Chapter 12: Networking Your Computer 199
■ View Status Of This Connection Displays the connection’s Status dialog box, which
can be used to get details about the TCP/IP configuration and to manage the TCP/IP
configuration.
■ Change Settings Of This Connection Displays the connection’s Properties dialog box,
which can be used to manage the TCP/IP configuration.
Tip
If you right-click a connection, a shortcut menu will provide an expanded set of options.
Introducing Wireless Networking for Windows Vista
The wireless components in Windows Vista have been extensively reworked. In this section,
you’ll look at the changes to these components and how they are used to improve flexibility
and security. You’ll learn about:
■ Wireless networking changes.
■ New ways of connecting to wireless networks.
■ Fast roaming and auto configuration.
Exploring Wireless Networking Changes
Wireless connections in earlier versions of Windows are designed to emulate Ethernet con-
nections and can be extended only when using additional Extensible Authentication Protocol
(EAP) types for IEEE 802.1X authentication. Wireless connections in Windows Vista use a
software infrastructure for 802.11 wireless connections called the Native Wireless Fidelity
(Wi-Fi) architecture.
Native Wi-Fi architecture has many benefits. It allows:
■ Windows Vista to represent wireless (IEEE 802.11) as a media type separate from Ethernet
(IEEE 802.3). This increases flexibility by allowing hardware vendors to support
advanced features specific to IEEE 802.11 networks, such as larger frame sizes than
Ethernet.
■ Windows Vista to include the authentication, authorization, and management compo-
nents necessary for 802.11 connections. This streamlines the development of miniport
drivers that expose a native 802.11 interface and makes it easier for hardware vendors to
develop wireless network adapter drivers.
■ Hardware vendors to extend the built-in wireless client for additional wireless services
and custom capabilities. This allows vendors to create extensible components and
also makes it possible for vendors to provide customized configuration dialog boxes
and wizards.
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