INews Newsletter - Jul 18, 2003
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* * * I N e w s * * *
A publication of Internet Nebraska, composed and distributed by
* * * manager@inebraska.com * * *
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Volume 6, Number 3 July 18, 2003
Welcome to another issue of INews. This newsletter communicates service
bulletins, announcements, and other useful information to our customers.
Please let us know what you think of it. Archives of INews are located
at http://www.inebraska.com/inews
In this issue: Unwire That Network
Power Mac
Pop-ups: Arggh!
Mr. Internet
*** Wireless Local Area Networks ***
Tired of knocking holes in your walls and lying among the dust bunnies as
you work to wire a few PC's together in your home or office? Wireless
Local Area Networks (WLANs) have gotten more attention recently due to
price drops in the equipment and the ease with which you can expand your
existing network without the mess of wires. This article will describe
the general steps to setup wireless networking in your home or business.
Wireless communication took its modern form during World War II when
nations started using higher radio frequencies and encryption in their
radio communications. The first wireless computer network appeared in the
1970's, and has since improved as new technologies and communications
protocols have been established. The first commissioned standard was
established in 1997 with IEEE 802.11. Since then, three major standards
have dominated the commercial market: 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g.
802.11b is the most popular and the one that will be covered in this
article. For a more in-depth history and explanation of wireless
networking terminology and concepts, you can review this article from
Tom's Hardware:
http://www6.tomshardware.com/network/20010822/
For setting up a WLAN, an existing DSL or cable Internet connection is
preferred and the setup can be done in as little as three steps.
Although one can accomplish the same thing with a dial-up connection, it
is more complicated and is not covered in this article. If you do not
already have a broadband Internet connection, feel free to visit the links
below, or give our help desk a call at 434-8680 in Lincoln or 800-438-4638
elsewhere for more information.
For DSL:
http://www.inebraska.com/dsl
For cable:
http://www.inebraska.com/cable
1. PURCHASING THE WIRELESS ACCESS POINT (WAP)
==========================================
The first step in the wireless setup is to purchase a wireless access
point (WAP), often referred to as an AP, or access point. The AP serves
as a base station that allows all the computers within its range to
connect and use an Internet connection. One can think of the AP somewhat
like a base station for a cordless phone, except instead of only allowing
one receiver, it can have many connections. There are many choices for an
AP. Two of the more popular consumer brand names are Linksys
( http://www.linksys.com ) and D-Link ( http://www.d-link.com ). These are
set up and configured similarly.
Once you have the AP, you need to choose a good location for it. It's
good, but not absolutely necessary, to have it in the middle of the house
and high up off the floor so that all the computers will be able to receive
signal from it. Once you have selected a location, you will need to
connect the AP into the rest of your network with an ethernet cable.
2. PURCHASING WIRELESS NETWORK CARDS
=================================
After the AP is purchased, your next step is to purchase some wireless
network adapters. Like a regular wired network card, this piece of
hardware will allow you to get onto your LAN and ultimately connect to the
Internet. Instead of wires, though, it uses an antenna and a small radio
receiver (remember the cordless phone analogy?) to make its connection.
Other than just the standard wireless PC card, commonly used for laptop
computers, there are a few other devices you can use to allow your desktop
computer to go wireless. They are: a PCI card for your desktop, a USB
adapter that could be used in either a desktop or laptop, or even a
wireless to ethernet converter, which basically takes the wireless signal
and sends it through an ethernet cable to the computer. Note that this
wireless to ethernet cable convert is often referred to as a wireless
bridge, and is extremely useful for connecting anything with an ethernet
port, including your Xbox or other video game system.
3. SETTING UP THE ACCESS POINT AND NETWORK CARDS
=============================================
Once you have an AP picked out, you will need to configure it. Many APs
include a router and switch so you can network your wired and wireless
computers with just one piece of equipment. Depending upon what type of
equipment you are using for your broadband connection, you may or may not
need the AP's router capability. If you are unsure, feel free to give us a
call as we should be able to tell you whether or not you will need this
feature.
