There is no doubt that social networking is an improvement in the way we communicate on the internet, as it allows for people to connect in ways not possible prior to it. For example, Facebook allows to search people by name; this is much easier compared to connect with old friends, family members, acquaintances, coworkers and so on.

However, social networking is not a new thing anymore and does have tenure. And of course, any social networking site will claim that they sign up new users left and right on a daily basis and have millions of users.

But how many of those millions of users actually bother using social networking is the question. How many are "bouncers", whereas they signed up then never did anything with their social network stuff afterward?

Even though the numbers are rising as far as social networking usage is concerned, its definitely not the hot topic of conversation anymore. Has the popularity of social networking peaked? I believe it has. And there’s only one direction something can go after it peaks.

I don’t want to indicate that this style of communication is a fad that will go away, because it won’t. This is something that I believe will remain on the internet for a good long time. But it’s obvious there are more than a few that have become, said politely, disenchanted with the way it works.

How social networking works is its biggest downfall. Facebook for example has things in it that crash constantly. Even when you attempt to do something as simple as send a message to somebody else, you may get a server error. Twitter has had the same problem ever since it started. MySpace also has its bugs. None of them have ever been able to operate with 100% efficiency.

On top of that, these sites changes their interfaces continually. What you clicked on one day to get somewhere may get moved next week. And then moved again next month. It’s irritating to deal with.

The final blow that gets people disenchanted with social networking is that it can be nothing but a big ball of boring. Like it or not, all social sites act the exact same way, with the only differences being in what applications are available to you. But then there are those who don’t bother with apps, so what you do on Facebook is more or less the exact same thing you did on MySpace. Eventually it becomes tiresome and you just quit using it.

In the end, what you have is a medium where you add a bunch of people on a contact list, trade messages, photos and funny cat videos.

There should be no wonder as to why some people bounce from this. Some call it like it is: "Isn’t a social networking site just a big forum with some extra added crap in it nobody uses?"

Mainly, yes. People recognize this and move on to other things.

What do you think?

Has social networking passed its peak of popularity? Have you become disenchanted with it? Let people know by posting a comment.

If you ever have a need to track down and analyze network traffic, a tool you need to have is Wireshark. This tool is actively developed by industry professionals around the world and has an impressive list of features.

Network analysis tools are essential for tracking down less than obvious internet traffic issues and can assist with malware diagnosis, so the more detail you have the better. To help prevent ‘paralysis by analysis’, Wireshark offers the ability to color code packet types and export to multiple formats.

Wireshark is free and works on every major OS, so this is a true one-stop solution.

Wi-fi theft, as in the act of stealing someone’s internet connectivity by breaking into a wireless network, has been around ever since we first started using wireless routers.

Before covering the topic of how likely you are for wi-fi theft, I’ll first say that wi-fi security has never been that good. If one is desperate enough to steal your signal, there’s always a way. After all, anything that is transmitted can be intercepted. And as far as cracking the password is concerned, it truly is not that difficult given the right tools.

The best way to protect yourself from wi-fi theft is to:

1. Know your wireless router’s admin program thoroughly.
2. Take steps to be less of a target.

Know your wireless router’s admin program thoroughly

Login to your admin program via the web browser for your router and go thru every setting so you get familiarized with what you can do in there. Then follow the steps below.

Remember that for every wireless router manufactured there is a downloadable PDF manual for it (as far as I know) if you lost your printed copy. Perform a Google search for your make/model of router with the word "manual" in the search term and you should be able to locate the PDF version easily.

Taking steps to be less of a target

Use WPA2 if available with a long password

The WPA2 access password can be up to 63 characters long. If you use a long password with mixed case letters, numbers, spaces and symbols, it will be very difficult to "brute force" the password out of it.

Limit connectivity to specific MAC address(es)

This is usually labeled as MAC Address Filtering within the admin program. Every modern network card has a MAC (Media Access Control) address. If you limit allowed clients to specific MAC addresses, this greatly decreases the chance of wi-fi theft.

Most wireless router admin programs allow you to directly copy the MAC address from the connected PC into the allowed client list, so there’s usually no copy/paste involved.

Note: If you use virtual PCs, they have virtual MAC addresses that the router considers real. If setting up MAC address filtering, include your virtual machines as well.

Additional note: MAC addresses can be spoofed. But someone would have to specifically know one of the allowed MAC addresses in your wi-fi network and apply it to their computer in order to break in.

Limit number of connections

If you have three computers in your house and only allow for three assigned IP addresses via the router, the only way another system can get in there is to kick one off the network first.

Once again, be mindful of virtual PCs if you use them, because they use literal IPs (if network enabled); each counts as a separate unique network connection as far as the router is concerned. If you have three real PCs and two virtual ones that are network enabled, you will need to have your router be able to assign 5 IP addresses.

