Dumb computer question

[daughtersrus]

How difficult is it to set up a wireless router for a laptop only (no desk top)?

I purchased a router ( http://www.officemax.com/catalog/sk...ultCount=1&csSearchTag=true&_requestid=811224 ) as a gift and told my SIL that we would install it. I really thought that DD would be able to since she installed ours but now she's saying that she's not sure how to do it. We have a desktop as well as two laptops and for whatever reason, DD said that she's not sure how to install it without a desktop.

I thought that you would just plug the cable line into the router but DD doesn't think that would work.

As you can tell, I'm pretty computer illiterate and can use some help/advice.

Thanks!

 

[tileman]

If I am reading it right just plug your wireless router in to the modem and you should be all set to go.

Fire up the laptop and it should find the router.

This should help.

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/moredone/wirelesssetup.mspx

 

[sbell111]

If I am reading it right just plug your wireless router in to the modem and you should be all set to go.

Fire up the laptop and it should find the router.

This should help.

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/moredone/wirelesssetup.mspx

Agreed.

Occasionally, you may wish to adjust the settings or upgrade it's firmware. On those rare occasions, you would just connect the laptop to the router via USB.

 

[FireDancer]

You would connect a network cable into one of the LAN connections of the router and set it up just like it was a desktop. Connect the router to the laptop and renew the ip information to get onto the same LAN as the router's default, open a web browser and type the IP address of the router in (D-Link should be 192.168.0.1) and log in as the administrator (D-Link defaults are username admin and password blank). Once you are in there you can set up the router.

My recommendations for wireless routers:

WPA2-PSK secturity
A complex wireless key like [FONT=courier new,courier]spkx6*v.a)OK%;p[f]8W`
I don't broadcast the SSID
Make sure to set a good new admin password
I set the default DNS servers to be 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220. This are the OpenDNS nameservers and unless you know how to run a good test on the nameservers of your ISP provider I would trust theirs to be more secure and faster.

The manual for your router is available here.

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