Wireless Network Security - Tutorial

Is wireless an okay way to go as far as integrity of the system is concerned?
Currently, they are safer than using a Cable ISP, because there are less people out there who have the tools to compromise your wireless network. However, this will not be true forever. Someone with the right equipment could drive around and break into many home wireless networks. This is not a concern for our family, because we live out in the middle of farm land. Anyone getting close enough to try and compromise our network would be very obvious. However, there are many youth breaking into home networks when you are connected to your ISP. Most of them are youth and do not seek to harm, but want to explore and see what they can get into. You might occasionally become aware of this when you shutdown, and see a message that someone (or several some ones) are connected, and this will drop their connection. However, this message will also be generated, if one of the other home computers has been looking at the computer you are shutting down.
Also wireless networks only work at the 10 Mbits per second and not the 100 Mbits which is available via Cat cables. This should not be a problem for typical home network use though. I am considering wireless for my in-laws when they are staying in their attached home. It would allow them to print to our computers, share our ISP, and move files. I do have wireless on my new Compaq laptop, which I might use at future Compaq seminars.
If one is concerned about security:
1. Use some security software (firewalls) - Compaq has this software for me to use, and I plan to explore this and set it up in my home, but I still do not see this as a major problem yet.
2. Set the network setting to be more restrictive. This is done differently depending on what O/S you are using. NT, Windows 2000 and XP Professional can be made more secure, than Windows 95/98. However, this can also cause protection problems when legitimate users want to share files. There is a fine balance between being secure and being able to use your computers easily.
3. Backup your critical data onto removable media (CD-ROM or Tape) so that you can recover from intrusion or disasters. This is good policy in any case.
One great piece of advice I would give, is to disconnect from the Internet whenever it is not needed. This would make it harder for someone to probe and try and infiltrate your home network.