Network "bridging" in the past has created significant problems on the Williams network. This is a setting that is on by default on many laptops from Dell and other vendors. The setting itself has no usefulness here on campus and should be turned off immediately to prevent further network slowdowns and the possibility of your network jack being error-disabled.
To protect the Williams network, we automatically check for computers with bridging enabled and any discovered will be immediately disconnected from the network. If this happens to you, you will need to call out support desk to get re-enabled and it will not happen immediately. Make sure this doesn't happen to you.
To check your own laptop (PCs running Windows XP), click the link below:
http://wiki.williams.edu/download/attachments/343/Bridging.pdf
Bridging is very bad for our Network. If you see it on, please turn it off. Right click the shared connection and select Properties. Then choose the Advanced tab. The "Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection" needs to be unchecked.
The problem of network bridging is not unique to Williams. Other schools have been battling this issue since 2002. Fortunately Microsoft corrected the default setting with Windows XP SP2, so laptops shipped since August 2004 will not have this bug.
