bdpnetworks
newsletter - issue #4bdpnetworks
newsletter - issue #4FEATURE: Wireless
is here - are you ready?
• 802.11b/WiFi
- What is it?
• Security issues related to WiFi
• Coming trends in wireless
Microsoft
News
• Major security hole found in Internet Explorer - Requires immediate
attention
• Windows XP - Selling well, but worth the trouble?
Spyware
& what to do about it
• LavaSoft
Ad-Aware and RefUpdate
More
new alternatives to Internet Explorer
• Netscape
6.2 (highly recommended!)
• Opera 6.0 (beta)
Information
about my services
• Who is this guy?
• What is this all about?
Fun
& Cool
• AT&T Natural Voices
• emotioneric.com
• AntCity
• Make-a-monster
Welcome once again to the bdpnetworks monthly newsletter, an eclectic but hopefully useful assortment of information in a condensed format.
As always, if you have any questions or comments about anything at all, please don't hesitate to contact me at info@bdpnetworks.com. For more information on bdpnetworks, please see the section below entitled Information about bdpnetworks.
Thanks again for reading!
Have you seen those people in cafes surfing the net on their laptops? It's likely they're using a new technology called wireless Ethernet, or WiFi. The current standard for WiFi is 802.11b. This standard allows for connections to a local network, just as if you were connected with a cable. You can use an 802.11b connection to transfer files, read e-mail or even surf the web. This technology is favorable because the hardware is cheap and runs at near-wired speeds (maximum of about 6-7 Mbps, where low-end Ethernet runs at 10Mbps) Most high-speed broadband Internet connections run at a maximum of 1Mbps, so even a slow WiFi connection can handle broadband Internet speeds with ease.
802.11b/WiFi cards are finding their way into laptops as well as smaller devices like PDAs (personal digital assistants) such as the Compaq iPAQ or models from Palm or Handspring. Devices that are WiFi-enabled communicate directly with other WiFi devices, or can increase their range & capabilities by tapping into an access point. An access point is like a wired Ethernet hub with an added antenna. These access points often include a built-in router with NAT capability, which allows the computer hobbyist or home user to roam freely around their home with wireless Internet access. 802.11b has a minimum useful range of about 200 feet from an access point, but with various tweaks it can go much farther than that.
In a sign of what may be soon be a popular trend, Starbucks has announced wireless Internet availability in all of their cafes for a monthly fee. They've instituted a massive program, equipping each one of their cafes with a wireless access point, a server and high-speed Internet connections. Access runs around $20/month, but it gives a user the flexibility to walk into any Starbucks & surf the web with their own laptop. (Incidentally, anyone who uses the new Windows XP operating system with a wireless card is supposed to have free promotional Internet access in any Starbucks until the end of the year, but I have not yet verified this claim.)
But this pay-for-access wireless trend could be short-lived. Because of the availability of cheap hardware with which to implement WiFi, several hobbyist groups have sprung up that are determined to blanket their city with free wireless Internet access, overlapping Starbucks & other similar wireless providers with service. Seattlewireless.net is a group striving to do just this. They have found that a wireless access point can have a range of several miles when properly constructed. You'll soon be able to go just about anywhere in Seattle & surf the web for free! Additionally, because the hardware is cheap and the speeds are high, this may also allow many more people to have broadband Internet connectivity that can't otherwise afford it. Some people even think small WiFi networks could eventually displace phone companies entirely. (See the article by Peter Cochrane below)
WiFi is not a perfect solution. For instance, it has difficulty dealing with other devices that operate in the same frequency ranges, such as 2.4GHz cordless phones. It also doesn't handle as many users in a given location as wired Ethernet can handle. But the most important drawback is often overlooked by anyone setting up an access point--security. Because WiFi is such a new phenomenon, it's very easy to walk into CompUSA, purchase a Wireless Gateway (I recommend one by Linksys or Netgear) and plug it into a business network. But the information that was once safely contained on the network behind an Internet firewall can now be inadvertently broadcast outside of the building! WiFi effectively circumvents firewalls and other security measures, unless it is handled properly. Also, it's not necessarily that difficult for anyone within range of your wireless access point to use it as an Internet on-ramp. This is especially useful for people who send lots of "spam" e-mail, or hackers who want to cover their tracks.
To combat this, WiFi has built-in security called WEP (Wireless Encryption Protocol). When enabled, this encrypts all data flowing from the wireless card to the wireless access point. But it is not perfect, and the standard has been hacked. Still, at the minimum it should be enabled on any wireless access point that's connected to a business network.
