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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>Brought to you each
week by the PC Gurus, a loose collection of volunteers from around the
Kentuckiana region.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>The WHAS Crusade for
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size=4>http://www.whascrusade.org</FONT></A><FONT size=4> to make donations
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>USS Rover’s list of
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size=4>http://sheet.zoho.com/public/ussrover/shows</FONT></A><FONT size=4>.
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<P class=MsoNormal
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size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>Vol. 8, No. 39<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 2">
</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>10-23-08</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>1 Hacking Sarah
Palin II <SPAN style="mso-tab-count: 1"></SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>2 Where are the
pumpkins?<SPAN style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>3 Emergency patch,
virtual stupidity, LOLcats, security tool?</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>4 Spell
checking</FONT></P>
<DIV
style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1pt; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1.5pt solid">
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"><FONT
size=4>5 Routers</FONT></P></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>Last week’s hacking
article led to quite a healthy discussion amongst the Gurus.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It would seem there are facets of both
this incident and the very definition of “hacking” that are debatable.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This week, we look at a couple of those
facets.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>Palin had two
personal email accounts on Yahoo, gov.sarah and gov.palin.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Authorities looking into “Troopergate”
had already accessed the first account but an outside party accessed the
second.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Contents published on the
web indicate that both accounts were used for official government business,
which violates several state and federal laws.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>Artman points out
that the illegal access exposed an even larger case of illegal activity by a
government official, offsetting the offense.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>There’s actually a certain logic to that
argument.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>As an example, let’s
say you’re a tech savvy user who accesses your bank account online.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>While browsing your transactions you
notice that the URL of one of the buttons looks wrong (if you hover over a
button or other “hyperlink” device on a web page a little bubble displays the
target URL, or address).<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>You click
the button and find yourself on the master account page, where you can access
every account at your bank and get each users card numbers, balances, credit
lines etc.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>As a good guy you
naturally call the bank right away to report the security breach.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Guess what, for purposefully clicking
that button you likely violated computer access laws and might well go to jail
or suffer a heavy fine.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>Stupid?<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Yes.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Fair?<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Nope.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But is it the law?<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>You betcha.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>This “violation of
privacy” certainly belongs in the same category.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Call it criminality for the common good
and, in reality, it can conceivably have a beneficial impact on the common
man.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>Kyle Harmon comes in
from a different direction with a much more inclusive definition of hacking than
I’m accustomed to but Kyle, being younger and more knowledgeable about email
servers and email security (he owns the servers and graciously provides hosting
for our humble presence), provides his definition.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 12pt"><FONT size=4>“<SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt">Hacking is, at its core, finding
vulnerabilities in computer systems and exploiting them for some sort of
personal gain. (Sometimes, in the case of “white hat” and “gray hat”
hackers, that personal gain is just the satisfaction of finding the problem and
letting the appropriate people know how to fix them.) In my opinion, there
are four basic areas where a hacker might find a
vulnerability:</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"><FONT
size=4>1.<SPAN style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Hardware:</SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt"> Sometimes physical hardware, such as memory,
hard drives, and processors have vulnerabilities. For example, security
researchers recently discovered that they can retrieve secret decryption keys
documents secured by Microsoft’s BitLocker drive security feature in Windows
Vista by super-cooling a computer’s memory while the computer is on, then
retrieving them by removing the memory and reading it in another computer.
</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"><FONT
size=4>2.<SPAN style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Software:</SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt"> Bugs in software sometimes allow an attacker
in to a vulnerable system. Anyone who has ever visited Windows Update has
encountered multitudes of software downloads aimed to fix these vulnerabilities
that are discovered in software. </SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"><FONT
size=4>3.<SPAN style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Logic:</SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt"> Even when software is running as intended,
there are still flaws in how the software was intentionally designed which can
allow unauthorized access. The password reset tools on many websites are
full of these flaws. For example, many only ask for a date of birth.
In that case, there are only a little over 16,000 possible birthdays of
people between the ages of 15 and 60. A hacker automatically trying 1
birthday every second would spend less than 5 hours trying every single possible
combination, thereby gaining access to the account. </SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"><FONT
size=4>4.<SPAN style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Human:</SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt"> Computer systems are only as secure as the
people who use them. Renowned hacker Kevin Mitnick is well-known for
saying that “social engineering”, or the practice of tricking people in to
voluntarily revealing sensitive information, is by far the most powerful tool in
his arsenal. Hackers often send out “phishing” emails which claim to be
from your bank in order to try to trick you in to giving out your online banking
information.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt"><BR><FONT size=4>Most people who are not
familiar with computer security only really consider the first two
possibilities, but the truth is that the logic and human vulnerabilities are
generally much more easily and successfully exploited. As a hacker, why would I
try to find vulnerabilities in complicated software when I can just reset your
password by looking up some information in your Facebook profile, or calling
you, pretending to be your bank, and asking you for that sensitive
information?<BR><BR>So how do you protect yourself? For hardware and
software vulnerabilities, the answer is easy, and we have discussed it at length
in the past: keep your software up-to-date, use a good antivirus and keep it
up-to-date, use a good firewall and keep it up-to-date, and use good
anti-spyware and keep it up-to-date (notice a theme here?).<BR><BR>Regarding
logic vulnerabilities, such as the one that bit Sarah Palin as Kevin discussed
in the last newsletter, the good news is that it is very unlikely that you will
ever have to deal with such a problem. Exploiting logic vulnerabilities
usually requires a hacker to take an interest in you personally, so unless
you’ve made yourself a target, you probably don’t have much to worry about.
