* The solution is to take steps to protect your computer (or
workgroup), and the steps necessary depend on the scenario.
Scenario 1: Single-serving Internet
Say you??™ve just sat yourself down at a sidewalk cafe and pulled out your laptop.
(This scenario also applies to hotel rooms, airports, and coffee shops.)
You boot up Windows, open the ???Connect to a network??? window as
described previously in ???Sniff Out WiFi Hotspots,??? find a local network,
and connect for 20-or-so minutes to check your email. When you??™re done,
you??™ll likely never use this network again.
Now, if you typically use your laptop when connected to your own private
network, protected by your wireless router??™s firewall, you??™ll want to take
some extra steps to secure your PC before you connect elsewhere. Since you
won??™t have your router with you on the road, and thus won??™t have any dedicated
firewall hardware, you??™ll want to employ the built-in Windows Firewall
software (or a third-party firewall solution), as described later in this
chapter. This will provide minimal protection, but certainly nothing you??™d
want to live with for the long haul.
Scenario 2: The long haul
Say you just moved into an apartment complex (or have a small business in
an office building) that provides free wireless Internet. Naturally, you would
never want to connect your computer or workgroup to this wireless free-forall
without some sort of reliable, long-term firewall protecting you from the
rest of the riff-raff.
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