Introduction

The new Microsoft Vista operation system has introduced many changes and improvements regarding how it deals with wireless technology. In this chapter, we will review these new changes and improvements that allow you to successfully manage a wireless Microsoft Vista network. As with any technology, security is very important in wireless networks. By the end of this chapter, you will understand the vulnerabilities in wireless networks and how you can protect your wireless network with the proper configuration settings. Microsoft has made significant changes in the new Microsoft Vista operation system that are helpful in administration and in improving security.

What s New with Wireless in Vista?

Microsoft has designed Windows Vista to provide better support for wireless networking that is more closely integrated with the operating system than ever before. This has resulted in improved stability and reliability. In 2001, wireless networking wasn t prevalent; therefore, Windows XP didn t support it natively. You could use wireless network cards with XP but what you got was typically a proprietary interface from the hardware vendor. This meant that when enterprises implemented wireless local area networks (WLANs) their IT departments would have to learn different vendor-specific wireless software depending on the computer hardware they used. Windows Vista provides a single wireless client that, regardless of the computer s manufacturer, is consistent for users and IT personnel.

The new Native Wi-Fi Architecture in Windows Vista has been redesigned. Now 802.11 is represented as its own media type in Windows, separate from 802.3, which now allows...