In my opinion, the best way to really secure your wireless network is to use a VPN connection over the wireless connection (at least until they improve the WiFi standard to fix WEP). VPN stands for "virtual private network," and is often used by businesses to lay a "secret" network on top of their Internet connection. VPNs are often used to connect remote offices to corporate offices using inexpensive high-speed Internet DSL or Cable modem links. In the case of wireless, a heavily encrypted (secured) VPN is virtually impossible to break & will keep your network information from "leaking" outside of your walls. Most wireless access points do not support VPNs directly, so you'll have to use third-party software or something like the built-in PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol - another type of VPN) in Microsoft's own operating systems to achieve this level of protection. Still, it's worth going this extra step for the added peace of mind.
Windows XP actually ships with good support for Wireless, and Microsoft has responded to the weaknesses inherent in 802.11b with a new security protocol called 802.1x, that has not yet been compromised. Similarly, Mac OS X 10.1 has excellent wireless support as well, and Apple even makes an access point called the Airport which is highly recommended by many because of its ease of use and signal quality.
On the horizon is a newer standard, 802.11a (yes, the numbering scheme really is backwards.) 802.11a is even faster, and uses higher frequencies to broadcast data. Soon you'll be able to buy 802.11a devices that are the same cost as current 802.11b devices, and they should be backwards-compatible with the current 802.11b devices. On its heels is an even newer standard, 802.11g that is completely compatible with 802.11b (even using the same frequencies) but much faster, for much better backwards compatibility.
If you are thinking about purchasing wireless hardware, it may not make much sense to really wait for the new standards to take root. There is so much activity being done with 802.11b right now that you'll be able to access the Internet from many places, and web surfing should be reasonably fast wherever you go. Netgear and Linksys both make good, inexpensive access points and network cards that should satisfy all but the most demanding business users. But be careful when hooking an access point up to a business network - it can really turn things upside down!
If you are thinking about setting up wireless access in your business, please send me e-mail or give me a call. I can help you navigate around some of the pitfalls associated with wireless equipment.
Essential links for more information about WiFi:
Intern proves WLAN encryption protocol vulnerable (EETimes):
http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20010808S0042
This article in particular shows just how insecure 802.11b networks with WEP
can be...
Exploiting and protecting 802.11b wireless networks (ExtremeTech):
http://www.extremetech.com/article/0,3396,s%253D1024%2526a%253D13880,00.asp
Microsoft implemented 802.1x with Windows XP for greater security (Microsoft):
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/techinfo/planning/wirelesslan/solutions.asp
Apple implemented easy 802.11b/Airport technology in OS X a year ago (Apple):
http://www.apple.com/macosx/theater/airport.html
You can visit the SeattleWireless group here:
http://www.seattlewireless.net
If you live close to a SeattleWireless access point, there's a good chance
you can get free Internet access with a WiFi card.
You can view their current node list here:
http://ofb.net/seattlewireless/
And finally, could WiFi eventually bring broadband to the masses and put phone
companies completely out of business within a decade? Futurist Peter Cochrane
thinks it is already happening. (TechTV)
http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/opinion/story/0,24330,3362831,00.html
A big security problem has been found in Microsoft Internet Explorer (v4.0 or above). A malicious programmer can code an attack that will expose the information contained in your cookies. Cookies are files created by websites that can store information about your preferences and settings on the website including your username & passwords.
With a properly-coded attack, this information can then be uploaded to a database & used to steal your personal information. At best, data like this could be used to build large e-mail "spam" marketing databases. At worst, credit card & billing information could be stolen.
There are rumors of people writing software tools to take advantage of this problem. A "bad guy" would simply need to hack into a high-traffic web site (such as MSN, Yahoo, Amazon, AOL or Ebay) and set up his program to steal the cookies.
This is one of the most serious security problems ever discovered with Microsoft's Internet Explorer software. There are two ways to immediately protect yourself from this exploit:
1) Turn off Active Scripting & Java Scripting in Internet Explorer. You can find this under Tools->Internet Options->Advanced, towards the bottom. Simply disable these features and you'll be safe. Yes, this disables some features on some web pages, but they're not used that much anymore (because of security problems like this...)
2) (The Best Way) - Using Internet Explorer, visit windowsupdate.microsoft.com and download the Critical Updates Package for your computer. I talked about windowsupdate.microsoft.com in newsletter #2. This will patch Internet Explorer as well as install any other critical patches available for your operating system.
