How To Secure Your Wireless Network

People have more flexible time due to wireless network. Thanks to the invention of wireless. People can now work from home while taking care of their kids or doing house works. No more stress from traffic jam anymore. Is this great?

Well, there is something you should realize. Working from home while using a wireless local area network (WLAN) may lead to theft of sensitive information and hacker or virus infiltration unless proper measures are taken. As WLANs send information over radio waves, someone with a receiver in your area could be picking up the transmission, thus gaining access to your computer. They could load viruses on to your laptop which could be transferred to the company's network when you go back to work. 

Believe it or not! Up to 75 per cent of WLAN users do not have standard security features installed, while 20 per cent are left completely open as default configurations are not secured, but made for the users to have their network up and running ASAP. It is recommended that wireless router/access point setup be always done though a wired client. 

You can setup your security by follow these steps:

1. Change default administrative password on wireless router/access point to a secured password.

2. Enable at least 128-bit WEP encryption on both card and access point. Change your WEP keys periodically. If equipment does not support at least 128-bit WEP encryption, consider replacing it. Although there are security issues with WEP, it represents minimum level of security, and it should be enabled.

3. Change the default SSID on your router/access point to a hard to guess name. Setup your computer device to connect to this SSID by default. 

4. Setup router/access point not to broadcast the SSID. The same SSID needs to be setup on the client side manually. This feature may not be available on all equipment. 

5. Block anonymous Internet requests or pings. On each computer having wireless network card, network connection properties should be configured to allow connection to Access Point Networks Only. Computer to Computer (peer to peer) Connection should not be allowed. 

Enable MAC filtering. Deny association to wireless network for unspecified MAC addresses. Mac or Physical addresses are available through your computer device network connection setup and they are physically written on network cards. When adding new wireless cards / computer to the network, their MAC addresses should be registered with the router /access point. Network router should have firewall features enabled and demilitarized zone (DMZ) feature disabled. 

All computers should have a properly configured personal firewall in addition to a hardware firewall. You should also update router/access point firmware when new versions become available. Locating router/access point away from strangers is also helpful so they cannot reset the router/access point to default settings. You can even try to locate router/access point in the middle of the building rather than near windows to limit signal coverage outside the building. 

There is no guarantee of a full protection of your wireless network, but following these suggested tips can definitely lessen your risk of exposing to attackers aiming at insecure networks.

How To Recover Lost Data

Computer files are a lot more important to some people than their lives because it represents their whole life’s work and achievement. There are people who rely on their computers for almost everything, from their daily schedules, business and personal files and what have you. The possibility of losing their computer data is thus a horrifying thought for them.

Even a student who uses his computer to store assignments, research papers and other school data will be dismayed at the though of losing such files. What more for a computer dependent entrepreneur who relies on his computer for the day to day existence of his business. Losing computer data for both types of computer users would mean a catastrophe because once lost, computer data can no longer be recovered.

However, technological advancements have made data recovery possible depending on a lot of factors. For one, computer users are advised to make back ups of their computer data to make sure they would not be caught red handed when computer data is destroyed. For some who hold very important computer data, the back up itself should even be further backed up to make sure there is a way of recover lost data.

Fortunately, there are companies who offer data recovery services in case of an unforeseen disaster like corruption of files or crashing of a computer hard drive.  People who store very important data in their computers need to have back ups but in any case, they should be acquainted with a computer company that can offer them fast and efficient services for the recovery of their lost computer data.

It is thus pertinent that computer users have a way of knowing where to contact computer companies who can recover lost data for them no matter how such data was lost. There are various ways of losing precious data and one of those is carelessness. People take for granted that computers are very fast and efficient machines they can accidentally command their computers to lose or delete data in a flash.

The widespread use of internet has also been responsible for thousands of computer crashes all over the world because of viruses that attack computer hard drives. There are plenty of technical reasons why data is lost. Added to that are unforeseen disasters like fire or other calamity.

Computer users who have backed up their lost data but who discover that their back ups do not work still have a recourse. Rest assured that there are companies and software that can recover your computer files efficiently and quickly to minimize your potential losses.

Companies providing data recovery are equipped with technical people who around the globe and are more than capable of bringing back lost data. You just have to be able to know them beforehand so that when your computer data gets lost or destroyed then you have immediate access to their services.

How to Choose Right PC Diagnostic Software

Computer Diagnostics is a need to keep a healthy operating system and vital for business productivity, where a failure can be a costly mistake. PC diagnostic software can determine hardware and software conditions and possible failures, as well as current settings and connectivity.

A PC diagnostic program can also suggest the best performance settings in order to get the most of your system according to your hardware specifications. In addition, a PC diagnostic tool can help you to identify potential problems that can damage your hard drive or any other piece of hardware.

Some companies provide troubleshooting tools to test your PC’s electronic circuits, in the form of system plug-ins or stand-alone applications. Computer Diagnostics should also be able to check other computer components such as the BIOS, serial and parallel ports, USB and Ethernet ports, etc.

Choosing the best PC diagnostic software depends on your computer related knowledge. You may find a PC diagnostic program worthless if you do not understand what a benchmark diagnosis means, or cannot make changes in the settings that the PC diagnostic tool may suggest.

Computer Diagnostics provide end user with intuitive diagnostics tools for troubleshooting while improving performance. However, some of them can be risky if you do not understand what they can do, like those including the ability to reformat any type of hard drive.

Most software developers state, "use it at your own risk" because of the lack of knowledge that can lead also to massive data loss. Although data can be recovered, it is a painful process because of the required proper software or you may have to take the hard drive to a service center that can restore and reformat your hard drive.

Even then, there are no guarantees of getting 100% of your data back, so be careful choosing software intended for Computer Diagnostics, and always read before clicking any "OK" message that may pop up. 

If a PC diagnostic tool returns the parameters of the hard drive, and allows toggling the IRQ directly to determine which I/O port is at which IRQ, make sure you understand what all this means before proceeding, because the software can read, write, overwrite and edit most values.

Perhaps the best PC diagnostic software is that which can only read, generating log files or an overall detailed report of your computer including all its components. 

If the PC diagnostic program cannot write, the possibilities to damage your hardware or destroy your content are very low, although other problems such as a buggy, unstable version can ruin your operating system.