Security is a concern for a lot of people that use wireless networks. But the fact is that it doesn't have to be something that you should be concerned about if you put the correct procedures and security settings in place to ensure that you have no unauthorized access.
There are many different types of wireless routers available in the marketplace. But, essentially the settings in the configuration should be very similar in order to get this up and running properly. We'll presume that you have a laptop and this is why you are looking to go wireless so in order to make sure that your security on your router is set up correctly you need to connect directly to the router from your laptop using any patch cable or also called a Cat-5 cable.
Most routers nowadays allow you to connect using your browser, simply open up your browser and type in the IP address of your router you may need to check the manual for this. Hopefully you are able to establish a connection and you should be presented with a menu system where you are looking to find security settings. Of course this is is going to be different depending on what model and make of wlan router you actually have.
Essentially in this area you are looking to configure the wireless options. In this area and you can set the network IP also called SSID and you will also be looking to set up the encryption type. A standard encryption type is WEP, which will allow you to set up a WEP key pass phrase, which is essentially your password for accessing the network once this has been saved.
The WEP key must be and characters comprising of numeric numbers 0-9 and from A-F it's always good to have a mix of these within your 10-character password. Once you have this to make sure that you submit and safety settings on the router generally you will be asked to restart so these settings are saved.
Now it's time to test and from your laptop you need and you available networks you should be able to see the Network ID (or SSID) that you previously settled during the configuration if you have found this simply double-click on this and it will then ask you to enter the passphrase. This is the 10 characters that you previously typed in hopefully you have written these down or remembered them easily would you have entered these click on okay and you should then be able to connect to your wireless network. Hopefully you have no issues and everything has worked out perfectly.
There is of course extra-added security by limiting wireless access by MAC address. Under the control panel on your computer you can find the MAC address of your wireless card once you have found this you can go back into your router configuration and find the area where you can enter the MAC address off the card which would then add further security and keep unwanted users off your WiFi network.
This post comes to us courtesy of Martin Smith who is a writer providing advice on Wireless Internet Security - if you have time drop by his site for some tips and information.
