Wireless Networking for the Home

August 13, 2007

There are many options and technologies to consider when planning a wireless network at your home. Products available today are much easier to use, and even less expensive, than in the past. I’ll describe a few factors that I consider to be the most important, and what I happen to use along with them. I will start with an overview of what is needed for a wireless network. A network consists of an Access Point and one or more wireless clients (e.g. Desktop and/or Laptop PC.) In the diagram below, the Access Point is physically connected to a router and modem for Internet connectivity. Frequently router and access point functionality is combined within one device. The modem (cable, DSL, or Satellite) is what connects your network to the rest of the world.

Wireless Diagram

Wireless Compatibility

An international standards organization (IEEE) defines the 802.11 standards that most wireless vendors comply with. You must ensure each of your devices supports the same standards or they will not work together.

The wireless standards most commonly used in the US consumer market are as follows:

Wireless Table 1

The newer protocols offer higher speed and range, but at increased cost. Some products use proprietary enhancements to the standard protocols which are only helpful if all of your equipment is from the same manufacturer. I use a “G” based network, though I may consider upgrading to “N” once I have computers that support it.

Security

Security mechanisms within the wireless network standards are used to both keep data private encryption, and keep unauthorized clients from connecting to your network. Three standards are common, with the newest standard (WPA2) offering the best protection. The WEP standard is very weak, as a malicious user can compromise a network protected only with WEP very quickly.

Wireless Table 2

To provide the greatest protection you should implement the newest standard that all of your devices support. In addition to the access point, all of your wireless clients must support the encryption standard you use. If you have some older devices they may not all support the latest standards.

Home networks generally rely on a pre-shared key (PSK) to control access to an encrypted network. So in addition to specifying the use of WPA or WPA2, you will need to define a “key.” Anyone with this “key” will be able to access your network, and its data. The best keys are long, and not something a neighbor or acquaintance may be able to guess. I recommend one of two options here.

  1. A long pass-phrase. A long passphrase is made up of several easy to remember words and/or numbers that would not be easy to guess. For example: “thethreelittlepigsbuilt3houses” Pick something long and unique to you.
  2. A long random string. There are several password generation programs and web sites. You can try this one (at GRC) to generate a key such as “7BF9A06F64C3722F70E9173F1CC400C5E2B7″. Since this is more complicated, you will generally save the key electronically, and simply cut/paste it to type it in when needed.

MAC Filtering

Most access points support a feature called MAC filtering. Wireless network interfaces on client PCs are pre-programmed with a unique MAC address. With MAC filtering you tell your access point to ignore traffic from other wireless clients. This may seem like a security setting, but it is possible to bypass this protection by listening for traffic from your home and manually setting another network client to use the same MAC address. MAC filtering isn’t a bad thing, but it should only be used in concert with encryption.

Service Set Identifier (SSID)

When you configure an access point, you are prompted to enter an SSID. The SSID is your “station identifier” or name. This is not a password or a secret. Your access point typically broadcasts this value to advertise the presence of your wireless network. I recommend changing the default value to something else — you can decide if you want a name that lets your neighbors know whose network it is, or if you want to use a word/value that only you find meaningful.

My Network

I use a Linksys WRT54G as my router/firewall. The Linksys firewall is running 3rd party software called DD-WRT to provide enhanced features such as Quality of Service (QOS). I disabled the wireless features of the Linksys, and use a Netgear WPN824 as my wireless access point. I chose the Netgear because the MIMO feature greatly increased the range of my wireless network. Using only the Linksys, the wireless network reliably worked in only two rooms of my house. With the Netgear I can use my network anywhere in my house — I have even used ittwo houses away.

No Comments » | Encryption, Hardware, Home Office, How To, Security, Tools, WiFi, Wireless | Permalink
Posted by Brendan Moon

Telephone Tips for a Home Office

August 10, 2007

I have worked from my home office for around four years. As a result I spend many hours on the telephone. This post captures a few tips that I have learned from experience. Some are obvious, some may not be.

