with it, you can get all your important files back as soon as you can access another PC with a Web pipe.

The sites that offer these services are fairly numerous. I've used xDrive for a while now, but there are far more including Iomega's iStorage, independent iBackup, or the equally independent @Backup among others. When you're looking for a site solution, however, be aware that there's a decided price difference for business-oriented online backups vs. consumer-oriented versions. Home users want to stick with the consumer-oriented services, so stay away from sites like eVault, for example. It's a great service, but it's overkill and overpriced for what you want unless you're shopping for your business.

Also try and stay away from beta services. There are several new online storage services coming online, like Mozy. And while the beta thing might work just fine, the point of this to me is that it keeps my data safe, so anything beta adds too many variables.

Using an online backup service is extremely straightforward. First select an appropriate size of your online data vault. My xDrive subscription gives me a 5GB drive for about $15/mo. That's not enough to store all the data on my many hard disks, but it's more than enough for my critical data and all of my document data (including my many hundreds of articles). Find that critical data on your system(s), figure out how much space it needs and get an online vault sized to match.

Uploading usually goes in two ways. xDrive, for instance, simply provides a "Download" and "Upload" wizard. Point the files you want to store at the Upload wizard and they'll appear online. When you want them back, enter your password and hit the download wizard.

Other sites (and I think xDrive is offering this as an option now), offer backup software or compatibility with third-party backup software. They'll have instructions on this on the Web site and it'll vary with the softawre used, but there's an important advantage to this: Backup software is both intelligent and scheduled.

Scheduled: You can automate the backup process to occur regularly--a really good habit for backups. Set the software to do a backup on all selected folders at a certain time every day, every week, etc. Whatever fits your schedule. You just need to make sure the PC is on and has a Web connection when the software tries to run.

Intelligent: If you do the above and regularly backup, remember that a Web connection is way slower than the link to, say, your external USB hard disk. So an intelligent backup examines all the files in the target folders on your PC and compares those with what's already saved on your backup site. Then it only backs up those files that are new or have changed since the last backup. That means after your first backup, you'll usually only be sending a fraction of the data you sent the first time. Faster and cheaper.

Overall, online backups are a useful tertiary backup medium for really critical stuff. But because of the relative slowness of the Web, I wouldn't try to backup everything you've got to one of these. Use a second hard disk or a tape drive for that.

Tech Novice: Make a Custom Ring Tone for Your Cell Phone

Wed, 17 May 2006 15:46:58 GMT

Cell phone users began realizing that they could create their own reing tones several years ago. But when the concept first started, it was a hack. A little loophole that cell phone freaks discovered that allowed you to upload a new ringtone to the phone. Once it became popular, some cell phone models began deliberately allowing this trick as a feature, but most of these required the ring tone to be in MIDI format--MIDI is a high-end digital music format most often associated with big synthesizers and electric keyboards. So you'd need special software to create your ring tone and then more special software to upload it to the cell phone--not to mention special hardware because PC-to-cell talking was still in it's infancy.

All this hassle made many folks shy away from custom ring toning. Just too much trouble and time.

Well, get set to look at the idea again, because it's gotten quite a bit simpler. In fact, you can create a custom ring tone and upload it to your phone start to finish in about 10 minutes depending on how fussy you are.

STEP 1

First step, get a custom ring tone application. I like the Xingtone app which costs about $20, but if your phone is supported you can also try the freeware ToneThis, which works similarly to Xingtone. (You can check for phone compatibility at the ToneThis web site.)

STEP 2

Once the app is installed, you're most of the way there. Upon opening Xingtone, you'll need to configure it to recognize your cell. Just open the Phone Instructions link and follow the instructions for your particular phone (Xingtone supports pretty much everything). Most times, all that's required is registering your phone number with Xingtone--you'll see why later.

