Broadband internet?

[W32PAMELA]

To get rid of Vista just buy a copy of XP, stick the CD in your drive, cancel any programs that try to run and restart the computer.

On the reboot enter the BIOS setup and make sure your optical drive is set as the first boot device.

The computer will boot from the CD. Follow instructions and accept the defaults. When the program comes to the part the deals with the partition of the hard disk tell it to delete the existing partition and do a quick format of the drive. This will wipe out everything on the hard drive and allow you to do a clean install of XP.

The whole procedure will take about 30-45 minutes depending on your processor. When the installation is complete and your computer has rebooted into the new OS you will have to install the appropriate motherboard drivers for XP. You can get the appropriate drivers from the website of your laptop manufacturer or from Intel or AMD. The Lan drivers and Audio drivers will depend on who made the chips.

If you want to get more complicated you can look into dual booting Vista and XP. Check google.

Bob Stewart
Marine PC's & WiFi by IslandTime PC

[DaveyJones]

Originally Posted by mohave_steve

Hello All,

I have been asked by a friend who has been using the Verizon Home Office for quite some time for assistance getting the Verizon connection to function on her new Vista PC.

Does anyone here have experience with this service & software running under Vista?


She has called Verizon tech support and was not able to make any progress.

Any tips?

Thanks

Steve

The problem could be software or driver related.

I am using Vista on the laptop I'm on now with VZAccess and I can connect.

You really don't need any software to get on the internet as posted earlier. You just need the driver for your device.




What is the device being used and what is the problem?

[DaveyJones]

Originally Posted by defjef

Does anyone know how to get rid of Vista and put on XP? We finally got a laptop and it has that awful Vista. ICK

Vista is ridiculous out of the box. However if you disable all of the craziness it becomes good.

People that look at my laptop think it's windows 2000. It looks and acts nothing like Vista or XP.

[Chuteman]

This knowledgeable group may just be the right gang to clear up some questions/concerns I have about security.
As I understand (very little), WiFi connection (home or public hot spots like marinas) are easy for hackers to steal your data especially PC (vs Mac) users. True?
Does going to cellular broadband connection significantly improve your data transmission security? Concerned mostly about online banking, credit card, etc transactions. Other suggestions welcomed

[Islander]

These guys might be able to provide the access you want:

BroadbandXpress - High Speed Internet for your Boat

I don't have any connection with them, nor do I know anything about quality etc. I've seen them at boat shows and at $300 a year It seems like a better deal than Sprint or Verizon.

Cheers

[mohave_steve]

I does look like it may be a driver issue. She has an LG VX-3200 phone and I have not been able to find a driver as yet. Verizons website says "not supported" under Vista.

If I understant what I have found so far: Verizon Home Office service is simply using a DUN session to connect. Is this correct?

Thanks

Steve

[hellosailor]

Jef, you CAN'T always downgrade to XP. There are a couple of steps to take. First, conact the laptop maker, find out if there are drivers for that laptop for XP. (No means forget it.) Or if the laptop was certified XP compliant. (No means forget it.)

Then buy XP, or dowload the "Compatibility test tool" and run that on your laptop, it will confirm if the hardware is capable of running XP, in case you couldn't get a firm yes/no from above.<G> If the drivers exist, or are not needed, and the test tool says you can XP run (or the maker says it was certified) then you simply install XP, and when it asks if you want to add an OS or replace the existing one--wipe the hard drive and install XP as the sole OS.

If the test tool said "No, forget it" and the maker said "You'll need drivers, we don't make them" then again, forget it. You'll need a laptop that can run XP.

Vista isn't so bad, a lot of the compatibilty issues (which upset & amaze me too) are poorly understood even by program vendors, but apparently come back to the OS having a new security paradigm in it and disallowing some old code which had problems. Still, upsetting at times.

