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Paul set up a wireless network in his home and after about a week, his internet access suddenly slowed. He found his daily data allowance of 1GB was being used up between midnight and 1 am, when he was tucked up in bed. He wants to know if there's any action he can take.

The wireless router has a built-in firewall. It's a good idea to use it, otherwise the network is open to intrusion. Set passwords for access, then specify MAC addresses specific to each computer intending to access the network. To find each computer's MAC address, hit Start/Run then type CMD and hit enter. Windows XP users then type ipconfig/all, and hit enter. Windows 98 users must open the Dos prompt window and type winipcfg and hit enter.

Other ways to increase security are by turning off broadcast of the SSID, which identifies your network. To communicate, all machines must run the same SSID as the router and when that is broadcast, the intruder can spot your network. That makes entering it a breeze. When dealing with wireless security it's crucial to get it right. Part with a few dollars and get an expert to secure your network. It may hurt in the setup cost, but, as Paul found, it hurts more when the less scrupulous exploit a badly secured network.

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Jan's husband bought an Apple iPod but Windows 98 told him it couldn't read the installation software, nor could he download music. Jan has been advised to buy a new computer, but she wants to know if this is necessary.

IPod officially doesn't work with Windows 98, but if you go to Xylab.com, all aspects of the situation are addressed and working solutions provided. Unfortunately, as Windows 98 reaches the end of its life, more hardware and software is becoming incompatible with it. A machine upgrade will be inevitable in the future, but not quite yet.