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October 28, 2005
Dear CNET members,
Happy Friday! I have some great news for our product fans. In addition to the CNET forums, we've recently launched product forums on CNET Reviews--a unique community area for every product we cover. Each product forum offers a place to exchange your tips, ask questions, and interact with other CNET members who also own a specific product, and the discussion has already begun! CNET member ethancollin needs help changing the wallpaper on his LG VX4500 cell phone. Member paranoid_android is looking for tips on setting up his Apple AirPort Express Base Station with his Xbox. And member trentonl shares his thoughts on why he's selling his iPod Shuffle. Do you have a tip or need tech help on a specific product? Go to CNET Reviews, click the Use tab for any product, and share your thoughts and questions!
Now let's move on to on Steve's question on using an open wireless network that he's picked up in the airwaves.
Steve, you've raised a good question. While I don't believe there are any official, written laws against using someone else's wireless network, my personal take on it is that if it doesn't belong to me and I don't have specific permission to use it, I won't touch it. But don't listen to me, read what your fellow community members have to say. To get this conversation started, I present to you this week's winning answer by Paul, whose biggest concern is the security risk posed by tapping into an open wireless network. There are many great answers to this week's question, so check out the honorable mentions and other advice from our members. Even our own CNET editor Allen Fear chimed in on this topic with his take. Hopefully, with all this knowledge at hand, we can all best decide what's OK and what's not. So if you have an opinion on this topic, please post it so that we can read your angle.
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Member Question of the Week
If I am at home and my wireless computer picks up a nearby
network, is it OK to use it? Are there any laws against this?
If I do use it, can the person with the service see who is
using it and what I am
looking at?
Submitted by:
Steve P.
Hello, your first question is a variable one to say the least ("If I am at home and my wireless computer picks up a nearby network, is it OK to use it?"). This highly depends on where you live, and whom you live by. ("Are there any laws against this?") I will try to answer both questions, since they are related. As I mentioned, it depends on where you live. We have no law against picking up any open airwave signal. This does not make it OK, though; morals are another issue. Do you want to use someone else's connection without their knowledge? If a neighbor knows you are picking up the connection and doesn't mind sharing it, things might be all right. However, there are other things to consider...
Submitted by:
Paul K.
For
Paul's
efforts, we're sending him his choice of any
Help.com Learning CD.
Community Buzz
 Each week we take a look at topics discussed in the forums.
Best regards and enjoy!
blocker out there?
Do pop-up ads annoy you? If they do, here are some pop-up stopper recommendations from our members to prevent these ads from messing up your Web surfing experience. If you have free pop-up blocker recommendations, post them here.
More from Viruses & security alerts forum
Linux: pitfalls for the brave
newbies to be aware of
Tired of the same old Windows OS grind? Maybe it's time to drop this ubiquitous OS and take on a new challenge: Linux. But before you brave souls take on the plunge, read what member jakem14 has to say--giving us his glimpse of what to expect from Linux and the pitfalls to keep in mind. It's all pretty interesting stuff. So give it read and chime in with your thoughts.
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Digitize my vinyl music records to CDs
Looking for ways to digitize your precious vinyl collection to CDs? Look no further, as many members have given us links to resources that will help digitize a music collection. If you have any resources to add to this discussion, come on in and leave your mark.
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Cold weather digital camera recommendation needed
With winter approaching fast, member iheartburton is wondering if anyone knows of a digital SLR camera that can withstand really cold temps (like, really cold; they snowboard in Vermont.) If you have any suggestions for our members, please recommend away.
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No pictures on my browsers
After member AJShadow did a recent Windows Automatic update, for some Web sites he is unable to get any of the pictures to display on the screen. All he gets is an X where any picture is supposed to be. All the browsers he uses, including Netscape, Internet Explorer, and Firefox, have been affected. See what others have chimed in to say, and if you have an additional suggestion for solving this, please let him know.
More from the Windows XP forum
Mac nugget:
Please explain what a clean install is?
Member taboma writes: I'm doing a clean install on my Mac G4 and installing Tiger OS 10.4. I do have an external hard drive to copy everything over to before a clean install, plus backups on several CDs. What is involved and what are the steps?
More from the Mac OS forum
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Check out next week's question:
The time has come for me to finally create my own Web site. I have Cox cable as my ISP, and they give me 70MB of Web space. This will be a first-time thing for me, so I was wondering, what is the recommended software for creating Web sites? The tech guy at Cox recommended Microsoft FrontPage, but I prefer not to use Microsoft products if possible. I'm also interested in learning some code, such as HTML. Where can I learn about that? Are there any places where I can go to learn about Web page creation?
--Submitted by:
Bruce R.
If you have the answer,
e-mail us at messageboards@cnet.com.
If we choose your response, you'll get a
free Help.com CD.
Have a question?
• Multimedia
• Internet Security
• Digital Cameras
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• PC Upgrading
• PC Troubleshooting
• Digital Music
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| Member Profile of the Week |
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User name: putergoddess
Location: Orchard Park, New York
Member since: September 22, 2002
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About me: I injured my spine in 1993. I had three operations and during my recovery time, taught myself about computers and can now build... (read more)
Each week we feature a CNET member who contributes to our community. Fill out your profile to get a chance to be featured in our newsletter and win a CNET t-shirt!
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Simple question, simple answer
Help your fellow members
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Click here to see full answer
