internet sharing

h999

my friend is sharing a house with 3 others , magnet broadband comes into the house and goes through a cable router and is then wired to each room in the house, how secure is using this,could someone else on the network access her laptop,are there steps that should be taken to protect her laptop?, she uses online banking and buys stuff online,

Shane O' Malley

Depends what operating system she is using.

With windows 7 and Vista, when it detects a new computer it allows you to designate it as a public, work or home network. If you do not want to share anything with other users, chose Public.

Make sure your firewall is running.

Updates are up to date

Anti virus running and up to date.

Should be fine

h999

thanks shane, running xp

Shane O' Malley

XP is a bit more awkward.


Some good tips are at http://www.tonybradley.com/2009/07/5-steps-to-secure-windows-xp-home/

The firewall is not great. Zonealarm is free and better. http://download.cnet.com/ZoneAlarm-Free-Firewall/3000-10435_4-10039884.html

It is important that she disables file sharing. Article here. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307874

h999

thank you