Experts Guide to Home and Small Business Wi-Fi

Thinking of buying a shiny, new, extra-double-spiffy new Wi-Fi router at Costco, Sam's Club or Best Buy?  Maybe online?  But maybe you're not really comfortable setting it up yourself?  NO problem.  I'm from IT and I'm here to help.

1. Before you buy a new Wi-Fi router, be sure to try the standard IMNDSICUT process.  That's short for "If my neighbor doesn't secure it, I can use it".  It goes like this:
1. Turn on your mobile device (laptop, tablet, smartphone, etc.)
2. Click the link to search for active Wi-Fi networks.
3. Look for the ones that do NOT have padlock symbol.
4. Try connecting to each one until you get one that works.
5. (tip: Be sure to check for any applicable local, state and/or federal laws that might cause you some concern before doing this.  If you get in trouble, you read this on someone else's blog and my name is Bob)
2. Next, if the above process doesn't pan out and you're a small business, rent space near a Starbucks, McDonald's, or any other retail or fast food chain outlet that offers free wi-fi.
3. Next, if that doesn't pan out, run an ad on Craig's List for a room mate that is good at setting up Wi-Fi networks and also (this is important, pay attention) has a new wi-fi router.
4. If all of the above options fail, you need to buy a new router.

You're all set!  Good luck - and happy wi-fi-ing!

:)

IAQ Time

You've heard of Frequently Asked Questions, or FAQ's.  But an IAQ list is for Infrequently Asked Questions: The questions that are rarely asked.  That doesn't have any correlation with their importance, however.  It just means that they don't get asked as often.

Why run Active Directory at home?

There are a lot of good reasons actually.  Let me itemize just a few:

- Time and Computer Restriction

If you have kids, you can set their allowed logon and logoff times per day of the week, in one place and it applies wherever they use a computer on your home network.  If they like to sneak onto your other kids' computers, or those of you or your spouse, you can easily lock their accounts down to only one computer.

- Account Management

Rather than making a "Josh" account on three computers and leaving a stale password on all three, you can make one "Josh" account and turn on password policy to force them to change it on a set number of days, and force them to use a complex password.  Go ahead and laugh, but I've seen a lot of home computer hacked into because the users had stupid (or blank) passwords.

- Authentication

Tired of setting up a "Josh" account on three computers so your son Josh can play games on one, save pictures to another, and send print jobs to another?  Well, a single AD account and simple group features will take care of that and leave you plenty of time to do more exciting things, like mowing the lawn.

- Group Policy

Easier configuration management.

Why use WSUS at home?

Two reasons: Better Control, and it's FREE.  You can approve more types of updates for automatic installation than you can with Automatic Updates (aka "Windows Update", aka "Microsoft Update").  If you don't believe me, and you're still using Automatic Updates, and you believe your computers are patched up completely, visit the Microsoft Update site again, and check again.  You could have automatically approved and installed all of them in one place, for all of your home computers, and moved on.  Oh yeah, and it's free.

Why use a Router at home?

If you plug your computer directly into your cable modem, all I can say is "good luck!".  We did some testing in one our labs at an office I used to work at, where we plugged in an XP SP3 computer without a router/firewall, and it was hacked and owned within 45 seconds.  After three more tests, the average turned out to be 50 seconds.  Using Windows Vista, in default configuration, it took about 1 hour and 20 minutes on average.  We didn't test with Windows 7 because it wasn't out yet.  But you get the picture, hopefully.

Most modern home network routers provide a decent firewall capability out of the box.  Nothing is perfect, after all, hackers have penetrated firewalls of some of the biggest corporations, the U.S. military, and even the FBI and CIA web sites.  But then again, the stakes are much higher, so the appeal of hacking those is much higher than anyone wanting to hack YOUR home network (unless you're the CEO of a big company)

Whether you prefer Linksys, Cisco, Netgear, D-link, or whatever, most of the routers sold today offer a fairly good firewall and other features to help secure your network.  They're cheap too.  Use them.

What is the point of following politics?

Politics is an elaborate game designed to keep the public distracted from two main problems in our lives:  (1) Most people aren't happy and are bored, and (2) it makes them believe they have some influence on the outcome of elections, and therefore, some influence on government action.  Once they realize that (2) is false, they occupy that time with things like watching TV shows, sports, and regular consumption of drugs and/or alcohol.