STEP 3

Now open head back to the main app screen and you'll see a file manager that you can direct to any audio file on your PC. (Try the My Music folder under My Documents if you're not sure where Windows Media Player is keeping your digi-tracks.) Find the song you're interested in converting and double click it. It's now loaded in Xingtone. (Xingtone Select File screenshot)

STEP 4

Once it's loaded, you'll see the music file's digital audio representation at the bottom of the screen--all those squiggly lines. Listen to the song and follow its squiggly line process as it plays. This is important because once you find the 10 or 20 second portion that you'd like to convert to a ring tone, you'll need to highlight it here. Tweak the highlighting until you've got exactly the 10-20 seconds you're after. Now click the Trim button, which basically trims the file down to your selection. (Xingtone Analog Rep and Xingtone Highlight and Trim screenshots)

STEP 5

Once you've done this, you can actually stop if you like with a perfectly serviceable ringtone. But Xingtone also has a number of advanced editing tools available to you as well. Read the instructions to get a full description of all of them, but the most popular are the Fade In and Fade Out buttons. These allow the start and end of your ringtone to...well, fade in and fade out. Sounds better. Just highlight the first second or two of your ringtone and click the Fade In button, and the click the last few secs and click the Fade Out button. That's all there is to that. (Xingtone Fade In screenshot)

STEP 6

Okay, now you're done. All the remains is to get your ringtone onto your phone. Fortunately, you don't need to worry about special cables or anything. Just click the XSend button, which first prompts you to name your ringtone. Figure out a Xinging name and hit OK. Upon pressing the OK button, the app sends the ringtone to a Xingtone Web server, which will send a link for your ringtone to your phone as an SMS text message. When you see the Check Your Phone message pop up in Xingtone, you can check your phone, follow the link and download the tone to your phone. From there, you treat it like any other downloaded ringtone. Voila. (Xingtone Name and Send screen shot)

Just remember: If you use this info to make a ring tone out of South Park's Karl's Mom is a Big Fat B!^@# and that goes off during your executive job interview--don't blame me!

Tech Novice: How to Change Windows File Associations

Fri, 12 May 2006 21:24:45 GMT

I'm not much of an iPodder. Just hate following the crowd on that kind of thing--character flaw. So instead, I've been watching my portable video on a Creative Zen Vision--the older one, not the M. When it works, Creative's hardware does a good job. What bugs me most about it is the software.

Every Creative porta-audio or -video product requires using some form of Creative Media Manager. That keeps asking for 'conversions' of file formats that Windows Media Player already recognizes without skipping a beat. That's pain enough, but it also does something else annoying that a lot of other programs do: It changed all my multimedia file associations.

A file association, for those who hate geek speak, is just a phrase that describes with which application Windows automatically associates a given file. So, say you download a song as wondersong.mp3. Usually, Windows will automatically associate that with Windows Media Player. Double click on the file off the desktop and Windows Media Player is what automatically launches to play it. See, that works for me because my iRiver MP3 player auto-syncs with Media Player. No muss no fuss.

But once I start Creative's Media Manager, it automatically re-associates a whole bunch of media files with itself. So now if you click on wondersong.mp3, Creative pops up instead of Windows. If this pet-peeves you as mich as it does me, then read on. Here are the steps you need to take to swap your file associations back the way they were:

(1) Open the Start menu and click on Control Panel.

(2) Find the Folder Options icon and click on that.

(3) Inside of Folder Options, select the File Types tab.

(4) Now find the file types for which you want to change the association. Highlight the file type. (I've selected AVI in the screen shot.) and then click the Change button below. (I've circled it in red on the screen shot.)

(5) Windows will pop up another box called "Open With". Inside of that, you'll see a list of applications that Windows thinks can interact with the file. Usually, what you're looking for is on that list. If not, you can click Browse and search for the appopriate application file (remember to look for the .EXE file here, like WINWORD.EXE for a document).

(6) Click on OK,

(7) You're done. You've successfully changed the type of app that will load for that file. Take that Creative.

