Greg said:
novice on routers and comcast
What type of router do I need for comcast?
How do I hook two computers up?
How do I secure my cable modem from hackers?
How do I secure my cable modem from people who intentionally or
unintentionally grab my service?
I need this is simple terms.
I think the computer we are getting is a Vista and the other computer
will have xp. Vista will be the one that get priority.
Thank you for your help.
Greg
A modem is a device that converts the signals on the cable,
DSL/telephone line, or other incoming connection to a form that
computers "understand. Usually, your ISP (Comcast) will supply the modem.
A router is a device that connects two different networks, e.g, the
Internet and a Local Area Network (LAN).
Sometimes, routers and modems are combined into one box. This is usually
called a "gateway."
Typically, home routers also incorporate a switch. This allows more than
one computer to connect to the router. Usually, there are 4 ports for
your LAN. You can also get a router that incorporate a wireless access
point. This permits your LAN computers to connect to the router (and
thus to the Internet and each other) wirelessly. You might as well buy a
wireless router; they're about the same price as a non-wireless model
(which are becoming harder to find). If you don't need the wireless
capability now, you can easily disable the wireless function of the
router. If you're really paranoid, many wireless routers will also let
you take off the antennas.
Assuming that the cable modem you get from Comcast is a modem only, you
would buy a router. The cable modem connects to the router's Internet or
WAN port with an Ethernet cable.
You connect each of your computers to the router, either to one of the
router's LAN ports with an Ethernet cable or wirelessly.
You don't secure your cable modem. Almost all home routers today
incorporate a firewall. That, as well as the Network Address Translation
(NAT) of these routers does a pretty good job of securing your LAN
from the Internet. You should change the password used to access the
router's configuration utility. If you have a wireless router, you need
to take some additional steps (implement WPA2 encryption, change the
network name (SSID) to something unique but not your last name or address).
Linksys (one of the better known brands of home routers) has some
helpful learning aids here:
http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/learningcenter
The following is from MS-MVP Malke:
<QUOTE>
A. Router configuration
Setting up a router is quite simple. Normally you run the CD that came
with the router and follow the instructions. If you're running Vista
perhaps the CD that came with the router won't work; I don't know this.
But you can set up the router without a CD. Note that if you have cable
Internet, for the connection you just set the router to do DHCP (or
there may even be a choice of cable for you to select). If you have DSL
Internet, you usually select PPoe and enter the username and password
which you chose when originally setting up the DSL connection. So:
1. Turn off the power to your cable modem.
2. Attach a cat5e ethernet cable (usually provided with the router)
going from the router's Internet/WAN port to the cable modem's ethernet
port.
3. Attach a cat5e ethernet cable going from your computer's network
adapter to one of the ports on the router. If you don't have an ethernet
cable (because you were using USB), you will need to go to the store and
buy one.
4. Turn on the cable modem. After all the lights are on, turn on the router.
To configure the router:
Have a computer connected to the router with an ethernet cable. Examples
given are for a Linksys router. Refer to your router manual or the
router mftr.'s website for default settings if you don't have a Linksys.
Open a browser such as Internet Explorer or Firefox and in the
addressbar type:
http://192.168.1.1 [enter] (this is the router's default IP address,
which varies from router to router so check your manual)
This will bring you to router's login screen. The default username is
left blank and the Linksys default password is "admin" without the
quotes. Enter that information. You are now in the router's
configuration utility. Your configuration utility may differ slightly
from mine.
Click on the Administration link at the top of the page. Enter your new
password. WRITE IT DOWN SOMEWHERE YOU WILL NOT LOSE IT. Re-enter the
password to confirm it and click the Save Settings button at the bottom
of the page. The router will restart and present you with the login box
again. Leave the username blank and put in your new password to get back
into the configuration utility.
Now click on the Wireless link at the top of the page. Change the
Wireless Network Name (SSID) from the default to something you will
recognize. I suggest that my clients not use their family name as the
SSID. For example, you might wish to name your wireless network
"CastleAnthrax" or the like. ;-)
Click the Save Settings and when you get the prompt that your changes
were successful, click on the Wireless Security link which is right next
to the Basic Wireless Settings link (where you changed your SSID). If
you have a newish computer, you will be able to set the Security Mode to
WPA2-Personal. Do that and enter a passphrase. The passphrase is what
you will enter on any computers that are allowed to connect to the
wireless network. WRITE IT DOWN SOMEWHERE YOU WILL NOT LOSE IT.
At this point, your router is configured and if the computer you were
using to configure the router is normally going to connect wirelessly,
disconnect the ethernet cable and the computer's wireless feature should
see your new network. Enter the passphrase you created to join the
network and start
surfing.
*****
B. File/printer sharing
Excellent, thorough, yet easy to understand article about File/Printer
Sharing in Vista. Includes details about sharing printers as well as
files and folders:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx
For XP, start by running the Network Setup Wizard on all machines (see
caveat in Item A below).
Problems sharing files between computers on a network are generally
caused by 1) a misconfigured firewall or overlooked firewall (including
a stateful firewall in a VPN); or 2) inadvertently running two firewalls
such as the built-in Windows Firewall and a third-party firewall; and/or
3) not having identical user accounts and passwords on all Workgroup
machines; 4) trying to create shares where the operating system does not
permit it.
A. Configure firewalls on all machines to allow the Local Area Network
(LAN) traffic as trusted. With Windows Firewall, this means allowing
File/Printer Sharing on the Exceptions tab. Normally running the Network
Setup Wizard on XP will take care of this for those machines.The only
"gotcha" is that this will turn on the XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If you
aren't running a third-party firewall or have an antivirus with
"Internet Worm Protection" (like Norton 2006/07) which acts as a
firewall, then you're fine. With third-party firewalls, I usually
configure the LAN allowance with an IP range. Ex. would be
192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would substitute your correct
subnet. Do not run more than one firewall. DO NOT TURN OFF FIREWALLS;
CONFIGURE THEM CORRECTLY.
B. For ease of organization, put all computers in the same Workgroup.
This is done from the System applet in Control Panel, Computer Name tab.
C. Create matching user accounts and passwords on all machines. You do
not need to be logged into the same account on all machines and the
passwords assigned to each user account can be different; the
accounts/passwords just need to exist and match on all machines. DO NOT
NEGLECT TO CREATE PASSWORDS, EVEN IF ONLY SIMPLE ONES. If you wish a
machine to boot directly to the Desktop (into one particular user's
account) for convenience, you can do this. The instructions at this link
work for both XP and Vista:
Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) -
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm
D. If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center, turn off
Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab).
E. Create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users'
home directories or Program Files, but you can share folders inside
those directories. A better choice is to simply use the Shared Documents
folder.
See the first link above for details about Vista sharing.
F. After you have file sharing working (and have tested this by
exchanging a file between all machines), if you want to share a printer
connected locally to one of your computers, share it out from that
machine. Then go to the printer mftr.'s website and download the latest
drivers for the correct operating system(s). Install them on the target
machine(s). The printer should be seen during the installation routine.
If it is not, install the drivers and then use the Add Printer Wizard.
In some instances, certain printers need to be installed as Local
printers but that is outside of this response.
<\QUOTE>
