I recently networked my house with several computers, both Mac and PC’s. My question is, how do I know if somone is trying to sneak in on my network. Any software that will allow me to check this? Can I secure my network?
Thanks.
how did you connect your computers? if not wireless there usually is no need to worry.
If you still do use a firewall on each computer, use usernames and passwords for all shared folders and if you run any server use mac access control and turn a dhcp server of if you have one running.
For wireless you also should use a encryption.
If you want to make sure what mashines are connected send a broadcast ping to find out.
for Linux that would be ping -b xxx.xxx.xxx.0
My roommate has been talking about a new encryption protocol for wireless which is being rolled out now. The existing protocol is guaranteed breakable within a day. The new one is supposedly actually secure. I think he said that the new one is called WEP.
I don’t know much about this but I bought a wireless router recently. It has both WEP and WPA protocols. According to the manual, WPA is safer. It also says WEP does not protect over a wired network. I’m using WPA with a pass key, and the wireless router serves a notebook and an iBook.
To date, there are none, zero, nada viruses, trojans, worms, [etc] that target OS X. If some external evil does afflict your network, it won’t be because your Macs.
Eliminate your PCs and virtually emilinate your chances of anything nasty happening to you.
[quote=“roc”]To date, there are none, zero, nada viruses, trojans, worms, [etc] that target OS X. If some external evil does afflict your network, it won’t be because your Macs.
Eliminate your PCs and virtually emilinate your chances of anything nasty happening to you.[/quote]
Nah, just run Knoppix or Morphix on them. That way, even if anyone breaks in, you’re just a reboot away from getting a clean OS back up and running. And there’s no way for someone to write a permanent virus for them in the future.
[quote=“roc”]To date, there are none, zero, nada viruses, trojans, worms, [etc] that target OS X. If some external evil does afflict your network, it won’t be because your Macs.
Eliminate your PCs and virtually emilinate your chances of anything nasty happening to you.[/quote]
Or run OS/2, QNX, BeOS, any of the BSDs, Linux, Solaris…and ignore Steve Jobs and his antics. 
I’d have to say that based on my experience of running OS X on a new iBook that it (OS X) has enough of its own demons before you start worrying about viruses.
What kind of probs are you having closet queen?
Two or three: (1) The system locks up about once or twice a week. The only solution is to turn it off. (2) Sometimes the machine slows down considerably. The hard disk is busy doing things for extended periods. (3) The program icons on the bottom bar sometimes don’t work. If you move the cursor pointer over them it shows the busy icon (the colored circle). The programs can be launched from elsewhere though. I think we are at the point where we need to reinstall everything, but the machine is only a couple of months old, and the Aplle shop loaded everything up. Nothing else has been added.
Also, even when the lid id closed, the hard disk starts up and does things intermitently. Isn’t it supposed to be “asleep”?
Sounds like a a reinstall might be in order. Ive never had any of the probs youve just mentioned. Sounds like youve got bugger all ram and are using ram eating apps though, photoshop? virtualpc? etc.
Ive never had to turn my mac off though, although Ive needed to force quit every now and then, but nowhere near the frequency of when I had a pc and even running xp.
[quote=“amos”]Sounds like a a reinstall might be in order. I’ve never had any of the probs youve just mentioned. Sounds like youve got bugger all ram and are using ram eating apps though, photoshop? virtualpc? etc.
I’ve never had to turn my mac off though, although I’ve needed to force quit every now and then, but nowhere near the frequency of when I had a pc and even running xp.[/quote]
Well maybe we got unlucky. We had the RAM maxed out to 640MB when we bought it. It’s my BF’s machine and he only word processes and surfs the web. I think we’ll try reinstalling and just keep the necessary software on it. One more problem: when clicking on a link for a realplayer file in Safari or IE, it loads up Adobe GoLive instead. How can I fix this?
Two or three: (1) The system locks up about once or twice a week. The only solution is to turn it off. (2) Sometimes the machine slows down considerably. The hard disk is busy doing things for extended periods. (3) The program icons on the bottom bar sometimes don’t work. If you move the cursor pointer over them it shows the busy icon (the colored circle). The programs can be launched from elsewhere though. I think we are at the point where we need to reinstall everything, but the machine is only a couple of months old, and the Aplle shop loaded everything up. Nothing else has been added.
Also, even when the lid id closed, the hard disk starts up and does things intermitently. Isn’t it supposed to be “asleep”?[/quote]
Sounds like a virus has taken control of your Mac. 
(Sympathies if so – the smileys are directed at those who are claiming that there aren’t any that attack Macs.)
Agree, sounds like a clean install is called for (ie scrub it down to zeros and ones). Kind of like a tonic for your Mac…
I’ve got an iBook too and it’s been golden since late-June of last year when I bought it new. Though it was performing well at the time, I did do a clean install when I upgraded to Panther last Fall.