Get More from Your Home Wireless Network

Not too many years ago, a home could function normally with just one computer with a direct connection to a modem and the Internet. Not anymore. Today a family of five can easily have a desktop computer, a few laptops, a couple of tablets and several smartphones.

And everyone wants to be online to check email, play computer or online games, check sports scores and shop. Today’s households demand a network. Thank goodness they’re available.

If your household doesn’t have a computer network yet—specifically, a wireless network—then it’s time to get into action and set one up. It’s easy to do, not very expensive and your family will thank you for it.

The Internet and your network.

Here’s how it works and how simple it is—we’ll use a cable connection as your Internet Service Provider or ISP.

The main cable that comes into your home, carrying the Internet signal, connects to your broadband modem, which is usually provided by your ISP.
The modem then connects to a wireless router that you can purchase at any electronics store, such as Best Buy.
After you set it up, the router then connects wirelessly to devices (laptops, smartphones, etc.) you have authorized to connect.
The router comes with security features to help prevent your neighbor from either using your signal or, even worse, infiltrating your network.

With this setup, everyone who is in range of the network (usually 100 feet or so) and has permission can get connected.

To the Internet…and beyond.

Once a network is up and running, most people are content to buy shoes online, post travel ventures on Facebook or cat videos on YouTube, and catch up on sports scores on ESPN. And that’s fine.

But you can do a lot more with a network than that. Here’s a look at the very cool things you can do beyond cruising the Internet.

Enjoy movies, TV and music on demand.

Use a wireless network to watch movies and television and listen to whatever kind of music tickles your ears. That’s because streaming audio and video is the newest way to bring today’s digital, on-demand entertainment into your home.

For streaming video, Netflix and Hulu are both popular services. For a low price (usually a subscription), they deliver instant access to a library of new and old movies plus TV shows. Plus you—and anyone in your home—can watch on your TV, laptop, tablet or smartphone. Simultaneously. Your wireless network makes it possible.

And it’s not just your computer that can bring you movies or music—today’s Blu-ray players and game consoles (Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation PS4) can also stream content from the Internet.

Sharing printers and devices.

When you connect a printer to any network computer, all the other computers on the network have access to that printer. If it doesn’t work as expected, knowing how to get printer IP address can help you add the printer manually and troubleshoot connection issues. If you work for a good-size company, you’re probably familiar with shared printers.

This is one very special feature not many home networks take advantage of—it means there’s no need to buy a printer for every computer user in the house, unless you want to.

Scanners and external hard drives can also be connected to your network.

Sharing content.

With your wireless network, you can do more than stream music and movies on demand from the outside world—you also can watch movies, look at digital pictures or listen to songs that are already stored/filed on any of your networked computers or devices.

Sharing digital files among network devices is called sharing media.

If you have hundreds of songs, movies or digital pictures stored on your main computer, you can serve those files to a home audio system, high-definition TV or media player that’s also connected to the network.

No more need to download files to a portable/detachable drive and then physically connect the drive to another device. Your wireless network makes it easy. In fact, you could connect devices, each in different rooms, to the network and play different songs all at the same time.

Get more from your network.

If you’re using your wireless network only to share the Internet, it’s time to learn how to share files and printers and stream videos and music.

There’s a good chance that someone in your family (under the age of 18) is doing that already…and they need to help you get up to speed.

How to Stay Safe Online While Working from Home

When it comes to staying safe online while working from home, the two biggest steps you can take are:

Securing your network
Strengthening your VPN

Secure your network

The most important cybersecurity step you can take when working from home is securing your network. But what exactly does “securing your network,” mean? There are several steps to making your home network safer for you to work on. But first — why would your home WiFi network be unsafe?

If you use a wireless network at home, your router can broadcast your signal over radio waves, so anyone with a laptop or smartphone nearby can see your network’s signal. To prevent anyone from accessing it, you need a secure home WiFi network. Make your network safer with these tips:

Change your router password: Go to your router settings (which you can access from your browser), enter your current username and password, then choose a new password. Ideally, it will be a random string of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and punctuation.
Change the name of your wireless network: Your SSID, or the name of your wireless network, can give a lot of information away. Make sure your SSID doesn’t contain any words related to your name, address, or identifiable information.
Turn on network encryption: On your wireless configuration page, you should be able to choose between encryption methods such as WEP, WPA, and WPA2. The strongest is usually WPA2.
Limit MAC addresses: Every time a new device connects to your network, your network will recognize its unique MAC address. If you can find the MAC address of each device you use at home, such as your laptop, tablet, phone, and those of your family, you can add these addresses to your router’s settings so that it will only recognize these addresses. Any other random devices won’t be able to connect.
Stay updated: Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) may release new software or patches from time to time. Check your router setting page to ensure you’re running the latest version of your firmware so you’re not vulnerable to security threats.

Strengthen your VPN

Your company may have you use a VPN when accessing their network remotely, as an extra layer of protection. If your company doesn’t require you to use a VPN when you log on remotely, then you should consider using one yourself. A VPN alone isn’t enough to keep you completely safe. You should take extra security measures to make your VPN as secure as possible.

Follow the below tips to get the most out of your company VPN:

Use a strong authentication method: Signing into your company VPN should require at least two-factor authentication. Receiving an SMS is a common method, but an even more secure option is a smart card.
Only use the VPN when you need it: Don’t have your company VPN on when you’re doing personal business. The best way to avoid this is by using a separate laptop for your work, but not all businesses have the resources to provide their employees with individual devices.
Update your VPN password regularly: Your company may use a strong VPN but if your password is compromised, hackers can access the network all too easily.
Increase encryption: The standard encryption level for VPNs is AES-128, but AES-256 is preferable. Ask your boss about encryption methods and check which methods a commercial VPN uses if you’re going to purchase one yourself.

A few more cybersecurity tips for working from home

Online security while working remotely isn’t only about securing your network and using your VPN wisely. There are a few more habits you should adopt to stay safe online:

Pay more attention to your work emails to avoid phishing scams
Use a password manager
Download antivirus software
Speak on password-protected video calls
Avoid using websites that use http:// instead of https://
Be more vigilant around online banking

Cybersecurity for remote working

The precautions you have to take when working from home might seem like a lot to undertake, but your employer can help you understand your cybersecurity responsibilities. It only takes a little more attention to ensure you can work online safely from home.