Router Security
John Little Bras D'or, NS

Q: Watching your show tonight, I realized I didn't change the password when I installed the router software. How do I go back to do that? Can I just run the install CD again to enter a password.? Help!!!!

In most cases you just surf to your browser configuration page and change the password. On Linksys routers this involves opening your browser and surfing to http://192.168.1.1 and clicking the Password tab. The address varies on different makes. Check your manual for the address for your router. For improved security you'll also want to disable Universal Plug and Play. If you're using a wireless router you may want to turn on WEP or WPA encrypytion. For further security, restrict logging into your network to specific machines using MAC Address Filtering. Turning off SSID Broadcasting does not improve security and may slow your network down. It's also a good idea to check for firmware upgrades and apply them when available.

Reducing Video Size
Ashley Charlotte, NC

Q: My wife and I have a new born so we are shooting video like crazy with Leo's favorite PVDV53 MiniDV camcorder. When I import the video into my computer it takes up massive amounts of space. What program could I use to compress the video?

Video files are big. DV files occupy about 20 GB per hour of video - and even DV is compressed by about 5 to 1. That's why most people don't store video in DV format on their hard drives. It's best to edit your video down, then save it out into a more compressed format. DVDs are compressed using MPEG-2, that's how a two hour film can be fit on a single 4.7GB DVD. You can compress files even more using MPEG-4 or DivX. In general, the more you compress the smaller the file and the lower the quality. All compression is an attempt to find a good compromise between file size and video quality.

I recommend you only keep your current video project on the hard drive, then burn the final video to a DVD. If you want to keep the original DV video, save your tapes.

Proxies and SOCKS
Al Thunder Bay, ON

Q: Greeting's Leo, Amber, Andy and staff I want to know what is PROXY? I have seen this setting on a pc in running linux and under the network setting's.I need to know how this should be set should the PROXY be (connect to internet directly?or should it be Automatically detect proxy config?) and also it has a TAB to it where it has SOCKS ? what is socks support and how does it help to run it? Would really apreaceate you answering this Q for me thanks again you avid Q supplyer AL

You can safely ignore Proxy and SOCKS settings in your browser, unless your ISP or corporate IT department tells you otherwise.

A proxy server is a computer (or router) that is acting as an intermediary between you and other computers or the Internet. It intercepts all outbound traffic, sees if it can satisfy the request itself, and if it can't sends it on to the outside server. This is done for security, anonimity, or to speed up surfing.

Proxy servers provide security by hiding your system from the outside world. They can also be used to restrict your access to certain sites or services. Caching proxy servers speed up surfing by saving requested data and serving it up locally. Proxy servers can also block unsafe or unexpected incoming traffic. But proxy servers, like broadband routers, can cause problems when connecting with services that expect direct access to your machine. The SOCKS protocol was an early way to solve this problem. It's rarely used these days.