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How am I putting the bar owner at risk?  They offer it as a service - like many businesses are starting to do.  I just recently found out they had it so anyone has had access to their internet.

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Lonnie, just get yourself a USB wi-fi dongle and your problems are half solved. I would recommend that you get 802.11n if you spare the cash to get. They run at 248 megabits per second max, with typical of about 75 mbps. They are backward compatible to g, at 54 or 108mbps and b, at 11mbps. The wi-fi will run at the slowest of all connection so you will probably run at whatever your router at the venue will run. Having the 802.11n gives you more flexibility. Check out Frys.com for their 802.11x USB dongle. I picked mine up for about $25 3 months ago. I am sure the price is lower now.

As for the security, you can secure your data, make sure you secure the connection at the router so that your transaction is secure. You can do that either by encrypting the data or using something like MAC address filtering. I use MAC address filtering because it's faster than encryption. MAC address is not as safe as safe as encryption but it's will deter most of the hacking attempt because the connection will not show up on other users. You have to know the name of the router to able to connect and the router will only let those with MAC address in it's list to connect. Rest will not connect.

Despite what others say, hijack the connection is not easy as you think. Specially for encrypted date, you will need to use a super computer weeks to break the encryption. Typically only government has enough computing horsepower to break the encryption quickly. Only after the encryption is broken, you still need some good hacking to be able to hijack the connection. It's not worth the time for most hackers to try to break in, unless something worthwhile is there.

However, you can sniff the connection though. Sniffing is detecting what data is going through by just passively listening. They can get whatever data is going through the air and try to get passwords and things but again, if the data is encrypted, same constraints apply as above.

If you are careful, you can thwart any hacking attempt on the wireless connection. Usually, what you have on your computer is not worth them taking the time and effort to try to break in.

Good luck.

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Seize the day and SING!!!

Eben, with the device you describe, is all info automatically encrypted?

My concern would be someone accessing the music account in "mid air" and stealing the downloads from my account.  Without my knowledge.  And i would just end up with a sky high unpayable bill.

Didn't someone one this site mention a few weeks ago about their neighbor accessing their internet account or computer, remotely?

Sidewinder, all the information, other than the IP address and MAC address are encrypted. Can they use sophisticated program to spoof your machine to get the encryption key? Yes it can be done but again, it would be too much trouble to get to your bank account and steal a few hundred or few thousand dollars. They would rather use it to steal 100 times that for the effort they put in.

Most of the people who set up home router knows nothing about how to set it up. They think just plug in the router out of box and you are good to go. They leave their network unprotected so there are opportunists who use the free bandwidth. Once you encrypt the data, unless they have the key, they can't get to the data and they just look for unprotected network.

Next time you have chance to use your laptop with wi-fi. If you look at which networks are available, those with a little locks next to them are encrypted network and if you tried to access without password, it won't let you. Then look at how many of the networks don't have those locks next to it. Those people are vulnerable for others to hack in to the network. Always protect your network!

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Seize the day and SING!!!

When we first stated 4X was fast I type with 2 fingers. Ripping was one of the most boring and time consuming projects I ever done. Many of us has paid our dues!!!!

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One of my neighbours is using WEP encription.
I cracked it in 22 hours.
Just to prove I could.
Most people who can... only do it for the challange.
They wont take advantage.
Some WILL.

WPA is normal to use nowadays, WEP is not secure.

Now that's what i'm talking about.     Guys like you that [highlight=red]could[/highlight] have ulterior motives and illegal designs using my account.

The potential exists for abuse.

I am not in favor of wifi anything.  Cell phones and regular cordless phones can be intercepted.   So can wifi signals.  And a money account, like a download site, are good targets.

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Eben put a lid on it. You can be hacked... But are you worth it.
You can download for free from Torrent sites software that can do it.
To be safe... Use a bank account that gives internet / fraud protection.
WEP is good and MAC filtering is good.
For distance get a long antena lead.
Laptops with internal WIFI have 18" antenna. Better than pcmcia cards
and most pci cards.
Advise pci card with LONG antenna adapter and fraud protected bank account.

First thing I would do is see if the router has wireless-N or G only.

Secondly, I only recommend Lynksys for the quality of their product, great firewire and the easy one step button.

For wireless N I recommend this:
http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellit ... 6239789B16

If wireless N NOT available, I recommend this:
http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellit ... 7639789B06

Maximize performance:
http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellit ... 1812962B02

The wireless N is by far the BEST option and PCI is the way to go, I would stay away from usb.  The Linksys product offer a superior quality compare with others, cost a bit more but are VERY reliable and secure.

Good luck!

Lonman

Did you ever resolve you wifi issue? USB wifi is very cheap these days. I picked up a 802.11 G for $15.00 at the computer swap meet last month..

The swap is on again this Friday.. Anything you may need?

Let me know..

Jerry

Our bar has free WIFI access I take the laptop for backup but sometimes have it on. I have actually downloaded a few songs that we didnt have. and paid 2 or 3 dollars for them. If SC and others would join the 21st century they would discover a gold mine.

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Yes I did, forgot to bump topic to thank everyone for suggestions.  Ended up getting this one
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductP ... _Id=372137

It was on a clearance rack at WalMart for $25.  Works like a champ.  Haven't needed to download anything yet, but registered with Tricerasoft & SelectATrack.

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Just lookin' out for you.. (Good price on the N)

Yea thats one I use. On that one I like to have Windows control it..  Go to cntrl pnl-> Admisinstrative Tools-> services-> dble click on Windows Zero Configuration and start.
Then you get this window. Others go into the wireless connection props in cntrl Advanced and tick let widows control.

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