I know this sounds like "just another security alert," but if you use Internet Explorer (or Microsoft IIS), you need to keep these programs up-to-date with the latest patches. Otherwise you may be leaving yourself open to invaders. People have taken advantage of holes like this in the past (with Nimda & Code Red on IIS) and we have all suffered because of it. Take a few minutes today to secure your software.
The company that originally pointed out this flaw was given some serious hassle
by Microsoft for publishing the problem. But as the company pointed out, Microsoft
was made aware of the problem well in advance of the company making it public.
There's an excellent read about it here:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/cn/20011119/tc/microsoft_apologizes_in_security_flap_1.html
Microsoft claims to have sold seven million copies of Windows XP since its release over a month ago. But a recent review in Infoworld shows that it actually is significantly slower than its predecessor, Windows 2000.
The review was done with the graphical enhancements (such as the new "skins" and ClearType) and other performance-robbing software turned off. They found that it performed almost 30% slower than Windows 2000 in some cases, even when running standard Microsoft packages like Office XP.
Windows XP is a mixed bag; it is somewhat easier to use than Windows 2000 for average users & has many new features (such as good wireless Ethernet support) that make it useful for some. But anyone upgrading needs to take the performance losses into consideration before taking the plunge. As I recommended before, you should only install Windows XP on a late-model PC (less than two years old) with plenty of RAM (128-256 megabytes minimum). You'll need a lot of hard drive space as well. The upgrade process is relatively pain-free, but you WILL end up with a slower system when you're done (and it's not easy to downgrade if you're unhappy with your system's performance!) If you upgrade & are unsatisfied with the speed, additional RAM will often help.
To read the full text of Infoworld's analysis, go here:
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/tc/xml/01/10/29/011029tcwinxp.xml
Spyware are stealthy programs, almost like viruses, that sit in the background on your computer and report demographic information about you as you browse the Internet. This generally includes basic information about the types of websites you visit and how much time you spend on them. These programs often are installed without your knowledge, packaged in with other more prominent software, such as certain instant messaging programs.
The companies that make the software that you're intentionally installing have struck deals with the spyware publishers, so that the spyware gets a "free ride" onto your system. When you're installing the "intentional" programs that carry spyware with them, there is often a licensing agreement that allows the use of the spyware on your computer. Advertising firms are really interested in this information because it allows them to better target their marketing strategies But besides invading your privacy, spyware programs can often cause stability problems with your system or slow it down.
To combat spyware, a company called LavaSoft has made a free spyware removal tool named Ad-Aware. Like a virus, spyware comes in new forms all of the time, so LavaSoft maintains a spyware "signature" file that allows Ad-Aware to identify new spyware as it is written without installing a new version every few weeks. Unlike most virus protection software, this tool is not automatic. You will need to run it manually once every few weeks (or after installing new software) for best results. For $15, you can upgrade to the full version that will continuously scan your system for new spyware without your intervention.
If you don't want to purchase the full version, LavaSoft has also made a helper program available called RefUpdate that will download and install the newest spyware signature file. This makes it MUCH easier to keep your program in good shape, ready to pick up the latest spyware.
You can download Ad-Aware and RefUpdate from this location:
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/downloads.html
Over the last few years, Microsoft has succeeded in almost putting Netscape out of business. Internet Explorer is by far the dominant web browser being used on the Internet. A quick scan of November's statistics for www.bdpnetworks.com shows that 84.5% of the hits are from people using Internet Explorer.
But as we have seen in recent months, Internet Explorer is flawed in some significant ways. Nimda proved this, and more security exploits have been discovered since then. Until now, there weren't many alternative browsers that had Internet Explorer's rich set of features to make them useful on a day-to-day basis.
Now there are several alternatives to Internet Explorer that promise to give you a better overall browsing experience without the security risks associated with Microsoft's software.
In the last issue, I talked about the latest build by the Mozilla project. Mozilla is a standards-based, open source browser that runs on many different operating systems. It is the first major browser since NCSA Mosaic (a long time ago...) to be built from the ground up to support today's web standards, so it has a very tight and robust rendering engine called Gecko.
Gecko is an open-source program that has been created by the Mozilla development group. It has the ability to be easily ported to other operating systems, so Netscape has adopted this code to create their browser for several different platforms. In fact, Netscape is now following two development paths - the old 4.7 line (based on the legacy Netscape engine) and the new 6.0 line. With their recent release of Netscape 6.2, I think they may finally retire the old 4.7 line of browsers.
