Just wondered if anyone can shed some light on this...............

Which setting is the best one for my wireless router connection?

I currently have it set to No.4 on the list as I had my old router set to WPA-PSK

There is nothing on my PC that needs protection other than the system it's self, I don't do Internet banking or owt like that. I just don't want someone down the street hijacking my bandwidth


1. WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy)
2. WPA-PSK (Wi-Fi Protected Access Pre-Shared Key)
3. WPA2-PSK(Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 with Pre-Shared Key)
4. WPA-PSK+WPA2-PSK
5. WPA-802.1x
6. WPA2-802.1x
7. WPA-802.1x+WPA2-802.1x


Also what's the difference between WPA and WPA2 and what are the 802.1x for?

Cheers for any help

Daz

 

No probs mate... OK..Explaining this could get complex very quickly if you don't know the subject well (Bit like me and engines )... Shout if you want me to go over any areas...

As I don't know what model router you have and what you've got your PC set to (WPA or WPA2), I'd say 4 is good. Keep it there. The PSK option is a little less secure because you have to share the key passphrase.. but this is only an issue for big concerns. This will stop any bandwidth hijacking.

Make sure however that you have at least the Windows Firewall on... I'd go as far as to suggest this is all you need and that any other 3rd party 'Internet Security' package is just slowing you down... Get a good free Virus (eg AVG) & Spyware (eg Adaware) package & make sure you've got the latest patches (updates) from Microsoft and I'd say you were sorted as far as security goes...

Complex bit..

WPA & WPA2 are associated with the IEEE (you're familiar with this ) standards for Wireless use. WPA & WPA2 are equivalent to the IEEE 802.11X & 802.11i standards respectively..

In a bit more detail; WPA uses the the RC4 stream cipher (encryption) and WPA2 uses AES (Advanced Encryption Standard.)
In a world where these things matter... AES is the stronger of the two and more secure (I wont go into key lengths etc...).

But for you mate.. don't loose any sleep over which one you're running.. Just don't use Option 1 (WEP), which also uses RC4.. . That's not considered safe anymore and could be broken by a suitably accomplished neighbour...

HTH!

 

Cheers for that Al it makes things a tad clearer.

I don't really know that much about computers and stuff any more, It doesn't take long to loose track if you don't keep up. (I got side tracked by fast cars )

I used to be quite advanced but now I think Im back to novice never mind.

While ever the internet exists I'll just ask someone else

Cheers again

Daz

 

NP..

The more I know about the Internet & computers, the more I realise I don't know.... We're all novices to some degree mate..