home wireless network confusion

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jeremy Goldman
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Jeremy Goldman

Can anyone explain this:
I have a desktop and a notebook. The desktop gets its wireless capability
from a wireless router. The laptop has a wireless card, which is how it
connects to the internet- from the wireless router (D-Link AirPlus).
After I was able to network the two and share files, I noticed that the
desktop's files and folders were read-only, which I did not want. First I
tried to delete the folders from the network, then I found that disabling
the windows firewall allows me to make the files not read-only (odd thing
#1: the folders are still read-only, but the files are not... and neither
files nor folders are being shared).
Now that I ran the home network wizard to stop file and printer sharing, I
cannot access the desktop from the laptop. As I was doing that, I found (odd
thing #2) that a neighbor's computer is on my network now, and I can access
her files from my desktop, but not my laptop. Why would that be?
 
Jeremy said:
Can anyone explain this:
I have a desktop and a notebook. The desktop gets its wireless capability
from a wireless router. The laptop has a wireless card, which is how it
connects to the internet- from the wireless router (D-Link AirPlus).
After I was able to network the two and share files, I noticed that the
desktop's files and folders were read-only, which I did not want. First I
tried to delete the folders from the network, then I found that disabling
the windows firewall allows me to make the files not read-only (odd thing
#1: the folders are still read-only, but the files are not... and neither
files nor folders are being shared).
Now that I ran the home network wizard to stop file and printer sharing, I
cannot access the desktop from the laptop. As I was doing that, I found (odd
thing #2) that a neighbor's computer is on my network now, and I can access
her files from my desktop, but not my laptop. Why would that be?
Click to expand...

1. It's not a good idea to post to an open newsgroup like this using an email
address that you care about -- having done so, you likely will notice an
increase in spam.

2. Assuming that you're using WinXP (because you posted in a WinXP group), the
"read-only" attribute does not mean read-only for folders. I forget why the OS
checks this box, but it has nothing to do with read-only attributes of the files
in the folder.

3. Files can be shared as read-only or with read & write permission. To quote
Microsoft, "With file sharing in Windows XP, you can configure five levels of
permissions. Level 1 is the most private and secure setting, and Level 5 is the
most public and changeable (non-secure) setting." It depends on which box you
check. Are you using XP Home or Pro? If Pro, are you using Simple File Sharing
or classic file sharing? See http://tinyurl.com/5tlvc for a description of
"How to configure file sharing in Windows XP."

4. Your wireless network appears to be completely unprotected. Your neighbor
is using your Internet connection -- and has access to your files just as you
have access to her files. You may not care about your neighbor, but anyone else
in range of your access point also can use your connection and access your
files. Change your SSID, enable encryption (at least WEP, preferably WPA if
your hardware supports it). There are many sites that explain how to set up
wireless security. Here are a couple: http://tinyurl.com/56fc5
http://tinyurl.com/byof7

5. DON'T disable your firewall. What firewall(s) do you have one each
computer? And how are they configured?
 
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