Strong Passwords

A Few Terms

WAP (Wireless Access Point) - The wireless base unit. A very common WAP comes from Linksys.

802.11a/b/g - 802.11 is the standard that all wireless devices use to communicate. The letters ('a', 'b' and 'g') denote which version. Most wireless units are 'b' or 'g', and 'g' devices are backwards-compatible with 'b' units.

Router - The device that sits between your broadband modem and your internal network (unless the modem plugs directly into your PC). Most WAPs have a built-in router. Most also have a built-in firewall. The router routes traffic between your internal network and another network - in this case, the internet.

Firewall - A firewall is a device or piece of software that restricts unwanted traffic from entering your network or computer. Some firewalls will also stop specific outbound traffic as well. Most consumer routers have a basic firewall. Windows XP, Mac OSX and linux all have built-in firewalls. As of Service Pack 2, Windows XP's firewall is on by default.

WEP (Wired Equivalency Protocol) - The encryption used in 802.11 to protect the data between the WAP and the wireless card in your computer.

WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) - A newer encryption scheme designed to replace WEP as several problems were found with WEP.

WAN )Wide Area Network) Port - On most router/WAPs, there will be one WAN port and one or more LAN (Local Area Network) ports. The WAN side represents the internet and the LAN side is your network.

TCP/IP This is the protocol (language) that all computers use to speak to each other, often referred to as 'IP'.