Do not allow remote administration

All wireless routers to the best of my knowledge come with this feature disabled by default, so you shouldn’t have to worry about it.

Other questions answered

Does IP Lease Time affect security at all?

No. My only suggestion would have the Lease Time not set to "forever", especially if you have people in and out of your house using the wi-fi routinely. This is done strictly for convenience’s sake. Some of you out there may prefer to have IPs cleared from the DHCP list, especially for temporary assignments (such as a friend visiting and using his or her wi-fi enabled laptop).

Does disabling the broadcasting of the SSID help?

It does offer a little bit of extra security, but MAC address filtering is much more effective.

Will periodically changing my SSID deter break-ins to my wireless network?

Not really, because all that has to be done is a re-scan of the available networks.

I do, however, suggest a non-generic name to make you less attractive as a target. For example, many people have Linksys routers simply labeled as "linksys". This literally announces, "I never changed this setting in my router", and that’s not good.

At least with a custom name, whoever is trying to break into a wi-fi network will target the "easy looking" ones first, and that includes SSID names like "linksys", "belkin" and the like.

Final notes

Taking action to be less of a target is your best defense against a wi-fi break-in.

Of course, the best defense is simply shutting the router off when not in use. This may be inconvenient, but nobody can break into your network via wireless if the router is off.

For many, there will come a time when you’re "connected" to too much stuff on the internet. You know you’re too connected when you simply can’t keep up with everything you’re signed up for. Whether it’s email subscriptions, RSS feeds, YouTube channels, MySpace/Facebook friends, AIM buddies and so on, all this information being blasted at you can be too much to handle.

If this sounds like you, maybe it’s time you do what I call The Purge.

There’s the basic purge and the extreme version. We’ll start with the extreme version.

Extreme Purge

1. Make a list of all the stuff you’re currently subscribed to. And I mean all of it. For some it make take time to get this list completed. To make it easier to get your list together, use a password manager like KeePass.

2. Go on an account canceling rampage and do it in such a way where you absolutely cannot get the accounts back. At the end of it all you should only have your primary email and a few instant messenger accounts left – but no more.

3. Commence freaking out for at least 1 to 2 days because you canceled so much stuff.

4. Accept what you did and know your life is better off for it.

Basic Purge

Similar to the Extreme Purge except you don’t actually delete accounts. Instead you remove any public presence the account has and discontinue all notifications, be they in-system or email.

Example using Facebook:

First, login to your Facebook account, go to Settings then Notifications, then tick every single option to Off. For some this will take a lot of clicking but it’s worth it.

Second, adjust your profile and privacy settings so you are not indexed whatsoever.

And that’s it.

Most of you out there will opt for the Basic Purge because it’s not so nerve-wracking.

Indicators that you need to purge

Information overload

This is mentioned above. You have so much info coming at you that you cannot make heads or tails of it anymore. Moreover you’re getting interrupted from receiving the information that’s truly important in your life.

More than 50% of the info blasted your way is worthless or doesn’t entertain anymore

The email notices from your bank are important. The services you pay for that send you notifications are important.

The "joke of the day" daily email isn’t. The incessant blabbering from friends in the form of bulletins isn’t. The YouTube comment notifications aren’t.

You get the idea. Stick to stuff that’s important to you and cut the fluff out.

You receive system notices from web sites you don’t even use anymore

You signed up for a bunch over the past few years and you’re still receiving updates from them – even though you haven’t so much as logged in to those sites in the last six months. Time to cut ‘em out.

What you’re signed up for is literally wasting time and money

Got a "pro" Flickr account but don’t upload photos anymore? Cancel it.

Do you pay for web hosting but do nothing with your web site, nor do you receive any significant traffic? Cancel it and use a freebie WordPress blog instead (or a freebie Blogger or Spaces or LiveJournal or whatever else you want to use).

Efforts to be more internet social only turned out to fill your email inbox full of crap

Social networking is one of those things that takes a fair amount of effort just to make it work for you. But if from your social networking stuff you’re just sitting on the sidelines watching other people use the system while you say, "Why do I even have this?", it’s time to get rid of it. That or at least turn off the notifications because it’s not doing you any good.

Consider doing The Purge as defragging your internet life, so to speak. Sometimes it just needs to be done.

Have you ever purged?

Did you ever reach a point where you said, F&@K IT, I’M DELETING EVERYTHING, and actually did it?

Or are you close to that point?

Let us know in the comments.

At right is a screen shot of the Wikipedia page List of social networking websites.

Said honestly I had absolutely no idea there were this many. Yeah, I knew there were quite a few but not so much that you had to press "Page Down" five times to read thru it…

…when reading the web page on a 1680×1050 monitor…

…with the browser maximized.

