Thinkvantage Access Connections vs Windows Wireless Network

[claudeo]

I'm not sure I understand why you would want to disable the Windows firewall by default when you connect. I have not see the Windows firewall block *anything* I wanted and it is always on. The Windows Firewall is always on my laptops and it it *never* prevented me from making a connection with a WiFi access point anywhere in the world.

My firewall to allow a couple of exceptions that I need. It seems more logical to configure the firewall to allow what you need than to disable it by default. I certainly wouldn't travel and connect to just any available network without a running firewall. In in fact when I travel and I know I'll be using untrusted connections, I actually disable all exceptions, because 99% of the time the firewall in "lockdown" mode won't interfere with stuff I really need, like my VPN connection.

[GomJabbar]

I'm not sure I understand why you would want to disable the Windows firewall by default when you connect.

FYI, I don't want to use the Windows Firewall, because I'm using a different firewall.

[Scratch]

I use the Zone Alarm Pro firewall which disables the Windows firewall at installation so the 2 don't conflict/combine causing problems. I have been using the current implementation of AC since setting up my T60p in conjunction with the ZAP firewall and none of my connections (profiles) attempt to re-enable the WinXP FW when activated.

Like one of the previous posters I use generic profiles for "disposable" connections and specific profiles for frequented locations.

I see Ken's point about the increasing bloat and thus possible instability/quality of AC in general, but (un)fortunately I haven't experienced it first hand.

I like its interface and usability. I have tried the WinXP services several times in the recent past as some of my users just couldn't come to terms with AC. What I see when I get the machines back is a huge scrolling popup list of WinXP "wireless profiles" that need to be culled anyway.

We've reverted to teaching users how to properly use generic and specific profiles. The jury is still out in the general population here.

[cb474]

Not to add to the AC vs. Windows debate. But I had two interesting experiences, after temporarily uninstalling AC.

1) Windows failed to connect to access points that AC had no trouble connecting to. This quickly sent me back in the AC direction.

2) On the other hand, once I uninstalled AC I saw that it eliminated four startup processes using what seemed like 30 - 40 mb of RAM. Seems kind of like a resource hog. (I really wish AC wouldn't start any of it's processes until I manually execute it.)

Anyway, two points, one perhaps in favor of each application.

[cb474]

In an effort to fix a different problem with AC I uninstalled and reinstalled it. Now the default settings in profiles are different. Before when I created a new profile, "overide proxy configuration" was always checked. Now it's always unchecked.

This would seem to indicate that the default on these settings can be changed (and therefore it's possible to fix my Windows Firewall problem this way). The information must be stored somewhere in a system file or something. Doesn't anyone have any idea how to look? There must be a way to do this.

I searched the registry for entries associated with AC, but once I found them I didn't know what they meant or how to make sense of them.

Wouldn't it be useful for all of us if we could set the default settings for our profiles? Am I going to have to go back to school and become a computer programmer to figure this out?

[krcmd]

Is there a way to set up a profile that doesn't try to connect with ANY network? Much of the time I don't want to be connected, and access connections seems to get a hernia trying.

Thank you!

[jdhurst]

In Manage Profiles, there is a check box to say whether you want Access Connections to try a given connection. The default is to check them all, which is what gives AC a hernia on starting. Uncheck them all. If one needs to be check, check the default wired connection. It won't spend long starting if no cable is connected.

I have two checked: Default wired and My Home Wireless. There isn't much delay getting going with this setup.
... JD Hurst

[sjhwilkes]

Thanks, that's a good tip.
Another thing Access Connections is good for is 802.11x authentication for both wired and wireless networks - again only really useful in a corporate environment, but then that's what the T series is meant for.
Now if only Microsoft would patch the 802.11x in windows XP, I'd uninstall it too...