Nowadays, securing your wireless internet is not an option like it used to be. For example, in Australia they have Police to cruise streets for unsecured wireless internet connections, and if they find any open networks they would send letters to homeowners to warn and guide them on how to secure their wireless internet.
Unprotected wireless network will make you a victim of hackers who can somehow access your computer, financial information, or personal information.
1- Access the web-based setup page
Open internet explorer (or Safari if you are using Macintosh) and type your router's IP address in the address bar. This address can be found on the bottom of the router or by following these steps:
For Windows users:
Open the command prompt (Start > Run/Search for cmd and then enter ipconfig). The address you need should be beside default gateway as shown in the picture below.
For Macintosh users:
Open the terminal (Launchpad > Other > terminal and then enter ifconfig, or search for terminal using the little search icon (also called spotlight) located on the top right of your screen).The IP address of your wireless adapter (usually en1) should be there, change the last octet to one to get your router's IP address. For example, if your wireless adapter has an IP address of 192.168.2.50, then your router's IP address will be 192.168.2.1(change the last octet to 1).
2- Add a password
Every router has its own setup page design, and it would be so hard to go through all routers out there. I will show you how to add a password for the most well known routers, and if you don't have any of them you can at least get an idea on how to setup your own.
Linksys:
- Login to your router using its IP address (192.168.1.1)
- Go to Wireless tab and make sure that the Wireless SSID Broadcast is set to enabled (incase you have not activated your wireless internet yet)
- Click on Wireless Security
- Choose your preferred Security Mode (encryption type) from the drop down menu (try not to choose WEP, because it can be easily hacked. I would choose WPA/WPA2-Personal)
- Choose your Encryption algorithm. If you are given an option. choose AES over TKIP because TKIP is older and less secure
- Enter your WPA Shared Key (they password which will be used to access your wireless network)
- Click on Save Settings, and the router will restart to apply these settings.
D-Link:
- Login to your router using its IP address (192.168.0.1)
- Go to Setup then Wireless Settings
- Click on Manual Wireless Network Setup
- Make sure that the little box beside enable wireless is checked
- Type in your preferred Wireless Network Name (SSID), and change Visibility Status to Visible
- Choose your preferred Security Mode (encryption type) from the drop down menu (try not to choose WEP, because it can be easily hacked. I would choose WPA/WPA2-Personal)
- Choose your Encryption Algorithm. If you are given an option. choose AES over TKIP because TKIP is older and less secure
- Type your preferred password in the text field (Pre-Shared Key)
- Click on Save Settings and the router will restart to apply these settings
NetGear:
- Login to your router using its IP address (192.168.0.1)
- Click on Wireless Settings
- Type in your preferred Wireless Network Name (SSID)
- Choose your Region
- Choose your preferred security mode from Security Options
- Enter your preferred Passphrase (Pre-shared key)
- Click on Apply to restart the router and apply the settings.
Useful Hint:
When choosing a Password for your wireless router, make sure not to use common passwords, such as 123456789 or 987654321.Instead, use a combination between small letters, capital letters, numbers, and symbols.
Always remember to setup a password on your wireless router. If you are connected to internet using ethernet cable, make sure to disable Wireless SSID Broadcast on your router.
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