Sure, you’ve heard of MySpace and Facebook – who hasn’t?

But how about lifeknot?

Or Ryze?

Or wis.dm?

Never heard of any of these? Neither did I until I looked at the list.

And yes, it’s sad the only way I was made aware of these other sites is by examining a generic list of social networking sites.

What’s even crazier is that the list isn’t even complete and never will be as their are other "networks" starting up all the time.

Social networking has reached the point where I call it a "wash". The sites who were first in the game will always be the most popular and most used and anyone else who joins in will never achieve that level of success – and that’s just the way it is.

~ ~ ~

Some related reading: Although this article is a bit old now, I suggest reading The world map of social networks.

It is very interesting how some of these networks turned out to be very country-specific and more or less stayed that way.

The following assumes that your wireless networking card has been properly detected by Ubuntu and all you want to do is connect to your network at this point. I have an older Dell Inspiron 6000 and the Intel PROset wireless detects with no problem whatsoever. Other from-OEM wireless cards should also detect properly as well. If you have a USB-based wireless card, you probably will encounter problems having it detect. I strongly suggest visiting the wireless networking area of UbuntuHCL to see if your card is supported or not if this is the case. This is not a document about wireless networking card detection but rather how to use it once working.

Wireless networking is very easy to do in Ubuntu 8.04, but it may not be readily obvious where to go to set it up. In Windows XP what we’re used to doing is either using a third-party app provided by the wireless card manufacturer or having to dive into the Control Panel to get it working.

In Ubuntu you don’t have to do this. All the wireless networking setup can be performed direct from the Application bar.

By default you will see this:

Note the icon to the right of the speaker icon at the top. Your networking is there and ready to use but isn’t configured just yet, hence the small orange triangle.

If we LEFT-CLICK this icon, you see this:

Your wireless network may be listed unless you have your router name not broadcasted. Being that I don’t have my router name broadcasted, I click Connect to Other Wireless Network…

Above: Setting up the connection. You put in your network name, what type of wireless security you’re using and the password.

Note: You will get asked to enter in a "keyring" on a separate pop-up dialog. This is a password you enter in for that specific Ubuntu PC. I suggest making it different from the router password for security reasons.

Above: When connected you’ll see the network icon change to bars indicating signal strength. Your network connection is officially working at this point.

Above: Launch the Firefox web browser and it will land on start.ubuntu.com, a live internet site – proving (again) you’re connected to the internet.

If you can get to the point where your wireless card is detected, it is this easy to connect to your home wireless network.

More than a few PCMech readers truly don’t care about MySpace mainly due the reason they don’t see a purpose in using it.

I shall give you a 3 things you can do on MySpace that are easier compared to using other services.

Before I do, the thing to remember about that site is that it is a social tool. If you approach it as such it can work out quite well for you.

1. Easy scheduling with calendar app

MySpace does in fact have a calendaring app and it’s directly located off your profile’s home page. It’s easy to use and share event information with. It can also do reminders.

Reason why this is useful: If you have a group of people that need periodic notifications, this is one of the easiest ways to do it. Being that it’s in-system, the notifications are guaranteed to get to the people in your group (with e-mail, mail-outs can be flagged as spam by mistake).

2. Easy blogging

The blog application within MySpace is stupidly easy to use. This is one of the very few blog applications I’ve seen that anyone can use with absolutely zero experience. If you compare this to Microsoft Live Spaces, Yahoo 360 or even WordPress, MySpace’s way of doing it trumps them all in ease of use.

Reason why this is useful: Blogging should be easy and it doesn’t get any easier than MySpace. Furthermore the people in your friend list and groups can subscribe to you easily (there’s even RSS available).

3. Your bulletins will actually get read

When most people post bulletins on other social networks they rarely get read if at all. On MySpace for some magical reason the bulletins you post do get read by those in your friend/group list. Why do people read the bulletins of friends on MySpace but not other places? I have no idea – but it does work.

Reason why this is useful: Posting bulletins is not a waste of time because people will actually read them (for a change).

Still think it’s a big waste of time?

As said above, if you approach MySpace as a social tool you will find use out of it. The reason that site maintains its popularity is largely due to its easy-as-pie social connectivity. Use it to your advantage and you’ll be pleased with the results.

And if you still don’t like it, well.. it’s free so you can’t complain.

If you are in the market for router, consider going open source. In case you are wondering how a hardware device can be open source, it is actually quite simple. While the physical device may not be modified (easily at least), the firmware can be which allows for open source developers to essentially control how the device works.

