Belkin F5D7050 User Manual - Page 6

Introduction 4. Choose the "quietest" channel for your wireless network In locations where homes or offices are close together, such as apartment buildings or office complexes, there may be wireless networks nearby that can conflict with yours. Use the Site Survey capabilities of your Wireless LAN Utility to locate any other wireless networks (see page 16 of this manual), and move your Wireless Router (or Access Point) and computers to a channel as far away from other networks as possible. Experiment with more than one of the available channels, in order to find the clearest connection and avoid interference from neighboring cordless phones or other wireless devices. 5. Secure connections, VPNs, and AOL Secure connections are connections that typically require a user name and password, and are used where security is important. Secure connections include: • Virtual Private Network (VPN) connections, often used to connect remotely to an office network • The "Bring Your Own Access" program from America Online (AOL), which lets you use AOL through broadband provided by another cable or DSL service • Most on-line banking websites • Many commercial websites which require a user name and password to access your account Secure connections can be interrupted by a computer's power management setting, which causes it to "go to sleep." The simplest solution to avoid this is to simply reconnect by re-running the VPN or AOL software, or by re-logging into the secure web site. A second alternative is to change your computer's power management settings so it does not go to sleep; however, this may not be appropriate for portable computers. To change your power management setting under Windows, see the "Power Options" item in the Control Panel. 4