  1. Don’t use VOIP. Home Internet connections are never 100% reliable. I use a standard copper phone line from Verizon for my home office use. Why? Because it works when my cable internet and/or power is out. The sound quality is also superior to anything else I have tried. It may cost more, but quality/reliable phone service is a requirement for telecommuting.
  2. Use a high-quality phone. Don’t skimp on the handset you use. I’ve found the best wired handsets typically cost $50-$75. This would typically include two-line support, full-duplex speakerphone, caller id display, and a few speed dial buttons. I use an older version of this one from AT&T.
  3. Get a high-quality headset. Long conference calls are a regular occurence for me, and the headset is much easier on the ears and neck than holding a regular phone. I use this one from Plantronics. It is wireless, but the transmission is digital. Wireless features allow me to make trips to the kitchen or to simply stretch my legs when on a call. The sound quality is high, and I never hear static. If I go to far away from the base station (e.g. when getting mail from the mailbox) the sound simply goes out until I am back in range.
  4. Don’t use a speakerphone if you are talking. I have yet to hear a speakerphone that doesn’t also pick up your papers shuffling, keyboard typing, mouse clicking, dogs barking, and UPS ringing your doorbell. Speakerphones are great for listening, but don’t subject your peers to a two-way conversation over speakerphone.
  5. Use Mute when you can. Whether on speakerphone, headset, or standard handset, be familiar with how to enable the mute function. If you get an unexpected knock on the door, call on the cellphone, or simply need to sneeze, don’t let the others on your call hear it.
  6. No Answer / Busy Transfer. I use a Verizon service called “No answer / busy transfer.” This feature forwards inbound calls to my cell phone when my regular line is busy or I don’t answer after a few rings. This feature is not widely used, but you can likely ask for it if you call customer service. This has three important benefits:
    1. I only have to give out one number. All inbound calls go to my home office line.
    2. If I leave my office for lunch, a run to the post office, or for a trip somewhere, I can still answer my calls.
    3. All of my voice mails are in one place — my cell phone.
  7. Set your cell phone ringer to vibrate first, then ring. I like this feature so that others in the room or on the phone with me don’t have to know I’m screening another call. If I can’t answer, I hit “end” to let the call go to voice mail. This is great during meetings or if I am in an important conversation. If I want to take the call, I can answer it before it even rings. Of course your cell phone may be in the other room so ringing after a vibrate alerts you then too.
  8. Use a Conference Call bridge service. My current and previous employer provide these to remote workers. Essentially you get a toll-free conference number. Call participants typically dial a passcode to enter your meeting. This allows other participants to come/go when it is convenient for them. This makes life much easier than fiddling with three-way calling on your standard phone.

Plantronics Headset

No Comments » | Cell Phone, Hardware, Home Office, How To, Telephone, Tools, VOIP | Permalink
Posted by Brendan Moon

Backing Up DVD Movies

August 8, 2007

My kids have lots of movies, and I quickly found that DVD movies are not kid-proof. Scratched and lost discs cost us a number of titles before I took action to protect our investment.

The process involves making copies of DVD based movies that I have purchased. I am not a lawyer, but I contend that what I’m doing does not violate the spirit of copyright laws. If anyone has evidence otherwise, send it to me, and I’ll send it to my lawyer for review.

There are several reasons why I make copies of my DVD movies:

  • I’m a fan of backups. I like knowing that if a disc is lost or scratched, I don’t have to re-purchase a new copy.
  • Backups made with this process start playing the real movie immediately when it is inserted.

    Note to movie studios: I hate the commercials that you force kids to watch before they can actually watch the movie that is on the disc. It is unreasonable to me that you block the ability to skip or fast-forward through commercials on a DVD that you charge money to buy.

    Four things are needed to make a copy of a commercial movie DVD. This is not “secret” knowledge. A quick Google search will tell you the same thing.

  1. A PC with a DVD recorder. If your PC has two DVD drives (at least one of which is a recorder) things are even easier.
  2. Blank DVD media. Most commercial movie DVDs use dual-layer media which can hold up to 9GB of video and audio data. Most blank DVDs for use in computers is single layer and only holds 4.5GB of video.
  3. Software to disable DVD copy protection mechanisms. I use AnyDVD. Once installed, all DVDs appear to your PC as having no copy protection. AnyDVD also includes an option to skip the movie trailers. (My favorite feature.)
  4. Software to compress the source video (9GB) so that it will fit onto a standard blank DVD (4.5GB). I use CloneDVD. It is very easy to use and works quickly.

Once I had all of the software installed, the following steps summarize what I do each time I want to make a movie backup:

  1. Configure AnyDVD to “Remove annoying adverts and trailers” and “Jump directly to the movie.”
  2. Insert the original movie in one DVD drive, and insert a blank DVD disc into the DVD recorder drive.
  3. Start CloneDVD and click the “Clone DVD” button.
  4. Point the software to the source DVD drive.
  5. View a portion of the on-screen movie player to ensure that it found the right movie content. Click Next.
  6. In this screen I don’t change anything. If you want you can remove foreign language content to save space and potentially have less need for compression. Click Next.
  7. Confirm that it is writing the copy to the blank media, and will erase any temporary files from your hard disk once the process is complete. Click Go.
  8. Watch the video in fast forward mode if you like, and relax. A sound will play in 30-40 minutes to let you know it is complete.

