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THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
How do I set up a wireless network at home?
Dear TechnoFiles:
Exactly what do I need
to set up a wireless net
work in my home? I have
a couple of desktops and
a laptop running
Windows XR with a cable
modem connected to one
of the desktops. With a
wireless network I’ll be
able to share the cable
modem connection,
right? Thanks for writ
ing a great column! - KC
Dear KC:
Wireless networks for the
home have fast become the
norm for sharing broadband
connections such as your
cable modem or DSL. The
one connection as installed
by your provider can be eas
ily distributed to all the
computers in your home.
You’ll need some hard
ware to get you started.
First, you’ll need a Wireless
Access Point, or WAR to dis
tribute the signal to the
computers. Second, you’ll
need a wireless adapter card
in each computer you want
to share the connection
with. You have a choice of
which protocol you want -
802.11 b or 802. llg. ‘G’ is
faster and with the price
dropping very rapidly, it
would be my choice. Just
make sure that whichever
you choose, you make the
same choice for your adap
tor cards.
For your desktop comput
ers, you’ll probably get an
internal adapter card that
will fit in one of your PCI
slots on your system board.
Georgia Power take air quality to WRING
By TIMOTHY GRAHAM
HHJ Staff Writer
The Warner Robins
Industry Now Group heard
from a representative of
Georgia Power on the com
pany’s efforts to improve the
air quality in Middle
Georgia.
Chuck Huling, vice presi
dent of the company’s envi
ronmental affairs depart
ment, told WRING about
Georgia Power’s ongoing
efforts to meet federal
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) clean air stan
dards.
Huling said that, while the
population in the company’s
service area has increased
28 percent and retail sales
have gone up 40 percent,
Georgia Power has been able
to lower sulfur dioxide emis
sions by 39 percent and
nitrogen dioxide emissions
by 56 percent. Once power
generation accounted for 15
percent of the ozone in the
Atlanta area but now it
accounts for only 6 percent
of the emissions.
But it is not time to sit on
our environmental laurels.
“Everyone needs to recog
nize that there is a prob
lem,” said Huling.
Huling said that Georgia
Power is addressing the
problems in several ways.
They are only using low-sul
fur coal in their coal-fired
power plants. All new plants
I
I
HHJ/Timothy Graham
Chuck Hurling, vice president of Georgia Power’s envi
ronmental affairs department, speaks to the Warner
Robins Industry Now Group.
■it
Jason and Tina Ashford
TechnoFiles
technofiles2oo3@yahoo.com
You might want to verify
that you have one available,
or else you’ll need to get an
external connection through
your USB port. For your lap
top, you’ll probably get a
card that fits into one of
your PCMCIA slots,
although a USB version will
also work and is easy to
install.
If your modem has an
internal router, which most
do at this point, then you’ll
need to connect your WAP
directly to the modem, then
install your wireless cards in
your computers to share the
connection. There will be
software to install with both
the WAP and the adaptor
cards and be sure to read the
directions carefully before
the installation. Since
you’re running Windows XR
you shouldn’t have much
difficulty recognizing the
new network - XP should do
that for you.
One potential pitfall:
802.11 a and 802.11 g both
that come on-line are pow
ered by clean-burning natu
ral gas.
The company is also
investing more than $3 bil
lion in building scrubbers at
their coal-fired plants. The
scrubbers are massive tow
ers 60 feet tall and 120 feet
wide that are filled with
limestone and water. All flue
gas from the burning of the
coal is forced through these
scrubbers in order to clean
the smoke.
Hurling said that the lat
est EPA guideline the com
pany will have to meet is the
Eight-Hour Attainment
Rule. The state will have to
develop a plan to get
Georgia’s air into compli
ance with the rule by 2007.
Currently Bibb County
does not meet the eight
hour rule.
“We realize how impor
tant this is to you due to
Robins Air Force Base and
its proximity to Macon,”
said Huling. “We would
encourage you to attend the
public meetings that will be
held to develop those attain
ment plans.”
Huling said that Georgia
Power has to be pragmatic
when making decisions.
“We have to balance the
pluses and minuses when we
determine what kind of gen
erating plant to build,” he
said. “Coal plants have
emission problems, hydro-
use the 2.4GHz band for
transmission. This happens
to be the same band that a
lot of cordless telephones
use, so it’s possible you
might experience some
interference if you have any
2.4GHz phones in your
home. If you do experience
interference, then it might
be time to upgrade to the
new S.BGHz phones! - Tina
Dear TechnoFiles:
My family uses
Microsoft Instant
Messenger, especially my
two daughters, who use
it to chat with their
schoolmates. Just in the
last few days, they’ve
been getting interrupted
by people they don’t
know and have never
spoken to offering them
free access to a porn site.
Why is this happening
now, and what can I do to
stop it? - Bill T., Warner
Robins
Dear Bill:
electric plants flood land,
and nuclear plants are
expensive to build.
“We continue to do
research into renewable
energy generation methods
in order to make them cost
effective,” Huling said. •
While electricity currently
costs seven cents per kilo
watt hour to generate, solar
power costs between 40 and
60 cents per kilowatt hour.
Accessible.
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What you are describing is
called “spim”, the sister
cousin of spam for instant
messenger, and it’s a new
but growing problem. While
the extent of the spim prob
lem pales against the esti
mated 2 billion spam mes
sages each day, no one likes
to get annoying messages
from anyone, let alone offen
sive ones from strangers.
One estimate I’ve read
says spim messages will hit
a total of 4 billion messages
over the next year, and
many of them are pretty
offensive. My recommenda
tion for your family is to set
IM to only receive messages
from people you know. You
can do this by establishing a
“white list” under the pull
down menu under Tools,
then Options, then Privacy,
and setting your allow list to
only those people you want
to send you messages, and to
set to block all other users
(the default option). With
this set don’t expect any
instant messages from long
lost classmates wanting to
say hello, but I think you
find the tradeoff of not
receiving offensive messages
worth it. - Jason
Jason and Tina Ashford
teach information technolo
gy at Macon State College.
Send your computer-related
questions to tech
no files2oo3@yahoo.com.
Jason and Tina are unable
to provide personal respons
es to questions, but will try to
answer all questions possible
in their weekly column.
Georgia does not have any
areas that are viable for
wind generation except 20
miles off the cost in the Gulf
of Mexico.
Huling said that the bot
tom line would be that while
power companies will do
their best to lower their
emissions, the only way to
really clean the air would be
to lessen our use of automo
biles.
l/tUuyt
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