In Windows, we can connect to many different kinds
of networks in many different ways,
and you can set up these configurations inside
of Windows in the network and Sharing Center.
Windows includes a step-by-step wizard
that's customized to the type of network
that you're trying to connect to.
So, you get one wizard for a wired ethernet network,
and a different type of wizard if you're connecting to a VPN.
Inside of the network and Sharing Center,
you would choose the option to set up a new connection
or network.
If you click on that, you'll get the options that
are available for your system.
On this system, I can connect to the internet,
set up a new network, or connect to a workplace.
This gives you a single screen that
allows you to customize or set up any network
configuration in Windows.
Let's look at the option for connecting
to a workplace, which would be to set up a dial up
or VPN connection to your workplace.
Many organizations will set up and configure
a virtual private network concentrator, or VPN.
This allows you to be at a remote site
but securely connect to all of these private devices that
are inside of your corporate network.
It does this by setting up an encrypted tunnel
between your device and the VPN concentrator.
Anything sent over that network link will all be encrypted.
So if somebody's capturing packets at this coffee shop,
they won't be able to gather any information from the data
flows going back and forth to your corporate office.
This VPN concentrator is responsible for decrypting
all of this information being sent through the tunnel
and passing it through to the devices
on the inside of your network.
To get information back to the laptop,
we reverse this process.
The VPN concentrator encrypts the data,
sends it across this internet link,
and your laptop is then responsible for decrypting
all of that data.
The VPN concentrator used by your organization
may have its own software that needs
to be installed in Windows.
But Windows also includes its own VPN client.
You can simply choose the option to connect to a workplace,
and you can set up the configuration settings
for that VPN connection.
You could choose to use a normal VPN connection very
similar to what you would have on a wired or wireless network.
Or if you're using dial up, you can
choose to use a dial up connection to that VPN
concentrator.
You would then specify the internet address
for the concentrator.
You can give it a name so that you
can reference that inside of Windows,
and then you could choose to create that link
and be able to connect to the VPN.
If your network administrator wants
to add some additional security to this connection,
you might have to choose the option
to use a smart card where you would plug in a smart card
into your laptop or a smart card reader
to be able to provide additional authentication during the login
process.
Once this VPN configuration has been set up,
you can enable or disable the connectivity to the VPN
concentrator on the Windows taskbar
using the network status icon.
We certainly use wireless networks extensively,
and Windows includes a wizard that
helps you connect to these wireless networks.
You would provide first a network name.
This would be an SSID, or service set identification
name, for the wireless network.
You'd then choose a security type
so you can specify whether you're
using WPA2, WPA2 enterprise, or some other type of encryption
method.
You would then choose the encryption type,
and then specify the security key for this network.
If you're running WPA2 Personal, then everyone
has the same security key, and you would add that security key
into the wizard.
If you're using WPA2 Enterprise, then you're using 802.1X
authentication, and you would use the normal username
and password that you use for all of your other
authentications.
Wired ethernet connections are somewhat easier
to configure because you don't have
to deal with any type of SSID or wireless encryption.
You simply plug in your cable, and you've
got a direct connection to this system.
In fact, you could connect to multiple network types
simultaneously.
You could be connected to a wired ethernet network,
to a wireless network, and a wireless wide area network
connection.
Windows determines which one of these connections
has the highest performance and uses that as the default.
You can also modify the network configurations for these wired
and wireless networks by right clicking on the network adapter
and choosing properties.
This will bring up a properties window
where you can configure IPv4 information such as the IP
address, subnet mask, default gateway,
or specify that you're using a DHCP server.
This is also where you might want
to configure an alternate configuration in case
a DHCP server is not available.
Inside of your laptop or desktop,
you might also have hardware that
allows you to connect to a cellular provider's network
over a WWAN, or wireless wide area network.
This usually includes specialized hardware
that allows you to connect to that cellular network.
And in some cases, you might even have an extra antenna
that you can connect to get even better performance.
Sometimes you can gain access to this wireless WAN
over a USB connected wireless WAN adapter
or through 802.11 wireless in the form of a hotspot.
This almost always requires some type
of third party software that's made by the wireless provider.
But this would allow you access to the internet
even though you may be far away from an ethernet or 802.11
network.