Tech Novice: Build a Secure Thumb Drive

Mon, 08 May 2006 17:02:36 GMT

As promised last week as part of the USB roundup post, this is a quick step or two on building your own secure flash drive. Flash drives are great. They fit into any pocket; they can carry up to a couple of gigs worth of documents and even system settings and applications for about $50 on average; and they just plug in and work with any PC that has a USB 2.0 port. Easy peesy.

Only thing is they're small enough to fit in any pocket, which means they're also easily lost. I usually hook mine to my keychain or hang it around my neck during trade shows (hey, I'm a geek and it's work not a singles bar). But even with those brilliant measures, I've lost a few of the darn things.

And losing them means you can lose up to 2GB of data that might really be worth something. So how to secure it? Look to software. I've checked around and one that comes pretty popularly recommended is Private Disk. This program can be had for $45 and encrypts whatever portion of your flash drive you wish in pretty much crack-proof AES 256-bit encryption. (And before you flame me: yes, I know 256-bit encryption can be cracked but it would take the NSA to do it which is a little out of the league of your average purse or briefcase snatcher.) Anybody steals or finds your lost drive, all they get is a bunch of jumbled ASCII characters.

Using Private Disk is as simple as installing the controller app on your PC and pointing it at your thumb drive. You can now configure your thumb drive to have as much or as little of its data encrypted as you'd like. Now all that's left is to pick a decryption password. This is the only part that's tricky: Pick something that's impossible to guess. Use strong password rules where you mix numbers, capped and lower case and special characters with a word length of at least 8 characters or more. T-3-c-h-F-1-l-t-3-r, for example.

The reason you want to be careul here is that if you forget this password, then whatever's on the thumb drive is pretty much gone for sure. If you've got a friend at the FBI or CIA maybe they can guess the password using a network of computers dedicated to the task, but you'll still be waiting a few years for your files. Better to make sure it's something mnemonically friendly--and maybe back it up by writing it down somewhere in a very safe place.

The password thing may sound frightening, but remember you'll most likely have copies of all the files on your thumb drive on your desktop or laptop (or at worst on your backup drive at home)--or at least you should. I've had my troubles with forgetting passwords to encrypted files, but I'd still recommend it. As long as you make sure you can get to the password, it's a great way to use thumb drives during travel without feeling paranoid about misplacing it.

Tech Novice: Buying a Low-Cost Home Theater Kit

Wed, 26 Apr 2006 16:21:28 GMT

Home theater kits are dropping in price. Used to be that a surround sound-equipped DVD-capable home theater kit could cost over $1000. Easy.

Now you can get a decent kit for under $500--sans TV, of course. Heck, Sony has its HT-DDW900, Pioneer has its HTP-3800 and Toshiba has its HD-V57HT--all available for $300 or less. Not bad. But especially in the "Not Bad" aisle of the electronics store, you've got to be careful that you're getting everything you expect. So in case you're thinking of walking down that particular aisle, here's a few things to keep in mind:

1. Oliver's Scale of Video Connectivity: Actually, this isn't my scale, it's the industry's scale, but darn it, I need the ego boost. At the low-end, there's composite video (good, but definitely the poor man's connection). Then there's S-Video ( a personal favorite because it hooks easily to most PC-based PVRs); next, there's component video, which is the best connection you're going to find for standard TV. Last and way up there on the vid connection scale is HDMI, which is what you need for true HD viewing pleasure.

2. Look for a subwoofer. Just because it says it's a home theater system and sports more than two speakers doesn't always mean you're getting a subwoofer. And, believe me, a subwoofer is worth the investment. You want a home theater--you want a subwoofer. Don't buy it without one.

3. A DVD player. Surprisingly, even in this day and age, a DVD player isn't a sure thing. And I'm not talking about an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player, I'm talking about just a standard DVD player--well, I'd look for at least a progressiver scan DVD player, but fortunately there are few kits that sport DVD players below this level nowadays. These thing are still optional to some low-end manufacturers--make sure they aren't optional for you.

4. XM-capable. A few low-cost units are incorporating XM-capability into their home theater products. Just add an XM radio antenna and activate your service subscription and the home theater kit is a-hummin and a-playin those XM tunes.