There will be three main options for setting up your AP's connection:
DHCP, Static IP Address, or PPPoE. Listed below are some examples of the
equipment you would use with either your DSL or cable. Again, if you are
unsure about which you need, please give our help desk a call and we can
assist you.
- DHCP: Cisco 675/678, SpeedStream 5660, ActionTec 1520, etc., with
Personal Plan DSL or IN Cable.
- Static: Cisco 675/678, SpeedStream 5660, ActionTec 1520 with 1+ static
IPs. IN Wireless Broadband.
- PPPoE: SpeedStream 5200, ActionTec 1520 (the 1520 may or may not use PPPoE,
depending on how it's configured.)
After the correct connection is setup, you will be asked to give your AP
an identifiable name, often referred to as an SSID. You can specify
whatever you want in here, but you'll need to remember what it is so you
can configure your computers to use it. Once the AP has been setup
correctly, you can move on to the next step in setting up the wireless
network cards.
All you have to do here is get the computer to detect a wireless signal,
which should be as easy as entering the SSID you gave the AP earlier.
>From here you will just need to find out whether you need to set the
computer to use DHCP or assign it a static IP address. But, more than
likely you will simply want to use DHCP on the computer.
We recommend configuring both the AP and the other computers on your
network to use 128-bit WEP (wired equivalent privacy) with a special
key, and that you tell your AP to allow only wireless devices with
particular MAC addresses to join the network. You can usually find the
MAC addresses of your wireless devices by looking on the bottom of their
cases or somewhere on the cards. If you have a laptop with built-in
wireless capability, you can find the MAC address by typing "ipconfig /all"
into a MS-DOS box (NT4, 2000, XP) or by typing "winipcfg" into the Run
box in the Start menu (95, 98, ME).
After that, you should be good to go. Welcome to a world without the
hassle of wires!
*** The Capital Soccer Association - Advertisement ***
Capital Soccer Association specializes in
teaching soccer. However we recognize that
soccer, or any other youth sport is merely
one tool in the development of a young
child. Teamwork and sportsmanship through
knowledge and proficiency of the game are
our main goals.
-- http://www.capitalsoccer.com/
*** The G5 Power Mac: Pretty Impressive ***
On Monday, June 23, Apple launched their new G5 Power Macs. Powered by
IBM's G5 processor, They are the first desktop systems available using
a 64-bit instruction set. Priced from $1999 to $2999 they aren't
cheap, but compared to Apple's previous Power Mac offerings, they are a
great deal. Apple's G4 "ultimate" Power Mac was priced at $3499
previously . If you are a fan of Apple systems, you will definitely
want to look into getting one of these.
The G5's front-side bus (FSB) scales with the speed of the CPU and runs at
1/2 of the core frequency of the CPU. It is currently the fastest FSB
available in the desktop market.
PCI-X technology in the new Power Mac allows for more speed and
bandwidth in communicating with PCI add-in devices made for PCI-X, a
feature typically only available in servers.
The Power Mac supports all the latest graphics technologies with its
AGP 8X bus.
You can hook up pretty much any device available to the new Power Mac.
Firewire 800/400 and USB 2.0/1.1 support are both included, connected
to the rest of the system by AMD's Hypertransport technology.
You can read all about it here:
http://www.apple.com/powermac/
To see just how fast the new Power Mac is, look here.
http://www.apple.com/powermac/performance/
*** Schaefer's TV & Appliance Center - Advertisement ***
Schaefer's is an independently owned and
operated television, appliance, and home
theater retailer in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Born out of a small corner drugstore four
decades ago, Schaefer's TV & Appliance is a
22,000 square-foot "superstore" today,
specializing in commercial/professional-grade
appliances, whole house sound systems, home
theater and central vacuum systems. The
success of Schaefer's is key to repeat
business. If a customer happens to have a
problem with a product, Schaefer's will bend
over backwards to get it solved. Our service
center is the largest in the city, and has been
voted Lincoln's #1 servicer for 10 years in a
row! A knowledgeable sales staff, express
delivery, easy financing, and our customer
service representatives are just a few of the
ways in which we at Schaefer's distinguish
ourselves from the rest. Stop by our showroom
at 48th and R in Lincoln, or call us at
and see for yourself.
