Chapter 3: Creating Bridges
In This Chapter
✓ Bridging two or more networks
✓ Building the bridge with hardware
✓ Doing what you wish with a bridge
N
o, this isn’t a chapter on civil engineering. And I’m not going to tell
you how to build a bridge on the River Kwai, although I may in an
upcoming sequel. (Naturally, I’ll be playing William Holden’s part after I
shed a few pounds.) Instead, this chapter is about bridging two or more
networks.
Huh? A bridge is software or hardware that connects two or more different
networks together.
Huh is exactly what I said when I first learned about creating a bridge
between, say, a wired Ethernet network and a wireless network. What is it?
Why do I need it? Is the Big Bang overrated?
If all goes well, instead of “Huh?” your response by the end of this chapter
will be “Duh!” These are times when I would want to bridge two or more
networks:
✦ You’re adding a wireless network and want it to piggyback on an exist-
ing wired Ethernet network. The wireless network has access to the
same things — hardware and data — as the wired network does.
✦ You want to bridge two wired Ethernet networks. This occurs mostly
in business environments, but it could occur in a home, too. The wired
networks are physically separated and the most convenient way to con-
nect them is by creating a bridge.
✦ You want to extend the range of a wireless network. By bridging two
wireless access points, you can expand the signal range without laying
any wires.
You can use a wireless access point as a bridge, if the access point’s hard-
ware is equipped to handle the task. Not all wireless access points can be

Chapter 3
Creating Bridges
161
Bridging with Windows Vista
4. Right-click one of the highlighted networks and select Bridge
Connections, as shown in Figure 3-2.

Figure 3-2:
Bridging the
networks
you
selected.

Windows Vista bridges the connections, as it indicates with the dialog
box shown in Figure 3-3.

Figure 3-3:
Windows
bridging the
connec-
tions.

The network connections are bridged, as shown in Figure 3-4.
162
Bridging with Windows Vista

Figure 3-4:
These
bridges
aren’t

select Remove from Bridge, as shown in Figure 3-5.
Windows Vista removes the network from the bridge.

Figure 3-5:
Removing
a network
from a
bridge.

Deleting a bridge
If you need to delete a bridge, here are the steps for doing so:
1. Click Start.
The Start menu appears.
2. Click Network and Sharing Center; click Manage network connections
from the Tasks list.
The Network Connections dialog box appears,
3. Right-click the network bridge and select Delete, as shown in
Figure 3-6.
Windows Vista deletes the network bridge.
164
Bridging with Windows Vista

Figure 3-6:
Deleting
a network
bridge.

Contents
Chapter 3: Creating Bridges 159
Bridging with Windows Vista 160

Figure 4-1.
Try to choose a name that’s meaningful to you and to others who use
the network. Printer is simple, but not very meaningful, especially if you
have more than one printer on the network. Better examples include
Upstairs Laser and Basement Color.

Figure 4-1:
A
meaningful
name is
better than
a short
name.

There is no longer a character limitation when naming your shared
printer; however, be mindful that there are some characters that cannot
be used. For example, the uses of slashes or other special characters
are not allowed. If you use an illegal character, don’t worry about it,
Windows shows you the error of your ways. It is then up to you to cor-
rect it. It’s important to learn from one’s mistakes.
7. Click OK.
An image of two people appears, which fortunately replaces the open-
palm hand that appears superimposed on the printer’s icon, as shown
in Figure 4-2. (I think the shared icon looks like a guy in a rather boring
family portrait, but that’s me. I may die young from cynicism, but at least
there won’t be any nasty surprises ahead.)
You’re all done here. Move along, move along.
Book III
Chapter 4
Configuring Printers

5. Deselect the Share This Printer button.
6. Click OK.
The sharing symbol disappears from the printer’s icon. That’s it for
switching off printer sharing. If you want to add a network printer,
mosey on over to the next section, please.
Adding a Network Printer
Windows Vista usually installs printers for you automatically if you’re con-
necting the printer directly to your PC; if you’ve been around computers
since the Windows XP (or even Windows 95) days, then you likely know this.
Of course, this might not be enough. There are other computers out there
just waiting for you to print your prose. If you want to add the ability to use
a printer that’s connected to another computer on your network, rather than
one connected directly to your computer, you need to follow these instruc-
tions for each printer you want to add.
Sharing must be enabled before you can add a network printer. You must
enable sharing from the computer that connects to the printer you want to
share.
To add a new network printer, follow these steps:
1. Click Start.
The Start menu appears.
2. Click Control Panel.
The Control Panel appears.
3. Click Printer in the Hardware and Sound section.
4. Click Add a Printer from the menu just under the file menu.
The Add Printer wizard appears.
5. Click Add a network, wireless or Bluetooth printer.
The list of available printers appears, as shown in Figure 4-3.
6. Select a printer and go to Step 7; otherwise, if you cannot find the
printer you want, click The Printer I Want Isn’t Listed option and
carry on.

network printer is now installed.