Netscape 6.2 is an excellent product and renders everything with ease. In the six weeks that I have used it it has only crashed once or twice, making it more stable (in my eyes) than Internet Explorer 6.0 or any past version of Netscape. It supports e-mail and comes with a handy conversion wizard that will automatically import your old Netscape 4.x settings & mail databases to the new version. Netscape 6.2 supports ALL of the latest web standards, in addition to fully supporting DHTML, XML and a host of other stuff. It includes a cookie manager, privacy manager, form filler and Net2Phone as well as a revamped Composer & Messenger. It simply "feels" more solid than its competitors, which is a hard thing to describe unless you actually use it. Netscape has finally gotten over the bugs and performance issues of v6.0 & v6.1, and has delivered a great product.
Nothing is perfect, and Netscape 6.2 only has a few caveats: it is quite large, and a bit slow to launch on Windows systems compared to Internet Explorer. Also, some Netscape 4-compatible plugins don't yet work properly with Netscape 6.2, which could cause some pages to break.
Still, I have made Netscape 6.2 my default browser, displacing my beloved copy of Opera 5.2. While I really like Opera 5.2, it has trouble rendering about 5-10% of the pages I come across, which Netscape handles with ease. I highly recommend giving Netscape 6.2 a try--you may be very happy with this product. If you have an older computer or a slower Internet connection, you may want to try the Opera 6.0 beta (below) instead.
You can download Netscape 6.2 (completely free) through this link:
http://home.netscape.com/computing/download/index.html?cp=hophb2
Also, here's a review comparing the latest browsers from Microsoft and Netscape:
http://home.cnet.com/software/0-3227883-8-7614087-1.html?tag=st.sw.3227883-8-7614087-7.back2.3227883-8-7614087-1
Not to be outdone by Netscape, Opera Software has released a new beta version of their browser. Opera is a great company with a very fast, compact browser that does everything. It also runs on many different operating systems.
Opera 6.0 is easily the fastest browser I have ever used. It loads quickly and renders web pages effortlessly. If Netscape 6.2 had not yet appeared, I would probably be using Opera 6.0 for everything. But because Netscape & Mozilla have gotten so good, it makes it more difficult to recommend Opera for day-to-day use.
People with older computers or slower Internet connections may benefit from Opera's speed, though & might find it a refreshing alternative to the giant browsers from Microsoft or Netscape.
Opera 6.0 will be free if you can put up with an advertising banner at the top of the screen. (You can even customize the types of ads you want to see!) If you pay a small registration fee, the banner will go away.
You can download the Opera 6.0 beta here:
http://www.opera.com/windows/
AT&T has been doing some innovative work in the area of speech synthesis. This website lets you type in a phrase, and their software will convert it into extremely realistic-sounding speech. Pretty cool.
http://www.naturalvoices.att.com/
This guy has a very expressive face. (Thanks to Susan Thomas for suggesting the link!)
Wield a giant magnifying glass.
http://www.bossmonster.com/games/antcity.html
Make your own Muppet.
http://aol.sesameworkshop.org/sesamestreet/games/flash/0,6417,110241,00.html
If you have read this far, THANK YOU! This newsletter is the culmination of an idea I had a long time ago and now finally have the time (and drive) to implement.
bdpnetworks (located in Seattle, WA) is owned and managed by myself, and I maintain a network of contacts with other independent computer consultants and support firms for subcontracting purposes. I've been doing this consulting thing for quite a while as an employee of other computer service companies. While my experiences were very enriching, I've generally been frustrated by the lack of consistency or innovation at those companies & the overhead a lot of them carry. I think I can do a better job by myself at a lower cost, so I formed bdpnetworks in June.
A lot of companies are pouring vast sums of money into their infrastructure just to keep it stable, let alone add value or features to it. This doesn't have to be the case; I have the experience necessary to help get these networks running well again & know how to add innovative features onto them that will benefit everyone. My focus now is primarily on small businesses in and around the Seattle area. I enjoy working with small companies and am looking forward to forming new relationships, especially with organizations near my Capitol Hill office.
I offer a free one-hour onsite consultation to new clients, so you have NO RISK! If you would like to set up an appointment, give me a call at (206)351-7964 or e-mail me at bdp@bdpnetworks.com
For more information, please visit my website at http://www.bdpnetworks.com
(c)2001 Brian Place for bdp networks. All Rights Reserved.
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Thank you for reading!
INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND FREEDOM FROM INFRINGEMENT. NEITHER BRIAN PLACE NOR BDPNETWORKS TAKE ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES RESULTING FROM THE USE OF ANY OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS DOCUMENT. BRIAN PLACE WILL GLADLY TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY POSITIVE OUTCOMES INFLUENCED BY THIS INFORMATION--PLEASE E-MAIL HIM IF THIS IS THE CASE.