5. Make sure it can expand. That means you need extra component ports for when HD-DVD players or Blu-Ray players come into the price range of normal people.

6. Pay attention to power. Lots of el cheapo kits promise major power in the form of amplifier wattage numbers. These always look great, but they don't mean a heck of a lot. Do some research on the kit you're thinking about (like, say, on the Internet) and check out the system's data sheet. Somewhere in there, it's going to talk about continuous power or peak power. These are the numbers you're looking for--and usually they're much less impressive than the numbers in the ad or on the box. Make sure they're high enough for you.

7. Small speakers mean looking for wall mounts. If your home theater kit has really small speakers, like the kind made popular by Bose, then it's important to look for included wall mounts. Sounds minor, but if you have to pay for these things extra, it can add up to $100 to the price of an average system.

8. Universal remote. You want one of these. Generally, they almost never cover everything in your rack, but if you're using a bargain home theater system, then there shouldn't be that much other stuff in your rack anyway. A single remote is always better than hunting around for three or four.

Tech Novice: Keeping Pirates Off Your WiFi

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 20:01:33 GMT

My post on catching WiFi pirates in the act, quite naturally sparked the question: "So how do you keep the pirate weenies off in the first place?" I'm going to get into that here, with the caveat that some of the terms are going to be a mite nerdy. Meaning that absolute neophyte tech novices may need to ask me follow-up questions in the comments section. If I don't explain something enough, just ask the question in the comments section and I'll try and answer it ASAP.

Keeping WiFi pirates off your WLAN is what WiFi security is all about, so we can get truly fancy if we want to--just take one look at your local Border's WiFi Security section. In fact, I did a post on that topic for the SMB IT blog-- which is worth a read for those interested. The post starts off basic and gets a little more advanced near the end.

But I'll describe a few extra steps here that home network users can employ to the same effect--these won't make your router 100% secure, but they will make it tricky enough that most casual WiFi hackers will just move on to easier targets.

(1) Follow the first few steps in the SMB IT blog post (link above) on changing your SSID and turning SSID broadcast off. (Don't worry, the post will explain what SSID and broadcast are.) On home routers, doing this is simply a matter typing in a new SSID name in the right field (and remembering it by writing it down someplace) and clicking the checkbox that turns broadcast off. Just look in your docs for the right places in the Web interface.

(2) Now, if you're a real tech novice, don't freak out about using the really advanced WiFi security protocols that I talk about in the next steps in the SMB IT post. If downloading special drivers for Windows XP and such is too geeky for you then forget all that and just turn on 128-bit WEP. This is lower-end WiFi security, but it's a native part of Windows XP so everyone has it; it's easy to setup (your documentation will have a wizard for it); and it's hard enough to crack that some joker parked in a car outside your house won't want to take the time.

Your docs will tell you that you just need to click the "enable" check box for WEP, then choose the 128-bit option and then pick a key. The key will be a word or phrase with a specific number of characters. Set this up on the router and then follow the instructions on setting it up on all the wireless computers in your house. They'll have a setup wizard as well which will also have a WEP option, a 128-bit option and a space to write down the key phrase. Remember to make it a little harder on your local hackers by changing this key word every once in a while--on both the router and the PCs. Anyone trying to crack it will need to start over from scratch every time you do this. Just follow that WEP setup wizard again and you're good.

(3) Next, try turning off DHCP. Again, DHCP is the service that automatically hands out IP addresses to any laptop that successfully logs onto the router--including the yutz out in the car. His notebook scans for wireless networks, finds your router, does a basic handshake so that the two radios are talking to each other, and then the laptop asks for an IP address.

If you leave DHCP on, then the router just hands out the address and the hacker is on your network. (That's bad.) If the router doesn't hand out an address then dingaling hacker is still effectively locked out of your network. Sure, if he's advanced enough he can use a wireless sniffer to try and figure out your IP addressing scheme and then give himself a compatible address manually--but how many guys are really going to take the time to do that? Especially since most of those 'guys' are just teenage neighbor kids looking for a place to surf for porn and illegal content without their parents' firewall finding out.

