How To Set Up Simple File Sharing Winxp

Writen by Jason Barrett

The first step is: Start > My Documents

So you have the My documents folder open.

Second click the tools button, than select folder options.

Now you will see a few tabs, we want the View tab so go ahead and select that one.

Now scroll down the list and double-check that "Use simple file sharing (recommended)" setting was checked.

Click the OK button

Open a new folder in My documents

Next right click on the folder and select Properties.
Choose the Sharing Tab
Double check that the "make this folder private" option is not checked
Click ok and close the properties window and now drag the folder you would liek to share to the "Shared Documents" folder located on the left hand menu.

Now right click on the Shared Files folder and select properties, choose the sharing tab
Check the box beisde the dialog "Share this folder on the network"
Click Apply
Now all computer connected to your workgroup or domian can access the folder, that you wanted to share.

Now for confirmation there should be a little hand holding your folder, you are sharing.

Jason Barrett
http://www.computing-forums.com

Is Your Web Browser Putting You At Risk

Writen by Doug Partridge

It's free, it comes with Windows and it's used by approximately 94% of the Internet population. It also poses an unacceptable security risk. What am I talking about? If you guessed Internet Explorer, you're right on the money. So, is your web browser putting you at risk? If you're one of the 94% using Internet Explorer, the answer is a definite *yes*. By my math, quite a few people require critical information for protection.

What's the problem with Internet Explorer (known as "IE" from here out) and how does it put you at risk?

The main problem with IE is the numerous security flaws. As an example, between April 2001 and June 2004, Microsoft documented *153 security flaws* in IE. When a security flaw is discovered Microsoft releases information about the flaw and the potential impact. *Usually* at this point Microsoft provides a downloadable security fix to remedy the problem. Since many people don't know about the flaw and the fix, frequently people remain vulnerable for long periods of time.

Just how serious are some of these security flaws? Some of the critical security flaws allow attackers to basically gain control of your computer and run whatever malicious programs they chose. In many cases, your vulnerable computer can be compromised just by visiting the wrong website.

Here are but a few of the malicious programs I've seen loaded on people's computers through security holes in IE:

• Browser Hijackers. These are programs that do nasty things like change your home page to another page, usually something pornographic in nature. They can also install software and links on your desktop, of course *without* your permission.

• Spyware. This is extremely devious and malicious software, and in many cases, it's used by criminals for online identity theft. Once it's on your computer, Spyware sits quietly in the background recording information about you. Do you shop and bank online? This is one threat to be extremely concerned about.

What can you do to improve security?

Rather than continue to apply what boils down to "band aid" security fixes to IE, I recommend a more permanent solution. Stop letting IE put you at risk, and switch to another web browser.

How exactly will switching web browsers help? Quite simply, there are so many security exploits on the Internet targeted specifically to IE that just by using another browser, you'll happily avoid most of them.

The good news is that there are several alternative web browsers available free of charge like Netscape, Mozilla, Opera and Firefox. For more information a great website to visit is http://BrowseHappy.com. This website is dedicated to getting people to switch from IE. It's full of "real life" stories about why people switched, and what browser they're using now.

So, what's the best browser of the bunch? Well, it's highly subjective of course, but my vote goes to …

Firefox, "Rediscover the Web" A new browser called Firefox has quickly become my web browser of choice. First off, Firefox was written to be "lean and mean" and it certainly delivers. It's faster at loading web pages than IE and even provides features not found in IE. Something I suspect will quickly become a favorite feature is called tabbed browsing. Tabbed browsing allows you to load multiple web pages in the same window, and quickly switch between the loaded pages. Tired of pop-ups? Firefox has the best built-in pop-up blocker I've seen. I have yet to see a pop-up get past it. When it comes to security, Firefox receives *high marks*.

Firefox definitely has a positive "buzz" going right now, and it's easy to see why. If you're interested in trying out Firefox, you can download it for free here: http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

I'll conclude by saying that switching browsers is only one of several steps necessary to protect yourself from the many threats on the Internet, but it's certainly a good place to start. Here's to practicing safe computing.