Netgear has recently released an open source router which follows suit to what Linksys did some time ago and spawned quite a bit of projects. The important thing to keep in mind here is while custom software can be written to work on the routers, they are still consumer grade hardware devices. So don’t get the idea you can buy a cheap router and through the magic of open source project, update the device’s capabilities to that of enterprise level hardware.

Regardless, I think it is a great idea to support devices which allow consumers to do anything they want with them. After all, you paid for it, so why should the manufacturer really care?

This is a guest post authored by Monte Russel.

VPN (Virtual Personal Network) is very convent way to connect while you are away from your normal network. This is a network protocol that builds a private path or tunnel from your computer to the network you want to connect to. A lot of companies utilize this protocol for their employees to connect to the business network while traveling or working from home.

As with all network devices, once you leave the safety of the local area network (LAN) and connect to the Wide Area Network (WAN) or World Wide Web (WWW) your protocol is subject to attack by the unscrupulous that inhabit the WWW. Hackers, thieves, and criminals have tools to defeat a normal VPN’s security. To be safest, you or your company should invest in a commercial VPN package.

A commercial package will have encryption as part of the VPN. With the encryption you will have two keys, a private key and a public key. Only you know the password to the private key and only the company knows the public key. For a hacker to gain access to the encrypted data you are sending back and forth on the VPN they have to crack both keys the public and the private key. By the time they have cracked the key you will have ended your session and move away from their locality. That is unless you establish your VPN and leave it on for a long period of time, a very long time. At this time the best programs that can recover passwords take anywhere from two days to a week to get the password to a 16 bit encrypted key. Newer programs use 58 bit or 64 bit encryption keys.

So now you want to know if your VPN is encrypted? Well one way to know is ask your IT department. Another is when you installed your VPN did you have a ‘Certificate’ that you had to install and then create a password? If you have a certificate and had to create a password then type random characters on the key board to create the key you have encryption.

If you don’t have encryption I suggest you contact your IT Director or Manager and find out why your VPN is open to anyone who wants to connect while you are connected. An open VPN is an invitation not only to the data you are transferring back and forth but to the sending and receiving computers. It is like an open door on a hot summer day, any thing can and will come in to the house.

To read more about the VPN Protocol see this RFC:
Security Architecture for the Internet Protocol
http://www.diy-computer-repair.com/vpn.html

About The Author: Monte Russell is a certified Systems Engineer with a degree in Computer Electronics Technology, MCSE, CNA, A+, and many commercial hardware certificates. His web site www.diy-computer-repair.com offers insight in to self computer repair. His free monthly newsletter is always intriguing and full of insights about computing. Subscribe for free at http://www.diy-computer-repair.com/newsletter-signup.html

If you have ever noticed, almost all current network cards support 10/100/1000 ethernet, but very few routers actually support the /1000. The last /1000 is actually called gigabit networking, allowing you to transfer 1 gigabit per second – which is the same as 1000 megabits per second or 125 megabytes per second – over your network. This increase in speed is significant, especially if you need to transfer large files between computers on your network.

Gigabit routers are available, but they are usually pretty pricey. I have a solution that can work with your current setup for under $50. It can definitely be worth the extra money if you intend to do any file transfers. Time is money, you know. Here’s what I recommend:

• Check out your favorite computer warehouse – I will use Newegg for sample prices – to find a simple gigabit switch that has 4 ports or more.
• Dlink and Linksys both have switches available for under $35 at Newegg which can be used for this purpose
• When you get the switch, you will want to shut off your router and modem
• Unplug all the ethernet cables on your router except the one that goes to your modem
• Plug the switch into the router with an Ethernet cable
• Plug all computers and other networked devices directly into the switch

Using this process allows all the computers on your home network (assuming they are all wired into this switch) to communicate at gigabit speeds, without investing in a gigabit router.
In my house, I have Ethernet wired in the walls to a few different locations. All the drops lead to the furnace room where they are mounted in the wall. I have it set up so that there is a gigabit switch in the furnace room supplying signal to two of the locations, and the other lead goes to my room, where I have it go into another gigabit switch with my equipment plugged in there. Then, from there, that switch goes into the router.

My overall network speed has seen a very noticeable increase since the switch to gigabit. For me, it was well worth my time. I hope it can be worth yours too!

The battle to protect your computer and network against treats is essentially never ending. While there are a lot of simple and effective things you can do, another trick to add to your arsenal is keeping tabs on your network and the connected devices. A simple (and free) utility to help you with this is RogueScanner.

RogueScanner scours your network for connected machines as well as devices connected to those machines. You can then view the findings of the scan to make sure what was detected is indeed what you have. If you find any differences, you might have something going on.

There is a RogueScanner tour available for you to view in order to get a better understanding of the process. This is worth looking into if you have an entire network to keep track of.