The only downside to turning DHCP off is that you'll need to assign your IP addresses manually. And that's to all the machines on your network, wireless or wired. The router was handling addressing for everything on the network, not just the wireless PCs. This may be too much trouble for real non-geeks because every PC, printer, etc. will need to have an IP address (10.10.30.x), a subnet (255.255.255.0) and a default gateway (the router's address) assigned manually--meaning you need to enter the device's network setup screens and type this info in.

If you guys give me some comments asking for it, I'll post a step-by-step (with screenshots) on how to do this under Windows XP in th enext few days. It's really pretty easy. Just remember to keep a list of each address and to which device it belongs on a piece of paper or an Excel spreadsheet just in case you need it.

(4) Another step you can take requires that we get just a little bit more technical. In the previous post, I described the typical WiFi IP network addressing scheme as 192.168.1.1. There's a reason for this. That is, that addressing schemes in the 192.168.x.x range are not routable on the open Internet. That means your computer(s) can't be accessed directly from the Internet, which adds a basic layer of security to the whole setup--not against WiFi hackers, just against Internet trolls, spiders, bots and similar trash. However, 192.168.1.x has become so common as the default on routers meant for home use that it's become a gimme for hackers--makes an outside WiFi hackers job that much easier.

Fortunately, 192.168.x.x isn't the only non-routable addressing scheme. By changing this default scheme to something else AND turning DHCP off, you've made some WiFi hacker's life doubly hard because now he not only can't get an address automatically via DHCP, he also can't just guess that it's 192.168.x.x. He's got to go to the trouble of sniffing it out with special tools.

A real easy way to do this is to just go 192.168.20.x or even 192.168.2.x--just choose another subnet numero below 250 and you're one step removed. Hacker boy still has to sniff. If you want to be more distant, go with something in the 10.10.x.x range. Again, not publicly routable, but definitely not a default gimme.

That'a about as far as I want to go in a Tech Novice post. Again, an advanced hacker can still crack this stuff, but if you take these steps then he'll still have to:

Guess that you've got a WiFi router because it's not announcing itself anymore,
Then, guess your router's SSID name in order to start a conversation with it,
Crack your 128-bit WEP key word or phrase in order to complete the basic handshake,
Sniff out your addressing scheme and then assign himself a compatible address.

None of this is undoable to the advanced hacker, but most advanced guys don't go around stealing WiFi bandwidth. They've got better things to do with their time. Usually, it's some casual neighbor or drive-by weenie. Give him this much trouble and it's almost certain that he'll move on looking for easier targets.

Tech Novice: How to Catch WiFi Pirates in the Act

Tue, 18 Apr 2006 20:55:57 GMT

My SMB IT post on securing your WiFi network got some email queries, one of which was "How do you know if someone else is already piggybacking off your WiFi network?" Good question.

First, background: A wireless router is a radio--that's all. It's simply a radio that's sending data bits instead of FM tunes. What's good about that is radio is a common, mature and reliable connection method. Bad is that...it's a radio. Your data is going all over the place, not just down a little wire. Also, the access point (the box that plugs into your network on one side and has an antenna for talking to WiFi clients on the other) connects via radio, so anyone in range of that radio can try and log on. If they're successful, they're not only using your Internet connection, they're seeing anything that's open on your network--like your PC, your printer, whatever has an IP address.

This is why all us geeks pay all that attention to securing your WiFi router (which doubles as an access point). But nothing's perfect, so how do you know if someone else is already pirating your cable modem and peeking onto your network? Just follow these steps:

First, log into your WiFi router. I'd put screen shots here, but every WiFi router has a different interface so it wouldn't help you much. If you don't know how to get to your router's Web interface, then get out that Quick Start guide that shipped with your router and follow the instructions for logging on there. If you used the default settings (baaad), then usually the router is inhabiting an address like 192.168.1.1.

