Most people buy WiFi just to share an Internet connection, and for that purpose good old 802.11b is more than fast enough -- most residential broadband connections max out at 1.5 Mbps. G's extra speed is useful only for sending lots of data between computers and the home network.

But even though 802.11g's speed may not yield any real benefit, you'll probably wind up buying it anyway. Older, slower b gear is getting hard to find while offering few savings compared to g devices, and -- more important -- almost all g hardware includes a much better security system.

Security matters in WiFi because your access point will broadcast every bit of data you send and receive online to anybody who cares to listen. Without some authentication system, you will also be inviting every random stranger with a laptop to hop on to your signal and borrow your bandwidth.

Older WiFi boxes include an encryption standard called WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) to prevent these things from happening, but WEP was soon discovered to be badly broken and easy to defeat in the field.

WiFi developers came up with a better encryption system called WPA (WiFi Protected Access), but this arrived too late to be added to many existing 802.11b devices.

Now on one hand, fretting about WiFi misses the point: You are far likelier to lose your privacy or your data online because a virus, worm, spyware application or browser-hijacking Web site assaults your computer. On the other hand, that doesn't mean you should make it easy for the rest of the world to listen in to your traffic.

Because WiFi is a standard, not a brand, you don't need to buy all your hardware from one vendor. (See the accompanying story for reviews of four 802.11g access points.) You can mix and match parts and they'll all -- usually -- work together.

When they don't, the fault is usually the too-complicated connection-management software provided with WiFi access points and receivers, whose quality can range from miserable to malevolent.

My second least-favorite category of WiFi software is the firmware updates manufacturers ship to add new capabilities to their access points and receivers. Not all of these get enough testing before their release.

For example, after Apple released a firmware update for its AirPort Extreme WiFi devices last week, numerous users complained that it slowed or disrupted their WiFi networks. A chastened Apple suggested on Friday an update to this update would be forthcoming soon.

My own rule for WiFi firmware updates is this: Wait a week and see if any reports of trouble show up online before you even think of installing it.

If you can keep your WiFi network out of trouble, though, you may be pleasantly surprised to see how easy it is to add new devices to it -- and I don't just mean computers, but also printers, handheld organizers and even an emerging category of set-top boxes that stream digital music from your computer to your stereo.

There's a lot of creativity going into the WiFi space these days; some of the most interesting applications for WiFi probably haven't even been invented yet. I hope to read about them soon -- from my couch.

Living with technology, or trying to? E-mail Rob Pegoraro at rob@twp.com.