Protecting Your Wlan; Roaming To Another Network - HP Laptop User Manual

Protecting your WLAN

When you set up a WLAN or access an existing WLAN, always enable security features to protect
your network from unauthorized access. WLANs in public areas (hotspots) like coffee shops and
airports may not provide any security. If you are concerned about the security of your computer in a
hotspot, limit your network activities to e-mail that is not confidential and basic Internet surfing.
Wireless radio signals travel outside the network, so other WLAN devices can pick up unprotected
signals. You can use the following precautions to protect your WLAN:
●
Use a Firewall—Checks both data and requests for data that are sent to your network, and
discards any suspicious items. Firewalls are available in both software and hardware. Some
networks use a combination of both types.
●
Encrypt your data—Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA and WPA2) encrypts and decrypts data
transmitted over the network. WPA uses Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and Temporal
Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) to dynamically generate a new key for every packet. It also
generates different sets of keys for each computer on the network. Wired Equivalent Privacy
(WEP) encrypts data before it is transmitted using a WEP key. Without the correct key, others
will not be able to use the WLAN.

Roaming to another network

When you move your computer within range of another WLAN, the operating system attempts to
connect to that network. If the attempt is successful, your computer is automatically connected to the
new network. If the operating system does not recognize the new network, follow the same procedure
you used initially to connect to your WLAN.
Using a WLAN 19