TipsI answered a question recently from someone who was using WEP (the so-called "Wired Equivalent Privacy") encryption on their wireless network. They were considering changing to WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access). The real answer is that they need to change to the second generation of WPA — WPA2.

The biggest question in their mind was whether they'd have to change the wireless passphrases on all their computers (quick answer: yes).

WPA replaced WEP as the choice for encryption. Then, it fell prey to cracking techniques, too.

Even more worrisome, increased computing power made the tools available to anyone who really wanted to crack a neighbor's network. Now, we don't have to worry about a bad guy, but also the neighbor's kid...

WPA2 subsequently replaced WPA, and is still the best we've got for home use.

If you're running Windows 7 or Windows XP with Service Pack 3, you've got WPA2 drivers already installed in Windows. You just have to select it on your router and in Windows.

My Computer System refers to WPA Enterprise and WPA Personal PSK (pre-shared key). It does not make reference to WPA2, although that's what it's using — it has to be WPA2, since that's what my router is doing.  read more »

General Computer Maintenance Tips:

• Keep all of your working files in one folder. The My Documents folder is offered by Windows expressly for this purpose. The benefits of keeping all your files in one place are multiple. One, you know where all your files are, two, it's easy to back them all up at once, and three, your machine will run faster.
• Don't put your personal files on the root of the C: drive. If you store a large number of files in the root folder, you could corrupt your disk file table which could lead to a "NTLDR is missing" error message when you boot the computer. Very bad. If you have personal files on the C: drive now, move them to the My Documents folder.
• Uninstall programs that you are not using. But don’t just delete the program. Remove it correctly so you won’t cause Windows errors. Go to Start, Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs. Find the program you want to remove in the list, and click the Remove button.
• If you download a zip file and expand it, delete the original zip file when you are done.
• Store your hardware drivers and purchased software installer files off your hard drive. A flash drive works great for this purpose.
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Windows 7 allows the users to choose from a variety of themes by using the Themes feature. As we change a theme, the icons and mouse cursors modify accordingly. Some of us don’t like the icons and mouse cursors to modify as we change the theme. We want the icons and cursors of our choice to remain the same even in the new theme. It is possible to prevent themes from modifying icons and cursors in Windows 7. There is an easy way to prevent themes from modifying icons and cursors in Windows 7. Follow these simple steps in order to prevent themes from modifying icons and cursors in Windows 7:

Right-click anywhere on the desktop.

Click on “Change desktop icons” on the left-hand side of the window screen.

The Desktop Icon Settings dialog box will appear. Uncheck the box for “Allow themes to change desktop icons”.

Click on Apply.

Click on the Ok button to close this dialog box.

Many people don’t mind if the new theme changes the icons but they prefer the mouse cursors to remain the same. You can follow the same procedure with a few changes to prevent themes from changing the mouse pointers.

Follow steps 1 and 2.

Simply click on the “Change mouse pointers” link from the Personalize window.  read more »

Sean ColterOn June 22nd we taped our first fishing show with Sean Colter. We headed out for our fishing trip picking up Jeff & Ann Walker along the way. On our trip Sean went over some great fishing tips and even showed us some hot spots. Look for this to be cablecast soon on ICTV.