First Time Shadowrun GM Options

[APerplexedGM]

Hey guys,

I've managed to float around this board for a while, just reading what fellow gamers had to say about Shadowrun. My friends and I have contemplated playing Shadowrun for a long time, daunted by something other than kick down the door. Thankfully, all that has recently changed, and we're currently neck deep in Ghost Cartels, and I can safely say that everybody is enjoying it so far. The only person with an issue is me, the GM.

I'm having difficulty with two main concepts: dealing with a wireless world, and trying to offer challenge for the "lawn-chair" characters.

The first issue is my inability to properly understand the Matrix. I know the rules, but so much is left unsaid. Can the team's hacker really hack into the PAN of the DocWagon Clinic, and gain control of all it's systems, just by getting past it's firewall? Is this sort of stuff a GM call, or are there hard rules for this?

My second issue is my inability to truely with what I call a "lawn-chair" character, or a character who can run with the group despite not actually being there. The two best examples of this are the team's hacker and the team's drone rigger. The hacker is content to sit at home, blowing stuff away with her huge dice pool. Nothing that is in the book can handle her. Couple that with my limited knowledge of the Matrix (see above), and that character comes out as easily the most effective member. The drone rigger is not much different. Although she is technically the driver for the group, she drives a van so decked out that it might as well be a tank. Her "fly" drones are easily more effective than any normal infiltrator, and she can still deal loads of pain with her combat-oriented drones. Obviously, I could stop their antics with some GM blockage, but I want to be fair.

What do I do?