Re: Changing Home Page
Changing ISP's is painless, really. Since you have a router, it's a matter of changing the settings. If you have DSL now, the router settings will be setup for PPPOE, you enter your account name/password (usually your email address) and click on save to retain the info in the router.<br /><br />If you switch over to a cable ISP, again, reprogram the router. Change the type of service from PPPOE to DHCP. There's no need to enter any account info. They know the ID of the cable modem and know it's your account. Again, save the settings and you're good to go. <br /><br />I've just described the manual way to enter the settings for either service. You don't need the CD from the ISP. If you have DSL, and don't have a router, then you will need to use a small program off of their CD to pass your account info to their system. But you don't need the contents of the entire CD installed. <br /><br />With a router, you can go 2 ways regarding IP addresses. You can have the router issue IP addresses to your machines (turn on router DHCP). In Windows, under Networking, set the computer TCP/IP to "Obtain IP Address Automatically" (same for DNS) and you should be good to go. <br /><br />You can also tell Windows to assign a static IP address too. Click on the button to "Use this IP" and enter an IP address manually (ex: 192.168.1.20) Make the Gateway IP the address of your router, typically 192.168.1.1. Enter the IP address of your router for the DNS entry as well (192.168.1.1) Save your settings and reboot. The trick here is to NOT manually assign a static IP address for this machine that falls within the DHCP range of the router (typically 192.168.1.100===>192.168.1.150). <br /><br />If you plan on using any P2P programs, give that computer a static IP address. You can then go into the setting of the router and do Port Forwarding to steer the data to that computer. By all means disable UPNP in your router, no matter which way you go (DHCP or Static).<br /><br />As for the wireless, dump WEP and go WPA (with a STRONG passphrase--63 random characters). MAC address filtering and trying do hide the SSID are useless from a security standpoint. MAC addresses can be spoofed , and discovering the SSID of your 'hidden' router takes 20 seconds.
