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How do I secure my wireless network?

When you turn on your laptop and look for wireless networks in your neighborhood, how many of them do you see secured? Does your wireless network say that it is secured? If not, then you may be allowing other people access to your files. But how do you secure your wireless network? What is the difference between WEP, WPA, and WPA2?

Depending on what wireless router you have in your home, there are many different ways of securing your wireless network. D-Link wireless routers make you secure the network the second that you plug your computer into the router. Linksys routers have a program that you can install on your computer to secure the network. All of these routers have web interfaces that you can configure the settings from. You go to a specific web site, and you can configure any setting that your router has. But how do you get to this web interface?

Click on the Windows Start button, and then click on Run. After that, a Run dialog box appears. Type in cmd and click OK. You will see a window just like the one pictured here. Type ipconfig and take a look at the Default Gateway. Write that number down! You can also close this windows now. If you open Internet Explorer and type that number into the address bar and press enter, you will now be asked for a password. The router's documentation will have what the default password is.

As far as the type of encryption, WEP is the most compatible with devices. But newer devices are compatible with WPA. WPA is more secure than WEP in that it takes longer to hack the password. If all devices in your network can, use WPA2, which is even more secure. Windows XP SP3 and Windows Vista SP1, is compatible with all of these. Video game systems such as the Wii, PS3, and XBox 360 are also compatible with all of these given that they are up to date with their software versions.

When you create a network key, you also want to make sure that you don't use any words. Just use random numbers and use letters A through F. A 104/128 bit key would look something like this:

55d07f3bc1d0601d65fb14f554

It has 26 characters in it and is completely random.

This website should help if you need to create one:

http://www.speedguide.net/wlan_key.php

Encrypting your wireless network is important for many reasons. It stops the average user from using your internet, which slows you down. It stops the experienced person from gaining access to any shared documents that you may have. It also stops the advanced hacker from reading everything that you have typed onto any web site at any time.

June 2008

RentOurGeeks.com

Sound Electronic Solutions

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