If you're still not sure, open up the command prompt on your Windows PC (if it's connected to the router). Do this by hitting Start >> Run then typing cmd <enter> into the run line. A command line box pops up (looks like a DOS prompt for all of you who can remember that far back--like me). Type in the command IPCONFIG and hit <enter>. You'll see four lines of information:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix........: [[some inscrutable name, like TFPC-1]]
IP Address................................: 192.168.1.34 [[this is your PC's IP address]]
Subnet mask..............................: 255.255.255.0 [[don't worry about this]]
Default Gateway.........................: 192.168.1.1 [[what we're looking for]]

999 times out of a thousand, the Default Gateway address is your router's address. Write that down and open a Web browser. Instead of typing www.msn.com (or something similar) into the address line, just type in the Default Gateway address and hit <enter>. You'll see a username and password prompt. If you stuck with defaults, it's the same as on your Quick Start guide (and you've probably been hacked for a while now). If you chose your own (right move), you better remember it or have it written down somewhere. Otherwise it's a call to the router manfacturer to figure out how to go back to factory defaults (usually a little reset key on the bottom or back of the box).

Now you're in the router's Web interface (yay). Look for a tab or menu option labeled DHCP or DHCP Settings. This big acronym only means that it's a dynamic address server--its job is to hand out IP addresses to anyone who logs on. Without DHCP, you'd have to assign addresses to everything manually and stick with that.

When you set up the router the first time, the Quick Start guide most likely told you to enable this option (or to leave it enabled) and to define an address range (or leave its default address range which is usually 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.100+). If you did the latter, then the router usually grabs the 192.168.1.1 address and hands out all the others as needed. Somewhere in this DHCP configuration screen is a tab or menu option for checking out the router's DHCP Table.

This is what we've been searching for.

The DHCP Table is a tabular view of all the addresses that the DHCP server has handed out. So check your PC's address by typing in the IPCONFIG command from above and looking at the IP Address line (let's say that one turns out to be 192.168.1.2). Now check any other PCs on the network the same way, check the LCD screen on the networkable laser printer, maybe check that networkable hard disk and make a list of all the addresses currently running on your network. If you don't know how to check the IP address on a given device, always find that device's Quick Start guide or instruction manual. Getting an address is always part of setup, so you should be able to figure out what it is by following those steps.

So for example: Let's say you found your PC (192.168.1.2), your annoying sister's PC (192.168.1.3) and the family laser printer (192.168.1.4). Now check the DHCP table. If that's all that's listed, then you're happy. But if there's a 192.168.1.5 listed in the table then you know someone else is piggybacking.

If you find such a miscreant and he/she is still logged on, check the DHCP menu option to see if you can delete the adress or something--kick them off in other words. If it happens more than once, then head over to the router's main menu. Find a tab or menu option called Logs. Get into this screen and enable an option called Traffic Logging. (Usually this is simply a matter of checking a box for "enable".) Now the router is tracking where every IP address goes when it's using the local network or the Internet.

This slows things down a bit on the router (it's thinking more, poor thing), but there are so few people on a home network in most cases that you won't even feel the difference. Once you've left Traffic Logging enabled for a while (like a few hours or days), you can log back into the router's Web interface, click on Logs and then open up your Traffic Log right there.

Okay, don't freak out. This will be a big, boring list of numbers, dates and IP addresses. Making sense of it is easy, though. Just find that miscreant 192.168.1.5--if he's been on again there should be slew of entries. You'll see a date next to each action, his IP address (192.168.1.5) and then a destination (either a local IP address if he's peeking on one of your machines like 192.168.1.2 or a public IP address like 214.32.54.78 or a DNS name like www.yahoo.com--either of the last two if he went surfing on the Web). Play around with this for a while and you'll know where that person has been. If you're lucky, you can use that information to figure out who he is.

Maybe later, I'll do a post on digital payback for when you find the weenie.