Do you use wireless Internet? Do you understand it? Well you do not need to know all the technical aspects of it but maybe we should know a few non-technical aspects especially as it may affect the security of our PC.
Really, you only need to know as much as you do about your mobile phone probably even less because the main concern with wireless internet is its security. Considering that wireless Internet is here to stay and is becoming more and more a part of our life so we should not be in total ignorance about it.
Consider this, with the average family needing access to the Internet more and more and on a daily basis we are finding conflict for access at the same time. You have your kids needing to access more and more for school projects. Like my daughter who is the treasurer for the local school her daughters go to (and proudly my granddaughters) she needs access to bulk order books for her school. There are now a multitude of things that a family now increasingly need simulates access to the Internet. Wireless Internet allows all of this.
So we have a laptop for sis, maybe one for little sis and the main computer for general use and we haven't factored in that real big brother attending college.
Using Wireless Internet allows multiple people to access the Internet at the same time. It also allows sharing of information throughout the household even if they are not connected to the Internet.
Because of the ability for multiple users to access the Internet through a wireless connection it leaves it wide open for interlopers to do so as well. If your wireless Internet is not secured, this is easily done. Unfortunately most of us do not think about it. Time and time again I have found people have had wireless Internet installed without any security whatsoever. What is worse is the service provider's technicians who have installed it do not even enable the most basic security.
I have roamed around and am amazed how many wireless networks I can use because they are not secure. The silly thing is that it is not hard to prevent this access and basically secure against it. No system is absolutely secure even your house but you would not go out without thinking of locking your door.
We all know that securing your house will not deter a professional thief but it will 95% of the opportunity thieves. The same goes for Wireless Internet.