 |
Leo Laporte A technology journalist, author and broadcast personality. His specialties lie in computers, the Web, video games, digital music and consumer electronics. |
 |
Amber MacArthur An experienced Web content and usability strategist, Amber is also a tech journalist who specializes in Internet, software, and gadget trends and tips. |
 |
Add our badge to your site if your work appeared on Call For Help!
Link to us at: www.g4tv.ca/ callforhelp |
Email:
Send an email directly to our address. 'Call For Help' is now 'The Lab with Leo Laporte'!
Send Your Tech Questions:
'Call For Help' is now 'The Lab with Leo Laporte'! So send us your questions and see you on the new show!
Feedback:
Tell us what you'd like to see on the show.
Newsletters:
Sign up to any one of our newsletters.
Forums:
Spread your opinions on the forums!
Chat:
Our chatroom is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Letters:
G4
545 Lake Shore Blvd. West
Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
M5V 1A3
Advertising & Sales:
Contact us for advertising opportunities on G4.
If you surf in public places with your Wi-Fi enabled laptop, you may be exposing yourself to wireless hackers.
Here's what to do:
1) Turn off sharing:
Windows XP Home:
In Windows XP Home Edition a function called Simple File Sharing is turned on by default. This is useful because if a file is purposely shared, then anyone on the network can access it. To protect yourself, you need to put a password on the Guest account. Here’s how:
- Click START, then Run, and then type cmd. (In older versions of Windows type command instead.)
- Let's say you want to use the password greeneggs: At the C:\> prompt type: "net user guest greeneggs" (without the quotes)
- If you don’t want your password to be “greeneggs”, then type something else.
- Hit your Enter key. The system will respond with “The command completed successfully”
- If anyone tries to access a shared folder on your network, they will be asked for a password.
In Windows XP Professional, here’s how to turn Simple File Sharing off in XP Pro:
-Click START, then Control Panel, then Appearance and Themes, and choose Folder Options.
-Click on the View tab and scroll down to the bottom, and uncheck the option that says “Use simple file sharing."
-When you right-click on a folder to share it, choose the “Sharing and Security” option. Then choose the Sharing tab to configure sharing options.
-By choosing the Security tab you can also manually edit read/write permissions for individual users who have access to your computer.
2) Turn on a firewall
Install a third party software firewall like SyGate free from www.sygate.com or ZoneAlarm from www.zonealarm.com. Inside your network this will protect you from other machines.
At very least turn on the Windows Firewall by click START then Control Panel then Security Center and turn on firewall. This option will be available if you have Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) installed.
3) Use VPN:
HotspotVPN.com offers a paid daily, monthly or annual service that allows you to use the built in functions of Windows XP VPN (virtual private network) to encrypt your in and outbound content. This scrambles the data as it comes and goes from your computer. Check out hotspovpn.com for more info.