Thomas-
It is not that Verizon in particular lies, all the phones companies do now. Cellcos in particular, worse than politicians. Mark, you might tell Verizon that their DSL people have a number of routers that are dropping packets like mad, I can't get a decent VOIP call for two weeks running now, and while I can tell them exactly which machines are dying--no one who can answer a phone will accept any trouble report because "we've tested the line from the central office to your premises and there is no problem with it." Well DUH, no there isn't. But any web geek can tell them, that isn't where the problem is! That's just the single last wire in a very long chain. (sigh)

The cellcos also have done a good job, either outright terrorizing the customer base, or spreading FUD about using the cell phones for data. They CLAIM that if you use the magic 777 data dialing and all, that they can and will bill you on a per-minute data charge basis. And since they are (in theory) able to tell form the routing that it is a data call not a voice call...in theory they can wham you with a huge bill.

In practice? Terror & Extortion, that's how you make money in the cellco business. Well, that and fraud, too. Real nice guys, right up there with used car salesmen and carpetbaggers from Arkansas.

[DaveyJones]

Steve, looks like you have nailed it down to the driver. You are correct about using a DUN. I use linux a lot and I just dial #777 with the user and password. You can also enable compression on the connection for some improved browsing speed.



As far as security goes...

Wireless has several types of security. WEP is the outdated one and has been hacked to the point that it is a joke.

While 40 bit WEP is crackable it takes a lot of data going back and forth for the program to break the code. The newer wireless routers support a much better encryption.

Passwords, pictures, web pages, etc that are protected by WEP are unsecure anyway and can be seen anywhere between you and the server your connecting to.

Locally WLAN is less secure. Everywhere else along the line it's no difference.

That's right passwords are visable in plain text. Seems rediculous doesn't it.

There are secured passwords for most things but not all. One of the more common passwords that are not encrypted is your mail password. There are a lot of pop or imap servers (incoming mail) and even smtp servers (outgoing mail) out there that use plain text passwords.


However, secure transactions are encrypted on your computer and decoded on the other end. These packets go through several different computers on the way to the bank. 128 bit is considered secure.

1 bit encryption has two possibilities. 1 or 0. 2 bit has 4 possibilities, 00, 01, 10, 11.

Every time you add another bit the possibilities double.

128 can be cracked but it is not easy.

Personally I use 768 bit to connect to my computer at home.

I believe someone figured it up to be about equal to the grains of sand on earth but died of old age before they finished counting.

Something like a gazilloin, trillion, billion, dectillion, zillion, zillion, gazillion.

If you think it's getting close to being hacked just go to 769 bit and it doubles.

[Chuteman]

DJ: Thanks for the Security info and let's see if my less than novice brain can interprete.......if not, pls correct
WiFi - Depending on encryption very hackable....some data is very naked ie; passwords
Cellular (new broadband cards) - could not determine if it was the same in your answer or different
Thanks in advance

[ssullivan]

Originally Posted by Chuteman

DJ: Thanks for the Security info and let's see if my less than novice brain can interprete.......if not, pls correct
WiFi - Depending on encryption very hackable....some data is very naked ie; passwords
Cellular (new broadband cards) - could not determine if it was the same in your answer or different
Thanks in advance

To put it simply:

WiFi (802.11x):

Clear text like what we are typing now is able to be intercepted, although the number of people acutally sitting around trying to do so (IMO) is FAR less than dramatically indicated by news sources.

When using WiFi, if you see "https://" up in your address bar and the little lock icon enabled somewhere else in your browser (lower right on mine), you are in a secure situation, as described in the post above. So... even if some guy were to sniff (aquire) your data over the WiFi connection, it is already scrambled and would be meaningless to him. That's why banks, brokerages and other important sites always have you log in with an https:// site.

Cellular:

Not as clear. If you are using digital cellular services, there is a scrambling built into that. Also, the signal they use is somewhat proprietary in that every bozo in the world can't get a reciever to listen in on your internet connection (but the govt probably could). This in itself makes it a little more secure in that the text I'm typing now into the Cruisers Forum is encripted by the scrambling of the digital cellular signal.

Now, if you are visiting an https:// site on a digital cellular network, you have a sort of double encryption. The website you visit is encripting using https, and the cellular data is encrypted by default. About as secure as you can get, and definitely more secure than WiFi

The reverse:

People can break INTO your computer over WiFi. There are ways to jump into your computer over WiFi. NEVER store any sensitive information on a computer at all. Sure, you can store your budget or whatever, but don't store passwords, PIN numbers, or anything you wouldn't want another person to have access to. This unauthorized access to your computer can be obtained over WiFi, but would be much more difficult to do over the digital cell phone network. MUCH more difficult.

