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Protect Your Network from Computer Viruses
Setting up a network by using the Broadband Networking Wireless
Base Station and adapters cannot protect against viruses.
To avoid having a problem with viruses on your network, follow
these suggestions:
• Install an antivirus program on each computer on your network
and use it regularly to check your computers for viruses.
Remember to update the antivirus program on a regular basis.
• Learn the common signs of viruses: unusual messages that
appear on your screen, decreased system performance, missing
data, and inability to access your hard drive. If you notice any of
these problems on your computer, run your antivirus program
immediately to minimize the chances of losing data.
• Educate yourself about how viruses are commonly spread so
that you do not spread one yourself:
• Do not load a program from an untrusted source onto one of
your network computers.
• Never open attachments to e-mail messages that you are not
expecting.
• Use your antivirus software to scan all floppy disks before
copying or opening files from them, or before starting your
computer from them.
Protect Your Network from Unauthorized Access
Because wireless networks use radio signals, it is possible for
other wireless network devices outside your immediate area to pick
up the signals and either connect to your network or capture the
network traffic. To help prevent unauthorized connections or the
possibility of eavesdroppers listening in on your network traffic, do
the following:
• Position your base station away from windows and toward the
center of your home. This decreases the strength of the signal
outside your home.
• Enable 128-bit wireless security (WEP) on your network when
you run the Setup Wizard. Encryption scrambles the data so
that it is decipherable only with the information necessary to
decrypt it. If you did not enable wireless security when you ran
the Setup Wizard, you can do so from the Broadband Network
Utility or from the Base Station Management Tool. For more
information, see "Wireless Security (WEP)" of Chapter 6.
• Use media access control (MAC) filtering. You can use MAC
filtering to grant or deny users the ability to connect to your
network based on the MAC addresses of the adapters they are
using. For information about MAC filtering, see "MAC Filtering"
in Chapter 6.
Chapter 5: Monitor 39
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