Figure 4-4:
Finding the
desired
printer by
TCP/IP
address or
hostname.

170
Changing the Default Printer
10. Do one of the following:
 • SelectFinishifyouwanttofinishanyremainingworkwiththe
wizard.
 • SelectPrintatestpageifyouwanttomakesureyournewprinter
really works!
You just added a network printer to your personal computing arsenal!
Changing the Default Printer
You can change the printer that Windows Vista uses as its default printer. The
default printer is the one where your print jobs automatically go. Although you
can always choose another printer on the network (if there is one), doing noth-
ing means your default printer handles the job.
Usually, your default printer is your local printer (the one hooked up to your
computer), but you can choose to make a network printer the default printer. Of
course, you may want to look twice and make sure that you’re online; otherwise
it’s likely that your network printers won’t appear. Here’s how you do it:
1. Click Start.
The Start menu appears.
2. Click Control Panel.

less network’s signal. This method doesn’t provide a great deal of informa-
tion, but it’s enough to know whether you ought to move your wireless
router closer to your computers. Sometimes that’s all you really need to
know. Don’t forget — a wireless connection is always weaker than a tradi-
tional, wired connection. In other words, you’ll experience slower download
speeds than a wired connection. That’s why it’s important to make sure
your signal strength is as strong as possible, to guarantee the best possible
results from your wireless network.
You should check your signal strength at two different times:
✦ When you first set up your network
✦ Anytime you move your PCs or other network hardware
Moving components just a few feet from their original positions may cause
signal strength to drop. In that case you can scurry about, putting everything
back in place. Then, with thinking cap firmly applied, you can reconsider
172
Flexing Your Signal Strength
where you’ll move your equipment. You also have to take in to account the
realities of where you installed your network; for example, the layout of your
house if this is a home network. For example, I live in a building from the early
1800s; the walls are quite thick, so if I put my laptop on my desk, next to the
wall, I don’t get a very good signal. If I move my laptop just a few feet behind
me, the signal jumps to full strength.
Windows Vista has several built-in tools for testing your network. I discuss
these in Book IV, Chapter 3.
To view a simple but helpful visual, just follow these steps:
1. Right-click the network icon in the Windows Vista notification area.
A pop-up menu appears.
2. Identify the desired network.
Next to the network connection is a small bar graph that provides a
quick look at the strength of your wireless network’s signal, as shown

✦ Fair: Your network is doing an OK job, but it’s not living up to its poten-
tial. This is equivalent to two bars.
✦ Poor: Your network is an underachiever. You may want to start shifting
things, because you likely only have one bar.

Figure 5-2:
The
Network
and Sharing
Center
also shows
signal
strength.

A more sophisticated way of measuring signal strength is discussed a little
later in this chapter. Using a third-party software program, you can get a
pretty accurate read on the strength of nearby Wi-Fi access points.
Monitoring Your Network
After you’ve decided which wireless networks you want to connect to, some
Windows Vista tools can monitor those networks. One of these tools is in
the same dialog box that shows your signal strength. Another is a real-time
graphical network monitor that’s part of Windows Task Manager. In the fol-
lowing sections you learn how to use these tools. Most people use these
tools simply to establish that their network is up and running properly. For
example, if your network seems a bit sluggish, these tools will show you
whether or not data is getting in or out.
Viewing your network’s activity
In the Wireless Network Connection Status dialog box, you can see how
much data is moving in and out of a PC over your wireless network.
174

Book III
Chapter 5
Confirming Your
Network Works
175
Monitoring Your Network
1. Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete.
This is affectionately known by many as the Vulcan death grip. But in
Windows Vista, instead of immediately rebooting your PC, it displays the
Windows Task Manager dialog box. If that still freaks you out, you can
always use Ctrl+Shift+Esc or right-click an open space on the Windows
taskbar and go on to Step 2.
2. Select Task Manager.
You see several tabs at the top of the dialog box. By default, you are in
the Applications tab.
3. Select the Networking tab.
A graph like that in Figure 5-4 shows your wireless network’s activity in
real time. In this example my wireless network is using about 1 percent
of its capacity. The bandwidth I’m using appears consistent because I’m
streaming music over the Internet.

