IT Queries: Computer problems answered

 I have a friend that update Norton 360 and now cannot access his wireless network. He can from a wired LAN NIC. I turned off the Norton 360 firewall and the Windows firewall and it could still not access the wireless network.

Has anyone seen this?

It sounds like the incorrect software’s being used for accessing the wireless network. Some wireless adapters require you use their software rather than the built in Windows wireless configuration tool.

To switch to the other software, open the Network Connections, click on the wireless connection’s properties and in the Wireless Networks tab take the tick off “Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings”.

After rebooting you should find the wireless software has changed to the manufacturers. It may be necessary to download and upgrade the latest software for that model adapter.

I have home networked 2 computers, both running Windows XP, with a router. The router (Netgear) has both cable and wireless capabilities. I use the cable networking.

I’ve read some information on the PC Rescue site about securing home wireless networking, but what I want to know is how do I now check whether or not my computer is safer from people using the wireless. How do they do it?

First, I hope your neighbour has told the kids to get off your network. If they use up your data allowance for the month you’ll end up footing the bill or putting up with a slow connection.

Worse, if another neighbour decides to do something illegal, it’s in their interests to do it through your unsecured wireless connection. That way, the police will be raiding your place rather than theirs.

So it’s absolutely essential you get the security settings right on your wireless network.

To do this you’ll have to log onto your router and change the wireless security settings. We suggest setting the wireless encryption to WPA and using a passkey of at least ten letters and numbers that isn’t immediately obvious to your neighbours, that means not using the dog’s or kid’s names.

Doing this varies with the model router you have, basically you have to log onto the management website built into the router and look for the wireless security settings.

This should be explained in your router’s manual. If you don’t understand it, then call for some assistance.

Securing your wireless network is absolutely essential. If you fail to do this you can be exposed to large bills and embarrassing accusations. Do it now.

I have set up a home Network with my 2 Desktop Computers. Both running Windows XP Home. Desktop 1 is hardwired from the isp modem through to the D-link Wireless Router (and works fine). Desktop 2 has a Broadcom Wireless Card installed (Drivers installed by “Found New Hardware”) and I have run the networking setup (several times now) and have set up the network…..

If i go into Properties the connection has numbers beside a Physical address, IP Address and Subnet Mask but nothing beside Default Gateway, DNS Server or WINS Server. I have no idea what these are or how I get numbers beside them. Any help would be greatly appreciated.Thanks Paul

The clue to the problem lies with those missing numbers beside Default Gateway and DNS Servers. The DNS server translates addresses from human friendly names to computer names, without the DNS settings the computer can’t see anything on the Internet. The Default Gateway tells the computer what the router’s address is.

The first thing to check is the Internet Protocol settings for the wireless router is set to Automatic. In the properties, change the setting to Automatic. This means the settings should be given to computer by the router.

If that doesn’t work it may be the router’s hasn’t been set up properly. Copy the settings from the other working computer. The IP address should be different in the last three digits, eg; if the wired computer has an IP address of 192.168.0.100 then the wireless one should be 192.168.0.101.

If this doesn’t work then there may be further security settings set on the router. You’ll have to consult the manual to ensure features like Mac Address Filtering haven’t been enabled.

Wireless networks are notoriously touchy and can be a pain to set up. You may need a computer tech to evaluate whether a wireless network is appropriate for your location.

“I am having trouble synchronising ipod shuffle with windows XP error message of ‘Cannot find required disk’ are you able to help”

What’s happening is iTunes cannot find the correct disk.

Windows handles disk names by giving each drive a letter. When you plug in an iPod or anything else that has some sort of storage in it, Windows will allocate a letter for that device.

What we usually find with this problem is that you have some removable and network drives connected and Windows has messed up the drive letters so the iPod is now a different letter to what iTunes is looking for.

The simplest solution is to unplug all the external drives, scanner, cameras, printers and anything else that might have been connected since the iPod last worked.

If that doesn’t work, Apple have instructions on fixing this at their website. We’d suggest giving the drive a letter further down the alphabet so it doesn’t get mixed up, “P” for “Pod” might not be a bad one.