Dave1980

i am pretty good with computers, but i am struggling here.

i have two laptops running off a wireless router and a desktop which is hard wired to the router.

i want to password protect the network so nobody else can use it.

how do i go about this?. can i do it off the laptops or do i need to go through the desktop which is where the router was setup on.

tia
dave

_Meridian_

iTrader: (1)

I would seriously advise you to set up security from the desktop physically connected to the router.

Roughly in order:

1) Change the router password to complex one.

2) Set up a complex word/phrase SSID

3) Turn off SSID broadcast

4) Set up WPA encryption and again pick a long and/or complex password (but sure you can remember it!)

5) Find out the MAC addresses of the wireless lappies (IPCONFIG /ALL in a DOS window will do it) and set the router to only accept connections from those MAC addresses


Now set up the SSID and WPA encryption phrase on the laptops.


M

Dave1980

ok thanks, will give it a go and see how i get on.

ShyTot

Hmmmm,

If I were to only pick one of the 5 choices listed at the top, then I would go for the WPA and nothing else. I think you have pretty much locked the door with that.
The MAC address filtering would be very easy to scan for on an unsecure network, just like WEP is (apparantly)

_Meridian_

iTrader: (1)

I can pick up up to five networks from my house. And that is about standard.


M

mike1210

agreed, provided the password is secure make one here

WPA-PSK Key Generator | Kurt's Website

mike1210

to prove they can, if the facility is there to secure your network, USE IT, most if not all routers nowdays have WPA/WPA2 TKIP/AES onboard which takes 5 mins to set up

BigGT3Fan

Agree. The security is a good idea but it's more to stop neighbours accidentally or deliberately wandering on to your network and accessing your kit or doing 'things' on the internet that might get you in trouble.

I use MAC address filtering, WPA, complex router passwords & SSIDs etc but would bet a lot no one ever has, or ever will attempt to hack into my network. There are 4 others in my immediate vicinity that are open!

The security just makes casual fiddlers go elsewhere, it can all be broken if you are really sad enough to try.

Alex

Chris L

What Alex said basically.

Dave has a point though. If you are targeted by someone that's a different matter, my technical consultants can and do break poorly protected WiFi networks by compromising poor encryption (I've seen basic WEP encryption broken in 10 mins). At this level of technical expertise, MAC address filtering isn't going to stop someone. But, and it's a big but, this is highly unlikey to be the case for the average home user network.

I would use encryption as a minimum, because it is easy to set up and ensures your privacy. This way no one can attach to your network and then go surfing to dodgy websites. There are plenty of people who don't bother to setup their wireless networks properly - so there will always be plenty of suckers.

cottonfoo

I use the lot, with RADIUS authentication on top

Chris L

Yeah Steve, but then you're as paranoid as me

cottonfoo

What? Who said that? *looks around*