Wireless Networks - How do I make mine secure?

[mickeysgal]

I have a couple of technical questions about wireless networks. We have a linksys wireless network. When I click on my wireless network icon at the bottom of my computer I can view all the available wireless networks. I can link to mine, but often mine links to another (neighbors) network. Other networks I see are other neighbors but they say "secured wireless network" while mine just says "wireless network". First question, how do I secure mine and second, if I secure mine, will this prevent my laptop from trying to link to someone elses?

 

[DisneyfeverTN]

In your address window, type in http://192.168.1.1
The password should be "admin"
That is the address for your router box.
Then under Setup, you will need to enable your WEP - Mandatory
Your will need to type in a word for a "paraphrase" and then generate
Then apply
Write down the first couple of key numbers. You will need to enter a key # to access your wireless. It's that simple.

Also, you should change the password to your router box. We had someone who would continously access our router box by mistake because they all have the same address.

 

[DisneyfeverTN]

If you secure yours, it will not prevent you from accessing another network. You need to do this:
Start
Control Panel
Network and Internet Connections
Network Connections
Wireless Network Connections
Properties
Click on the Wireless Networks tab
In the Preferred Networks box, you should be able to see all of the networks that your computer can pick up
you can remove all of the ones that aren't yours from the list

Also, there is another way to connect to only your network:
Right click on the little computer icon on the bottom right hand side of your screen
click "View available networks"
You can click "refresh" if you don't see yours, if you do see it, just click on it and click connect, if you are not already connected