Laptop Wireless Security Tips

Most laptop wireless security comes down to 2 things, a general awareness of computer security as well as having adequate protection on your computer.

1. Are you connecting to a known network
2. Networks to avoid
3. Are you running a firewall
4. Antivirus up to date
5. Antispyware up to date
6. Account passwords
7. Guest account disabled
8. NTFS not FAT32
9. Password protect sensitive files
10. Do not allow secure website information to be stored
11. Updates
12. Be aware of your surroundings
13. Has your computers security been compromised?

Are you connecting to a known network
If possible only connect to known networks that you trust, if you have to connect to an unknown network never give out any secure or confidential information such as passwords, bank information.

The reason for this is as well known scan where someone walks into an coffee shop with a wireless network, they then register to access the internet via the wireless network and share the connection, they give it another name and wait, along comes someone else with a laptop, they see the shared internet connection, presume wrongly that its provided by the coffee shop, enter there credit card information to pay for access, and the person sharing the connection collects the credit card information allows the other person to connect to the internet so they are none the wiser.

Networks to Avoid
In particular avoid connecting to ad hoc networks (an ad hoc network is simply another computer sharing an internet connection, although not infallible this is the easiest way to spot a fraudulent wireless internet connection)

As above its easy to see if your connecting to an access point or ad hoc network

As a precaution to your laptop wireless security - network access should be set to Access Points not ad hoc) this can be setup as below

Choose Access point networks only if you are unsure in regard to ad hoc networks

Are you Running a Firewall
When connected to any network, be it wireless or cabled a firewall is an essential piece of laptop wireless security software it helps prevent anyone or anything being able to connect to and access your computer, they can also stop any unauthorised applications from connecting to the web on your computer, there are quite a few different firewall packages around, Windows even has one built in which does a good job, just make sure its actually switched on.

Antivirus up to Date
Whichever antivirus software you are using, make sure it is kept up to date, if you travel around a lot and don’t get the chance to connect to the internet very often, this is ok, but as soon as you do connect antivirus updates should be a priority before you start working, as there are new computer viruses entering the internet every day one could easily be released which may not be detected by your out of date antivirus software.

AntiSpyware up to Date
Today AntiSpyware software is a must, there is so much spyware around that even browsing several sites will download some type of spyware to your computer, luckily most of this is just cookies which are harmless, but there is some very nasty spyware around such as key loggers and browser hijackers, if you are looking for some free Antispyware software checkout our article here..

Account Passwords
Every user account must have adequate passwords, this means using a minimum of 8 characters including upper, lower and numerical, this way we can also use easy to remember words but just substitute some of the characters, for example computer could be changed to Comput4r which is near impossible to guess or crack.

Having inadequate passwords can mean seconds to get onto or hack your computer, even if you have no shared folders, as Windows does have an administrator share that could allow someone to see ever file on your computer hard drive.

To change a password on the account you are logged in under hit the keys CTRL – ALT – DEL and use the change password option.

An easy way to change password on all accounts is to right click on My Computer – Manage – Local Users and Groups – now you will see all the user accounts on your computer, to change its password right click on any account

Another good practise involves changing passwords on a regular basis every 30-60 days, as no matter what password you use, if given long enough it can be cracked or hacked.

Guest Account Disabled
One of the easiest ways to get your computer hacked is to leave the guest account enabled, generally it does not require a password and if its been added to the administrators group its very easy access for someone – to change this Right click on My Computer – Select Manage – Local Users and Groups – Users – Make sure the Guest account has a red cross through it, this signifies it is disabled. If it does not, double click on it and select and put a tick in the box Account is Disabled.

You should always do the same to any other accounts you do not need to use, just as a good laptop wireless security technique

For the second part of Laptop Wireless Security Tips check here..

Find out more about computer security from our main article Find more in depth information in regard to Windows Security

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