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This book offers tips and tricks for finding the best equipment for your home networking project and then walks you through the wireless network setup that's right for you. The wireless market is expanding quickly. New standards, including high-speed 802.11a, and the emergence of other "no-new-wires" technologies, such as powerline, are making the home networking market a slightly confusing one for consumers. Connecting and using interoperable equipment from vendors including Linksys, Netgear, Intel, D-Link, and Proxim, among others, can be a genuine plug-and-play experience. Or it can lead to several days, or more, of confusing hang-ups. There are pitfalls to be sure, but they can be avoided with a little planning. This book can help. Looking toward the future, there are a host of new wireless standards coming out in the next two years. Should you wait for faster technology or jump in now? There are some ingenious ways being developed by manufacturers to make interoperable technologies work together (dual-mode wireless access points, for instance, that work with 802.11a and 802.11b), and you can always upgrade later. In a word, "jump."
Your Home Network: Should You Go Wireless?
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Preface.
1. Why Network Wirelessly?
What Is Wireless Networking? Benefits of Wireless Networking. Wireless Speed in the Real World. Sharing Your Broadband Modem. Sharing Printers and CD and Hard Drives.
Learning Some Basic Networking Terms. How Wireless Networking Works. File Sharing. Internet Sharing. Networking Securely.
Your Wireless Equipment's Range. Ad-hoc vs Infrastructure. How Walls, Concrete, and Steel Affect Your Signal. Maximum Speeds vs Real World Speeds. Getting the Most Out of Your Wireless Signal. 802.11a, 802.11b, or 802.11g?
Connection Options. Setting Up Hardware. Software Overview. Using Ad-hoc Mode. Working with Access Points. Access Points with Built-in Routers. Troubleshooting. Placing Your Equipment. Creating a Peer-to-Peer Network. Creating an Infrastructure Network. Setting Up a Hybrid Network. Connecting Network Multimedia Devices. Mixing 802.11 Equipment.
A Good Start: 802.11b. Wirelessly Networking a PDA. HomeRF. Moving Up: 802.11a. Newcomer: 802.11g. Sending Files via Infrared. Printing through Infrared.
Conducting Your Research. Finding Reliable Reviews. Buying Equipment Online. Ensuring Interoperability. Finding Help on the Internet. Checking Out the Web. Finding Answers through Newsgroups. Getting Assistance from Mailing Lists. Looking Toward the Future.
Make Sure Your Hardware Is Recognized. Checking for TCP/IP. Naming Your Computer and Workgroup. Start File and Printer Sharing. Using Network Neighborhood. Share Internet Access Wirelessly.
Make Sure Your Hardware Is Recognized. Updating Your Drivers. Change Settings Manually. File and Printer Sharing. Sharing Internet Access. Using the Network Setup Wizard.
Choosing a Wireless or Wired Router. Adding a Router to Your Network. Setting Up Windows ICS on the Host Computer. Setting Up Client Computers.
Setting Up E-mail. Browsing the Web. Adding Instant Messaging. Finding Your IP Address. Checking Your Throughput. Setting Up PPPoE.
Are Your Drivers Current? Finding a Bad Network Adapter. The Trouble with a Mixed Windows 98 and 2000 Network. Configuration Utility Errors. Firewall Hangup. Printer Problems. Other Common Problems.
Firewalls. Choose a Hardware or Software Firewall? Wireless Encryption. Router Filters. How to Encrypt Your E-mail and Other Data. Viruses and Your Network.
Wirelessly Connecting a New Server. Setting Up File and Printer Sharing. Adding a Wireless Printer Server. Protecting Your Server.
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