Summary:

It doesn't matter how you connect so long as your bank or other sensitive sites use https and you don't store super-sensitive information on your computer. I could care less if someone broke into mine, because there's nothing to get. Keep passwords and PINs in your head and you'll be safe no matter which you choose.

[Sail_Nutter]

Has anyone tried a broadband satellite connection? I'm not sure how big the dish is, the costs seem fairly similar to a wireless based system and you'd have no problem reception off the beaten track. HughesNet and WildBlue are the two providers that pop up when googling.

[Chuteman]

SS: Thanks so much for explanation that even my much less than 100% functioning brain cell head can understand.
I hear You on storing sensitive data but worry sometimes that acct#s / passwords/pins "linger" as we access over & over again. Also wondered if exposure increases if you agree to "remember me" (cookies?) option on websites. Have looked at the ID Vault but not convinced of value especially on my desktop.
This whole "security" concern has delayed my laptop purchase for awhile......not to mention the benefit of tech / price advances.
Thanks again

[DaveyJones]

As far as the DirecWay, WildBlue or whatever I have one here now. We had one on the quarterboat when I lived out on the water at work.

These units are very large. Larger and heavier than my 5 sat DirecTV dish which is about as cumbersom as I really want to be setting up in the RV park every time I move. Mine is the only one I have seen in a park. Most people use the round ones.

Anyway on the boat we were told it had to be on a pole on the bank due to tidal change, etc. This is just not practicle. After the first move we decided to try the thing on the boat and it did work. We were in Laguna Madre and the tides did not cause a problem. Eventually it got hit by lightning.

Keep in mind the so called quarterboat is not really a boat, it's a string of barges.

I ended up getting DSL on land and used towers and WiFi with directional antenna to get high speed internet 10 miles out. This was great.

Well the place I work now it got popular once again and I have one sitting out here. It's the same large heavy dish. We mounted it on a trailer. Maybe the smaller one would be more practical. It's service has been discontinued for a while now because we use the WiFi at the motels now.

That being said, when I did work for Schlumberger they also had their own private satellite system and we had a land based unit. The seismic vessels have a tracking system which stays locked in at sea. They have a direct link to a 40' dish in Houston. They send a lot of data over this link.

The only problem is the cost. The last time I checked a mickey mouse version of a self tracking system was available for around $7000.

[DaveyJones]

On the WiFi subject.

The way I see it there could be some real danger for some people. Private information should never go in an unencrypted email.

Not only can they get your email password and log in to your account. Anyone can also see your email if it's not encrypted.

For instance you are in a marina in Nigeria and your sending your friend an email...

Hi Bob,

It's nice here but there are some shady charaters hanging around the docks. Luckily they have free high speed internet.
Just in case, we have hidden the $10,000 in the keel cooler.
We'll be headed back up in a week. Going in to town tomorrow for the weekend.

See Ya, Delmer.


Well, naturally this is a bad idea. But, on the other hand you can safely transfer money and pay some bills online.


Yes, the password thing. You must seriously expect your computer not only to be vernerable to hackers at all times while connected. You must consider that at any moment it will be stolen and the thieves will be trying to access your bank accounts and other information.



Most people do not have the resources to do this but if your cruising around and have your house just sitting there with your high speed internet going to waste you could setup a computer as a proxy.

Tunneling everything through the home computer would make it as though you were sitting at home. No one around you would have the slightest possibility of seeing anything. That's normally what I use when I am away.

My email gets tunneled to my computer.

There may be some VPN or Virtual Private Network service that would be worth a look if your worried.

I wrote a small document a while back about setting up a secure email server at home if anyone is interested.

The same principle is applied to browsing, file sharing, and anything else.

HOWTO Setup a Secure Relaying Email Server - LinuxQuestions.org

[Therapy]

That's it, Enjoy!


I saw that at the end of all the "Greek" LOL!!