I desperately need some direction...

I have spent the last two days reading and reading and I am so lost.. I need advice from someone that I can trust knows what they are talking about.. Can you help??


I am a disabled person.. I do most of what I do from a ProGear BlueNote tablet.

I have an amd 2600 running on my desktop.

I have three notebooks, 2 not used.. I have a 166mhz and a 266mhz doing nothing.


The ProGear has 802.11b access. I recently bought a Microsoft 510 wireless adapter thinking I could get that to communicate with my Progear.. Note the progear does not have any input devices such as floppy or cd..


As I become less able to walk I want to be able to lay down with the progear if necessary and still have access to the net.The laptop I use occasionally is a Toshiba 2180 and is supposed to have IRD functionality.. but doesn’t. So I installed a cheapo plug in USB IRD attachement which does not work…

I am having real problems with ROadRunner Cable. I bought Black Ice and am getting hit 40-50 times an hour.. All because I post on some forums that post IPS… I have had as many as 26 viruses on my desktop when I just used norton.


Now I have Norton and AVG and as I mentioned blackice. And every time it beeps I have to stop and block that intruder forever..


OK here comes what I would like to do..

I want something that will totally mask my IP…

I want my destop, laptop and progear to each connect to the net, ,and to each other. I want no one ever again to have access to my real IP.. I am so sick of this.. And I want to be able to exchange files and print from anywhere.. And I want it wireless…

COULD I or should I use one of he unused laptops as a server of some sorts? OR should I buy a cable router?


Can you please make a recommendation.. I look at tall the stuff I could buy and get lost.. Do I need an accesspoint with a cable router? Do I need a cable router or just set up one of my laptops to be a web site on its own??


I would need exact part names and numbers…



Oh I guess I want something that is a g level but can switch to a b level.. The progear has a usb slot but The B access is totally built into that .. So my desktop could be g and my laptop g…



I’ll stop rambling.. PLEASE Give me a hand..


THANK YOU so much for reading through all this,.,,

Errol

Hi Errol!

A router would probably solve your problem since without configuring it for inbound connections, they usually don't allow any.

Forget about the black ice alerts. Even without checking your configuration, I am quite confident that 99% are false alerts. (I have 549 "alerts" of my firewall since this morning 00:00 and I don't even log the file sharing programs trying to connect to me. ... And not a single one was a threat)

And you don't want to block the attacker's IP either because then he could spoof it next time and thus make you block sites you didn't intend to.

The virii are a different problem though. Keep your antivirus software up to date every day. This helps a lot.

hth,
M.

Is there any specific router that is better than the others?

Re the black Ice alerts.. I am getting a fair amount, maybe 20% that are critical.. That is my real concern...

And my virus checkers are always up to date.. I use live update automatically set.. The time I was so infected with Viruses Norton showed None.. AVG - which I downloaded caught them all..

Makes you wonder...

Thanks again for your time and expertise..

I'm not a networking expert, but I recently set up a client's wireless system. This was two desktops wired, a wireless PDA, and a wireless notebook. I used a Linksys Wireless-G, which is b and g capable. It had 4 wired ports so no hub was necessary. The router will stop a lot of access.

If you have specific questions I would be happy to answer. You may email me if you like. Wireless is simple when it works as advertised, and not, otherwise. I'm documenting my experience for the benefit of others.

Regards, David

Is it also a cable modem router? I see there are combined ones out there, or do you suggest that I use a cable modem router and then this behind it?

Thanks again

The Linksys router was connected to a cable modem, yes. I have another similar setup which is multiple PCs to hub to SINGLE port router to cable modem to Roadrunner. It all goes together fairly simply, Errol, if you're not trying trans-internet tunneling and so forth.

Thanks... And I cannot be doing what I do not know anything about.. Like the tunneling.. Thanks - have a great weekend.. I'll be back if I get stuck!