Nonetheless, you can still protect yourself: the best thing to do is to
not answer any “security questions” honestly unless there is some reason you
have to. Treat the answers to security questions like passwords.
When PayPal asks your mother’s maiden name, enter something fake—something
that someone couldn’t look up or easily guess. When a website asks your
favorite color, enter something like “Fuzzy Wuzzy Brown” instead of
“blue”.<BR><BR>Finally, to protect you from the human vulnerabilities in
hacking, think twice before entering any sensitive information, especially if
you arrived at that address from an email that you were not expecting.
Also, be careful about giving out such information over the phone unless
you initiate the call yourself. While viruses and worms cause the majority
of computer problems out there, many more serious problems, such as identity
theft, start when someone gives out his personal information
voluntarily.<BR><BR>-- <BR>Kyle Harmon<BR></FONT><A
href="mid://00000008/kyle@thepcgurus.com"><FONT
size=4>kyle@thepcgurus.com</FONT></A><FONT size=4>”<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>As you can well
imagine, in a group of intelligent people all working in the same field there
are often debates.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I thought you
might enjoy seeing a couple of them.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>Kevin Mefford,
Editor</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><A
href="mailto:pcguru@microdome.net"><FONT
size=4>pcguru@microdome.net</FONT></A></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal
style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4><IMG height=429
src="cid:EA0B0CE610DF48C5B02BB59556519E1E@main" width=576 border=0
v:shapes="_x0000_i1025"></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>Terry
Wise</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><A
href="http://www.ratland.com/"><FONT size=4>www.ratland.com</FONT></A></P>
<DIV
style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1pt; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1.5pt solid">
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<H1 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=5>Tech News of the Week</FONT></H1>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>For as yet
undisclosed reasons Microsoft will be releasing an emergency patch overnight
Thursday, breaking out of the usual Patch Tuesday schedule:</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><A
href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1658&tag=nl.e589"><FONT
size=4>http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1658&tag=nl.e589</FONT></A></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>Japanese woman,
incensed over virtual divorce, commits virtual murder:</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><A
href="http://tinyurl.com/6npxj4"><FONT
size=4>http://tinyurl.com/6npxj4</FONT></A></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>LOLcats for
Literacy:</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><A
href="http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/10/lolcats-pounce.html"><FONT
color=#800080
size=4>http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/10/lolcats-pounce.html</FONT></A></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>They call this thing
a “security” tool?</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><A
href="http://www.enterpriseitplanet.com/security/news/article.php/3777556"><FONT
color=#800080
size=4>http://www.enterpriseitplanet.com/security/news/article.php/3777556</FONT></A></P>
<DIV
style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1pt; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1.5pt solid">
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<H1 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=5>Download of the Week</FONT></H1>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>Anyone using Outlook
Express who doesn’t have Microsoft Office installed will notice the lack of
access for the spell check feature.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>This of course will scan an email message for spelling errors and suggest
proper spellings.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I give you Spell
Checker for OE, a free standalone program that activates the feature, allows for
custom dictionaries, allows for addition of new words etc.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Oh, did I mention it was free?<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If you need it, grab it from:</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><A
href="http://www.geocities.com/vampirefo/"><FONT color=#800080
size=4>http://www.geocities.com/vampirefo/</FONT></A></P>
<DIV
style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1pt; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1.5pt solid">
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<H1 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=5>Email Question of the
Week</FONT></H1>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>Q:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The following was in you
rnewsletter:</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>I will never say
that any computer is safe if it’s connected to the Internet but if you have one
you can take precautions.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Operate
behind a router, use a quality antivirus program, do frequent scans for spyware,
and don’t click every little thing that pops up on the web.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That’s all it takes.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>What do you mean by
"operating behind a router?"</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>A:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>A router is a device that takes an
incoming broadband signal like DSL or cable Internet and reroutes it to multiple
computers.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Wireless routers allow
laptops and other wireless equipped devices without stringing cables
everywhere.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>The way the router
does this is called Network Address Translation (NAT) and from a security
standpoint it serves as a type of hardware firewall that doesn't require user
intervention.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>A lot of modern
broadband modems are actually hybrid devices that are both modem/router so you
may already have one.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>You can check
stickers on the back or bottom of the modem to see if router is actually
mentioned anywhere.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If so, you have
one.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>The idea is to allow
homes with more than one computer to be online simultaneously.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They are superfluous in a way if you
only have one PC but they still add a layer of security if you're hooked
directly to a modem-only device.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>They run anywhere
from $30-150 for home use, depending on what features you want.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>A standard Linksys or Neatgear for
around $60 will be fine and do the job.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>If you're on dial-up
you don't need one, nor are they available.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>Hope that helps and
keep us posted...</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=4> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4>Kevin
Mefford</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><A
href="mailto:pcguru@microdome.net"><FONT
size=4>pcguru@microdome.net</FONT></A></P>
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