Blank DVD media can be purchased almost anywhere. You may find that some media works better than others in your recorder (DVD-R vs. DVD+R). You may also notice some media works better than others in your DVD players (like the one in your car.) Some players (usually older ones) don’t support writable DVD media at all.

CloneDVD

No Comments » | Backups, Encryption, ISO, Software, Tools | Permalink
Posted by Brendan Moon

Microsoft OneNote

August 8, 2007

I like to avoid paper whenever I can. Why? Because it is heavy to carry around, it is time consuming to make backups, and most importantly I am always misplacing it. Certainly paper has its place (bills, financial records, mileage logs, etc) but Microsoft OneNote lets me put notes into electronic form.

Microsoft OneNote is a very simple and straightforward application. It will remind you of a WordProcessor, except it doesn’t have all of the formatting features a WordProcessor provides. The function of OneNote is to capture and organize information — not to make it look its best.

Typing is how I get most of my notes into OneNote. I type faster than I write so this works best for me. OneNote has easy to use outlining features and allows you to annotate basic shapes easily. You can also easily cut/paste from other applications. The only significant missing feature is the lack of a “Paste Unformatted Text” command. If you want to remove formatting from text, you have to paste first into something like notepad.exe and then cut/paste into OneNote.

Other than organizing your notes, the most powerful feature is search. When you type text into the search box, OneNote instantly searches an index of all of your notes and highlights the pages and result instances. This is great for typing in little nuggets of information like names to recall their context.

Perhaps one of the fanciest features is OneNote’s compatibility with Tablet PCs. I used HP’s TC4400 for about a year with OneNote. OneNote can recognize and convert handwritten notes into text, or simply do the text conversion in the background for search purposes. Frankly I didn’t use the handwriting features much since I write so slowly, but it was very useful to use the Tablet stylus to draw shapes and diagrams.

During in-person meetings, paper is king for notes. Using a laptop/tablet for note taking tends to be distracting to other participants. I have discovered that taking notes on a legal pad, and then scanning them into OneNote works for me. The OCR features don’t work on scanned notes, but at least they stay in your virtual “notebook.”

One other handy feature of OneNote is its built in screen clipping capability. A hotkey will activate the clipping feature where you can then draw a square on any portion of your screen. The image is then either added to a new “note” or simply put into your Windows clipboard for later pasting into an application.

Microsoft OneNote is a part of the MS Office suite. It is also available seperately.

OneNote

2 Comments | How To, Microsoft, Review, Software, TabletPC, Tools | Permalink
Posted by Brendan Moon

Google Picassa

August 7, 2007

If you have not taken a look at Google Picassa recently, please read on. If you already use it.. I don’t have any new information here.

My Desktop PC has lots of photos and short movie clips taken with standard digital cameras. Some of the older photos were scanned in when I first started using digital photography. The collection is over 10GB in size and includes nearly 10,000 files in over 350 folders. Google Picassa is a free software package that helps me manage all of this visual data.

Picassa can import photos from cameras or memory cards. It organizes photos into folders based on events you define. The primary display of Picassa can sort your photo folders by creation date, recent changes, size, or name. Pictures can be tagged and placed into Albums that contain photos that exist in multiple file folders. Your best photos can be “starred” for easy identification. This is great for when you have a series of the same basic picture, but no one is blinking in one of them.

I use Picassa for basic photo touchs such as cropping, removing red-eye, even or minor brightness corrections. More advanced corrections and editing will require another software package such as Adobe’s Photoshop.

Showing off your photos is easy with several options for slide shows. You can display your photos in an automatic or manual slideshow right from Picassa. You can also associate an Album with the Picassa screensaver. Most impressive is the on-line slideshow available with the integrated free hosting site called Picass Web Albums. Simply press a button to send multiple high resolution photos to your personal photo site. You can then just simply e-mail a link to everyone who you want to see photos of your kids, new puppy, or special someone. I started using Picassa Web Albums instead of Flickr and WebShots to post my online photo album and even to order prints (not free.)

I have tried other photo management software including software bundled with Windows Vista, Nikon and Kodak cameras and HP printers. None of them work as well as Picassa. The product is very easy to use, and adaptable to almost any organizing scheme I have encountered.

If you have a PC and digital camera, try out Picassa soon!

Picassa

No Comments » | How To, Photography, Review, Software, Tools, Web | Permalink
Posted by Brendan Moon

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