Unsecured Wireless Network - help!

Just bought a new laptop and have wireless on it. I've managed to set up a netgear wireless router to work but discovered that my wireless network is "unsecured".

Could someone talk me through how I actually change it to a secured one?

All help gratefully received.

 

There should have been an option in the configuration.
Type your ip address in a browsers page and you will be able to change all of the routers settings.

 

excuse the ignorance .... where do i find my ip address?

 

actually ................ i've found that but i'm being asked for a password for the router but don't remember setting one.

 

user: admin
pass: (blank) or admin

forget about the security settings...just allow your laptop MAC address to use the router and your are done...

 

yes leave it blank.

 

right .... got the password etc sorted as it was supplied with the router but ..... when i tried my ip address and running the set up wizard i lost my connection.

i've now typed in the ip address supplied with the router and got it going again .... so, do I:

a) stay with this IP adress and change the settings in Wireless Settings (security options) to "WPA-PSK (Wi-Fi Protected Access Pre-Shared Key)" OR "WPA-802.1x"

b) do one of the above after typing my static ip address in again.

thanks

 

Do the WPA PSK security. Set your password and your protected.

 

ok .... thanks ..... do i do this on the ip address supplied with the router or on my ip address .... or does it not matter?

 

Well your ip address on your router : (192.168.1.10x)
everyone has that and that is just for the other computer you network with can see that computer.
You dont have to change your ip address anyway. As long has you got security and stuff your fine.

 

well ................. that seems to have worked, thanks very much for your (patient!) advice. one last thing ..... my wireless network is just called "netgear". do i need to change it? or is it enough now it is secure?

i've noticed a neighbour has one called "linksys".

 

Its a good idea to change it so people dont know who you are. Your network name should be un known to your neighbors so put a number or anything you want. Doesnt have to be secret but its just a good i dea to change it to something different.

 

hmm .............. so the next question is then .. do i go through the same process again to do that?

 

Yeah you can, it will just be under SSID. Should be really easy but like i said, you can leave it right now and see how it goes.

 

ok ....... all done. many thanks for your patience and explanations.

 

Yep, no problem!