© Doug Partridge - All Rights reserved

About The Author

Doug Partridge is co-author of a new eBook, "How to Secure Your Computer Using Free Tools and Smart Strategies." This is the missing Internet security guide that should have come with your Windows computer, but didn't.

Free Details => http://www.SecureYourComputer.net

Wireless Linux Using The Linux Wireless Toolbox

Writen by Eric Meyer

First thing you need to do is purchase a wireless adapter card with a prism2 chipset. Just go to google and type in linux wireless adapters and track one down.

If you are using a fairly good wireless distro it should pick up the card automatically.

Ok, Now you have the card now what, you plugged it in and look to the bottom write where the Windows XP wireless Icon usually is and find nothing.

There is no Zero config utility with linux, but they do have built in tools to help connect to wireless networks.

Now you need to find the Command line terminal, it usually looks like a window with a shell because it is a shell.

Now let's test to see if you have your card working. Type in iwlist at the command prompt. If it doesn't let you, then you might have enter administrator mode.

You can enter administrator mode by typing su at the command prompt. Then you will be asked for the administrator password.

Now type in iwlist at the command prompt. This will give you a ton of tools to work with. Once you have typed in iwlist and nothing happens then you probably don't have the right card or it's configured wrong.

Check and make sure you don't have any other wireless network adapters active and disable them if they are. Also make sure that your wireless adapter is set to start up at boot time. You need to look for your system utilities area..it's like the Microsoft control panel called Yast.

By the way your wireless adapter should be named wlan0

The iwlist command will give a list of options that look like this: usage: iwlist [interface] scanning
[interface] frequency
[interface] channel
[interface] bitrate
[interface] rate
[interface] encryption
[interface] key
[interface] power
[interface] txpower
[interface] retry
[interface] ap
[interface] accesspoints
[interface] peers
[interface] event

All of these options can give you various detailed information about surrounding wireless networks.

If you type in iwist scanning it will give a out of all wireless networks available to you with an output like this:
wlan0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:14:BF:75:31:FD
ESSID:"Len"
Mode:Managed
Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
Quality:2/94 Signal level:-84 dBm Noise level:-154 dBm
Encryption key:on
Bit Rate:1 Mb/s
Bit Rate:2 Mb/s
Bit Rate:5.5 Mb/s
Bit Rate:11 Mb/s
Bit Rate:18 Mb/s
Bit Rate:24 Mb/s
Bit Rate:36 Mb/s
Bit Rate:54 Mb/s
Bit Rate:6 Mb/s
Bit Rate:9 Mb/s
Bit Rate:12 Mb/s
Bit Rate:48 Mb/s
Extra:bcn_int=100

This gives you the Network Name, MAC address, Frequency, encryption and much more. This information can be used to join your preferred network.

If you are monitoring certain access point you can type in iwlist accesspoints and get the listing of each nearby access point with the MAC address.

Once you have located the access point you want to connect with it' time to start using another command called iwconfig.

iwconfig is used to configure your wireless adapter so you can connect it to your preferred network. You can configure every thing from the ESSID to the transmit power of your wireless adapter.

sYNOPSIS
iwconfig [interface]
iwconfig interface [essid X] [nwid N] [freq F] [channel C]
[sens S] [mode M] [ap A] [nick NN]
[rate R] [rts RT] [frag FT] [txpower T]
[enc E] [key K] [power P] [retry R]
[commit]

The syntax for using the iwconfig command is: iwconfig (interface name) then what ever you want to configure. So if you want to configure the ESSID you would type iwconfig wlan0 essid "network name".

Now that you know that the tools are there go to work!!!

Learn everything you could ever want to know about wireless networking technology at http://www.wirelessninja.com Learn how to prevent hackers from exploiting your wireless network. Also learn how to prevent the most dangerous computer threat, social engineering.