Figure 5-4:
A graphics
display
shows your
network’s
heartbeat,
while a
text area
supplies

graph

2. Select or deselect the boxes next to columns you want to display.
The default selections are usually sufficient. However, you may want
to see something specific, or your network administrator may ask you
to add columns while diagnosing a problem with your network. For
example, you might want to see the number of bytes that were sent or
received in order to see exactly how much data has been flowing across
your network.
3. Click OK.
Any column changes appear in the text area.
4. If you added columns, you may need to resize the Windows Task
Manager dialog box to see them. Point the mouse over the Task
Manager’s outline until you see a double-headed arrow and click and
drag to resize.
Book III
Chapter 5
Confirming Your
Network Works
177
Stumbling Upon NetStumbler
5. Close the dialog box when you’re done viewing the Networking
screen.
You’re done — and you’re one step closer to becoming an experienced
wireless network administrator.
Stumbling Upon NetStumbler
Although you can get a rough reading on your signal strength from Windows
and monitor your network, another tool gives you a more detailed view:
NetStumbler. It’s free for home users (commercial and government users
are encouraged to donate $50 per copy). This application is recommended

8. If the installation directory is acceptable, click Install.
You can click Browse to choose another directory. The program installs
when you click Install.
9. When it says Installation Complete, click Close.
Using other apps
Windows offers some solid, yet not stellar, networking monitoring tools, as
we’ve seen in this chapter. Some other viable alternatives are available if
you want to get a second opinion.
Be careful, not all third-party applications are decent quality simply because
they’re “not” Windows. Also, many are likely to either come at some cost
and work only for a limited amount of time (either a full- or limited-access
version). Be sure to check into such details before trying other applications.
For Windows Vista users, or any Windows 7 early adopters, you may
want to try WirelessMon. This application, which is also available on a trial
basis, works well under Windows Vista (even 64-bit). It is available at www.
passmark.com.
The best advice I can give you is to perform a Web search for network moni-
toring applications and see what works best for you. Many applications offer
the same or similar features for varying prices. In many cases, it’s simply a
question of personal preference.
Contents
Chapter 5: Confirming
Your Network Works 171
Flexing Your Signal Strength 171
Monitoring Your Network 173
Stumbling Upon NetStumbler 177
Book IV
Security and
Troubleshooting
Contents at a Glance

(and many you wish you’d never heard of). You can buy anything online
and have it delivered to your door. You’ve got immediate access to your
bank, credit cards, investments, and other financial information. Heck, you
don’t have to leave the house if you don’t want to.
With all these new ways of doing business on the Internet come people
trying to make a dishonest buck. On the Internet, some people are trying to
part you from your hard-earned money without leaving their keyboard.
Not to scare you, but a whole lot of bad stuff is on the Internet. Fortunately,
knowing about it goes a long way to avoiding it.
Finding Out about Bad Software
Software is the stuff you load on your computer to do work and have fun.
Your word processor, Web browser, and spreadsheet are all software.
Someone (or a group of people) sat down and wrote the software with the
goal of trying to solve a problem you had in exchange for you buying the
software.
What if those people didn’t care about helping you, but thought they could
write software that stole your online bank account number and password?
Or what if they just thought it would be fun to delete all the files on your
hard drive?
Software like this is called malware, which is short for malicious software.
(Have you ever noticed how computer people like to make up words?)
Malware is any software that intentionally does harm to a computer, without
the computer owner’s consent.
182
Finding Out about Bad Software
There are many different types of malware out there, and I cover these in the
following sections.
Understanding viruses
In the physical world, someone gets sick, coughs on you, and the next thing
you know, you’re in bed for a couple of days. Computer viruses are much the

Book IV
Chapter 1
Looking at Internet
Threats
183
Finding Out about Bad Software
I cover AV software later in this chapter. Not only do you need it, but you
need to keep it up to date. AV software works by looking for signatures, or
patterns, of viruses. To update your AV software means to get the latest set
of signatures. Fortunately for you, any decent AV package will automate this.
The second way to keep virus-free is to keep on top of your operating system
patches. In late 2008 and early 2009, a virus called Conficker was running
around the Internet. Conficker spread by many different means, but one of
the most effective was by exploiting a problem with Windows that had been
patched several months prior. Because most people didn’t install the latest
operating system updates, they were vulnerable. We look at patching in the
next chapter.
Finally, the first line of defense against virus infection is to use your head. If
you receive a random e-mail with an attachment, don’t open the attachment.
Only get software from reputable sources, or friends. And use your anti-virus
software to scan things after you download them.
Spyware and adware
Spyware and adware are two types of malware that hide in the background
and try to make money for the creator. Spyware tracks the Web sites you go
to and uses that data to make money. The author might be interested in the
data themselves, or they might be able to sell the information to someone
who is.
Adware is software that displays advertising inside it. This initially wasn’t
bad — some instant messaging services originally displayed small ads to
keep their service running. As usual, though, people started writing code