computer networking for dummies

RenegadeT

RenegadeT

no shirt,no shoes,no dice
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Mar 24, 2005
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Stokesdale-Greensboro
We were good this year, so Santa's bringing a laptop to our house this year. Now there will be 2 laptops, how do we connect them? Old one has XP, I think the new one will be Windows 7.

I'm pretty sure we will begin with a simple jump drive to move files back and forth, but it would be nice to drag/drop. Would one of those phone-looking LAN cords work?
We have a wireless router, but if I open them up to each other, does that make it easier fir the entire internet to access them?
Any hints/how to's appreciated.
 
RenegadeT said:
We were good this year, so Santa's bringing a laptop to our house this year. Now there will be 2 laptops, how do we connect them? Old one has XP, I think the new one will be Windows 7.
I'm pretty sure we will begin with a simple jump drive to move files back and forth, but it would be nice to drag/drop. Would one of those phone-looking LAN cords work?
We have a wireless router, but if I open them up to each other, does that make it easier fir the entire internet to access them?
Any hints/how to's appreciated.
Click to expand...

The easiest way would to use the wireless router and use a WEP code so that you will still be secure.

Link to a set up guide
 
burrellsjeep said:
The easiest way would to use the wireless router and use a WEP code so that you will still be secure.
Link to a set up guide
Click to expand...

Just so you are aware WEP is not secure, you need to be running WPA2 if you want to be secure, and make sure you have a long password for you shared key that uses uppper, lower and special characters. Also make sure that you change the admin password for your wireless router to something that is complex also.

But if you setup your wireless network secure your network would be just as secure as setting up your network with a CAT 5 network cable.
 
alright, 2 posts and I'm already lost. I already have laptop1 hooked up to the wireless router with the WEP action. I'm not sure if its secure or not. For some reason I was thinking adding a second computer to the wireless network and allowing the 2 computers to talk to each other, would/could open a door for anyone on the interent to gain access (more easily).
Never heard of WPA2, is this another setup option in the router?
 
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