-- http://www.schaeferstv.com/index2.htm
*** Battling the Pop-up ***
Tired of pop-up windows getting in your way when trying to surf the Web?
We all are. With the right software you can disable these annoying
things.
There are a lot of ways to block pop-ups. Were going to go over three
solutions to the problem.
1. Disable Java-script.
Most pop-ups are invoked by a thing called Java script written into the
Web page. If you disable Java script you render that code useless and
put a stop to pop-ups. Note that this may also break things you use.
If you want a quick fix and don't use the Internet much, this may be the
choice for you.
To disable Java script open Internet Explorer, Click Tools -> Internet
Options -> Security -> Custom Level. Then check disable under Active
Scripting and save.
2. Install a pop-up blocking program.
You can get a great program to do this at
http://www.panicware.com/popupstopper.html
It also helps to protect your privacy by clearing your cache and history.
3. Install a web browser that has built-in pop-up blocking.
One popular browser that includes pop-up blocking is Netscape
( http://www.netscape.com ).
To disable pop-ups in Netscape, click Preferences -> Advanced ->
Pop-up Window Controls. Then check Suppress pop-ups and save.
Some Web sites need you to be able display pop-ups, Netscape has
features that let you allow pop-ups from some sites, but block the
rest.
Many of the newer, alternate web browsers available today also support
pop-up blocking. If you use Opera (http://www.opera.com ), Mozilla
Firebird (formerly Phoenix, http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firebird/ ),
or another browser that supports pop-up blocking directly, please consult
your bowser documentation for more info.
*** Integrated Computer Systems - Advertisement ***
ICS, an A+ Authorized Service Center serving western
Nebraska for over 14 years, is ready with over 40 years
of combined experience to professionally and expertly meet
your computer needs. From large networks to stand alone
PC's, ICS proudly offers their knowledge and expertise to
work for you. Whether it be Windows (95, 98, 2000, NT, ME),
Novell or Unix, new installations, trouble shooting,
networking, print sharing or repair, ICS will be there to
assist you or your personnel on arriving at the best
possible solution to fulfill your needs.
Located in North Platte, Integrated Computer Systems serves
over a 100-mile radius reaching communities such as Kearney,
Valentine, Thedford, Mullen, Sidney, Ogallala, McCook, Grant,
Imperial, Gothenburg, Lexington, Chappell, Sutherland, and
Hershey, to just name a few. So give us a call at 534-1500,
toll free 800-400-1527, or stop in and see us at 101 South
Chestnut.
*** Mr. Internet ***
Q. Whenever I try to log into my Postini Message Center, it keeps asking
for my password even though I have always had it saved, or my
bookmark for Postini will not work.
A. Recently some upgrades were made to the Postini Message Center.
Because of this, some pages are slightly different -- different enough
for your web browser to no longer recognize to them. To solve this
problem, simply go to https://login.postini.com and enter your email
address and password. Make sure you check the "Remember my Address
and Password" box. This also affects your bookmarks. To fix this,
you need to remake your bookmarks. To do this, simply log in as
described above, and then make new bookmarks for the pages that you
want.
Mr. Internet is a regular feature of the INews, and he welcomes questions
of any kind. Just mail them to mrinternet@inebraska.com, and he'll answer
one or two each issue. Those he doesn't use will not necessarily be
answered, and you should still use 'manager' and 'accounts' for regular
business.
*** Advertise on Our Home Pages ***
What better way to advertise your business than on a Web page that is seen
tens of thousands of time every month? None, if you're paying as little
as we charge for it!
We are now offering banner advertising that rotates on all our pages
which is priced based on the number of impressions (viewings) per month.
Your banner can reach thousands of Nebraska residents, and this is a
unique way to advertise your Nebraska business to residents in the area.
Prices for banner advertisement can be found at:
http://www.inebraska.com/ad.html