of the system, or type of network.
  10. Don’t waste your time on ineffective security measures. Every now and then, I run across some technically deficient end user handing out free advice about security based on things overheard and half-understood. Generally, this advice is merely useless, though often enough it can be downright harmful. The single most common bit of bad advice I hear from such people with regard to wireless networking is the admonition that when connecting to a public wireless network, such as in a coffee shop, you should only connect if the network uses wireless encryption. Sometimes these people get the advice half right, and recommend only connecting to networks protected by WPA — it’s half right only because WPA is the wireless encryption you should use, if you are going to use wireless encryption at all. There is no point in trying to “protect” yourself by connecting to a public access point only if it uses encryption, however, because the fact that the encryption key will be handed out to anyone that asks for it completely obviates the supposed protection you expect. It’s a bit like locking the front door of the house, but leaving a big sign on the door that says “The key is under the welcome mat,” which only protects against illiterate burglars. If you want your network to be available to everyone that walks onto the premises, just leave it unencrypted, and if you need to connect to the Internet in some public location, don’t worry about encryption. In fact,