Securing my wireless network

[smes3817]

Hey everyone! I've been lurking on these forums for as long as I can remember and have been using Macs my whole life, but for some reason for the life of me I can't figure out how to solve this problem. So, I decided to ask you all. And I'm SURE it has an easy answer.

I have a brand new SR Macbook 2.2 and its running Leopard 10.5.1. My wife and I already have our wireless network set up in our apartment for a whole year now but it isn't secured with a password. So what I want to do is create a password for our network we already use. Again, I use a Macbook, the wife uses a HP. We have a Motorola modem and a Linksys router. HELP!

Thanks in advance.

 

[AdeFowler]

Enter http://192.168.0.1 in your browser to get into the routers set-up page, you should find security settings there. Oh, and welcome

 

[Str8edgepunker]

^Sorry but it's 192.168.1.1. That's the default IP for linksys routers. That might be true for D-Link but not Linksys.

OP: Once you get there, you'll see a dialog box for a name and password, the default is admin/admin. After that click on the wireless tab and then you should see a link for wireless security. Click on that and then choose your encryption. I recommend at least WPA Personal so you'll need an 8 character alphanumeric passkey for it. Once you do that, you have to go to each computer and input that password when you connect to the router the first time. After you input it, Mac OS X will store the password. Good luck.

 

[matttrick]

WPA is worthless, always go with WEP

 

[smes3817]

Thanks guys, worked great! Here's a follow-up question though...

In the past weeks that I had been trying to figure out how to add the password, I'm afraid I may have created new networks without really meaning to. On my computer there are a bunch of other wireless networks nearby which have passwords, but there are 2 other open networks that I think I may have created accidentally. Is there any way of checking if those networks are from me (my router), and if so, how would I delete them?

Again, thanks a ton! You guys are a huge help.

 

[GimmeSlack12]

WPA is worthless, always go with WEP

I agree with the others. You have it backwards. WPA good, WEP bad.

EDIT: You can only create one network with your one router. Those other networks you see are your neighbors networks. You can tell which network is yours by going into your router setting under Wireless security and checking your SSID (change the name so you can tell which is yours). This tab also is where you put in your password. If you use WPA, the word you put in is the password. If you use WEP you will put in a cypher word that will create either a 12 or 24 character password (a total pain in the ass). I say stick with WPA. If some computers don't like WPA then you might be forced to deal with WEP.