PC Magazine published a few tips for people looking to buy their own cable modems and ditch the monthly rental fee. It also contains a reminder: Make sure you know whether your modem is just a modem, or a combination device that routes as well.
All posts tagged wireless
PC Magazine’s tips for buying your own cable modem
Posted by Dave Farquhar on April 22, 2013
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2013/04/pc-magazines-tips-for-buying-your-own-cable-modem/
No, it doesn’t take a “serious hacker” to crack wi-fi through WPS
John C Dvorak is raving in PC Magazine about Netgear wireless routers and range extenders and how easy WPS makes it to set them up–and providing some very seriously flawed security advice along the way. “Note that WPS is crackable by serious hackers using brute-force attack, but any SOHO user not dealing with government secrets [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on March 26, 2013
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2013/03/no-it-doesnt-take-a-serious-hacker-to-crack-wi-fi-through-wps/
How to set up powerline networking securely
When you live in a neighborhood where everyone has a wireless network, you’ll struggle to get adequate coverage in every room of your home. That’s just the nature of wireless networking; we don’t have enough non-overlapping channels to cover everyone. I’ve heard a number of complaints lately that U-Verse isn’t reliable, but I’ve traced that [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on February 25, 2013
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2013/02/how-to-set-up-powerline-networking-securely/
How to ditch your landline and your phone bill but still have phones that work
Now here’s a potentially huge money-saver. I still have phone service through AT&T that rings through old-fashioned phones (you know, like the kind you see in a museum) because there’s nobody that’s going to give me a wireless plan with unlimited minutes for about 30 bucks a month. But, still, that’s $360 a year. I’m [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on February 23, 2013
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2013/02/how-to-ditch-your-landline-and-your-phone-bill-but-still-have-phones-that-work/
The lines between white hat/gray hat/black hat hacking and moral laws
Longtime reader/commenter Joseph asked two questions yesterday: What’s the boundary between gray and black-hat hacking, and is it moral to pick and choose between moral and immoral laws? The first question is easier than the second. So I’ll tackle that one first.
Posted by Dave Farquhar on January 26, 2013
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2013/01/the-lines-between-white-hatgray-hatblack-hat-hacking-and-moral-laws/
A contrarian (but defendable) view of e-books
Tech author Nicholas Carr has some interesting statistics that led him to state that perhaps e-books will complement printed books, rather than replace them. It’s not hard to find history to support that hypothesis.
Posted by Dave Farquhar on January 7, 2013
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2013/01/a-contrarian-but-defendable-view-of-e-books/
How to be a hero next Christmas (or your next family get-together)
My mother in law didn’t have wifi set up, but she picked up a smart TV this year, so she asked me if I could help her with it. So I picked up a D-Link DIR-615 on sale, brought it with me and set up wi-fi securely (hints: set the SSID to whatever time it [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on December 25, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/12/how-to-be-a-hero-next-christmas-or-your-next-family-get-together/
A shortcut for wiring your house with Ethernet
As convenient as wireless is, wireless will never match the security, speed, and reliability of wired Ethernet. I ran some wired Ethernet jacks in mid-2009 and have no regrets, but on my last trip to Lowe’s, I spied a nifty shortcut for wiring: an Ethernet coupler that plugs into a standard keystone jack. They were [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on December 16, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/12/a-shortcut-for-wiring-your-house-with-ethernet/
What to do about a router dropping connections
A former classmate and coworker contacted me with a question. My router is about 5 years old. I have a cable modem and a router. The cable modem is fine. The router keeps connecting and disconnecting from the internet…used to happen occasionally, now happens all the time. I reset it and it works for a [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on August 27, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/08/what-to-do-about-a-router-dropping-connections/
Thanks for the misinformation, Disney
In one of its throwaway kid’s sitcoms, Disney insinuates that open source software contains spyware and using it is a ‘rookie mistake’. Open source software rarely contains viruses or spyware. Since it’s open for examination, changes to the code that have any funny business in them tend to be rejected. For that matter, code with [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on August 21, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/08/thanks-for-the-misinformation-disney/