Why doesn't Dave follow a franchise Sports Team like everyone else?

Because I've learned over the years that fans value the team about 10X more than the players do.  Dangle a better contract in front of any NFL, NBA or MLB player and they're gone like a dog chasing a stray chunk of lunch meat.  You can't buy fans away from their favorite teams, but the players, or rather "contractors" (let's face it, that's what they are), have no such allegiances.  The whole thing is disingenuous.  I watch games for pure entertainment value.  I don't give a flying crap who is getting traded to whom, or what so-and-so stats are.

Why does anyone read this blog?

I'm still trying to figure that out.

Tech-Ed 2011, Moving, and Chromebook

On Sunday I'm flying out to Microsoft Tech-Ed in Atlanta, GA for the next week.  It will be an incredibly busy time I'm sure.  But it should be a fun time as well.  I've been working with software technology since 1987 with no detours at all.  I've been working primarily with Microsoft technology since about 2002 or so.  I attended four Autodesk University conferences (Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia and Las Vegas) but never a Microsoft conference.  I'm looking forward to this one very much.

On the "Moving" side, it looks like my family and I will be packing up sometime in the next few months and moving to a new place.  Still in Virginia Beach but the actual domicile is not yet determined.  Therefore, when the packing-and-moving time arrives, my blog presence may become scarce.  Just a heads-up (not that it really matters to anyone else, but just in case).

My beta edition Google Chromebook is still kicking.  And speaking of Tech-Ed: I was facing the dilemna of what to bring for taking notes and downloading files, code snippets, etc.  Either the Google Chromebook, or my wife's tiny little Asus netbook with Windows 7.  And the winner of this decision is?…… drum rolll…..   The netbook.

I just can't see myself going to a huge, no scratch that, the HUGEST, Microsoft conference of the year, and pulling out a Google product to do my evil doing.  I might get gang raped in the men's restroom or something.  Imagine being attacked by a pack of MCITP nerds?  Geez.  Just the thought makes me cringe.  So, as goofy and toy-ish the netbook may appear, it does have Windows 7 and can install my favorite code writing apps.  Chromebook lacks a means to do serious code writing, not to mention uploading photos and files from a USB thumbdrive (it has a USB slot, but no way to upload files from it), nor can I synch my podcasts from iTunes to my iPod on it. So the Windows 7 netbook is the winner for me.

Twas the Week of Christmas

And all through the house, not a creature was stirring, except for three teenage girls fighting and a son with his headphones on rocking out.  Oblivious to the turmoil.  So what’s going on…

• Saw Avatar in 3D and it was very good.
• Saw The Blind Side in 2D and it too was very good
• Ate lots of food
• Drank some Belgian Ales
• Helped my daughter clean out her car that was totalled last Wednesday
• Logged about eight miles of walking
• Read some more of my Ray Bradbury book
• Ate more food

Fireworks and Serenity

Fourth of July was fantastic this year. 2008 has been probably the worst year of my life that I can recall, but there have been a few bright spots as well. July 4th was one of them. We actually had the whole family together (my wife and our four kids), which is unusual (if you have teenage kids you'll know what I mean). We grilled and chilled and hung out by the pool. Then we walked down the street to the nearby park (Mount Trashmore) for the annual fireworks show.

Word had it that fireworks shows would be noticably more brief due to budget constraints, but I could not see any reduction in time or quality this year compared to the previous four years. It was a very good show indeed.

The only difference I noticed was a smaller crowd this year. The fireworks show always kicks off a 9:30 pm with a full-packed park by 8:30 pm. This year it was (by my feeble estimation) about 60% capacity of previous years at 9:00 pm. Even after the show it was much easier getting back to our house crossing the one foot bridge that connects the park to the surrounding neighborhood over the creek. I've had to wait at that bridge for ten minutes following shows in 2006 and 2007. This year it was much smoother due to the smaller crowd.

After we got back to our home, I jumped back in the pool and just enjoyed the relative peace and quiet and the stars. Last year, kids were setting off more fireworks until 1 or 2 am. This year it went silent almost immediately after 10pm. I'm sure the dogs enjoyed that as well. Last year I came home to find my little Beagle hidden under one of the kids beds shaking in fear from all the noise outside. This year she was relaxed on the couch. That's what I'm doing this weekend. I walked a few miles on the beach with the family and then did my ten mile bike ride yesterday. Today is couch day for me. :)