How do I block my wireless connection to stop people outside my house using it? Can I have password only usag

Answer 1

Yes it is called a wep key - check your router manual.

Answer 2

First thing to do is stop the Wireless base-station broadcasting it's existence (i.e change the SSID and disable SSID broadcast) BEFORE turning on wireless mode.

Following has been extracted from wikipedia (see url below) and reworked a bit.

1. Before turning on wireless mode, or plugging in the ADSL phone cable, connect a PC using a cable and change the (default) administrators password. Then set the rest of the unit up. Plug in the ADSL cable. Check all is OK. Then turn on wireless mode LAST.

Crackers know the admin page url's and default passwords for every manufacturers base-station. The last thing you need is for some cracker to access the router and upload new microcode with a built in back-door and a fake 'front door' for you to see (and be reassured that nothing is wrong .....)

If the unit has a 'Disable Administration via wireless' option, make sure that is selected.

2. Change the default SSID, or network name — Crackers know the default names of the different brands of equipment, and use of a default name suggests that the network has not been secured. Change it to something that is impossible to guess (NOT your house name / address / postcode :-) ).

3. Turn on encryption. WPA2 encryption should be used if possible. WPA encryption is the next best alternative, and WEP is better than nothing.

4. A lot of base-stations now have a USB printer port. This is supported via "file and print sharing". Turn this off on BOTH the base-station AND your PC's. If you have to make use of file / print sharing, ONLY allow READ operations to users with passwords (and never to 'anybody', 'guest', 'public' or whatever the zero security accounts are called these days)

5. Your wireless base-station should be positioned to provide radio coverage to your PC's only. This is quite difficult to arrange, however plainly a position at the back of the house is better than one at the front. Some access points allow the signal strength to be reduced in order to minimise such signal leakage. The truly paranoid can place the access point behind a metal 'shield' to minimise leakage towards the public street.

6. Remember your BIGGEST threat is the Internet. Make sure the base-station Firewall is turned on (and check for mfgs updates every month or so). Do NOT 'open' ports.
Install Firewalls on each PC as well (if one is infected you don't want it infecting all the others).

Answer 3

Debbie,

You can make it harder for your wireless to be found by setting an SSID and then unclicking the "Broadcasted" button.
Your connection will then not be seen.
An SSID can be anything you like. ie. GETOFMYWIRE

Next - Set-up WEP security.
Most connections accept the one they call 64 bits.
If your network does get discovered it will be encrypted by this 64bit key making it very hard for someone to decipher and gain a connection to your wireless.
Most need a 10 digit hexadecimal number so only use keys 0 to 9 and A to F, on you keyboard.

D3BB1E5911for example (Debbies911)

For all three of these settings look at the security setting on your wireless device.

Remember... You will need to set the same SSID on devices you wish to find you wireless and also the same WEP key or you will not be able to connect either.

If you are running Windows then right click the network connection, bottom left of your screen, and select properties. Then select help and enter SSID in the search window.
Windows will then take you though setting both an SSID and 64bit WEP encryption.

Hope this helps… Chris.

Answer 4

In the early days wireless technology was not very secure and it was very difficult to configure wireless devices and make them secure.

But nowadays, technology has improved vastly and wireless devices it is much easier to make them secure - you don't have to be a network / router guru to make these devices secure.

Here are a few simple things to make your wireless router secure:

1) Every router comes with a standard ipaddress - used to access the control panel of your router, usually this is:

192.168.0.1

Login details to the control panel are usually:

username: admin
password: password

These can be found on the bottom of your router or in the manual that comes with the router.

2) Connect your router to a laptop or PC with a network cable and log onto the control panel.
Click on the security / set password tab and change the admin password.
Click on the wireless settings tab and change the SSID (wireless network name), default name is usually DEFAULT or the manufacturers name (e.g. Belkin, NetGear, Linksys, etc.)

3) Enable a security option (e.g WEP, WPA-PSK, etc.)

I would strongly recommend WPA-PSK and not WEP as there are cracking software that hackers can use to find out the WEP key.

Set your WPA-PSK password and click on apply changes.

4) Enable the built-in firewall that comes with the router

This is usually enough to make your wireless network safe and secure from others. There additional configuration changes that can be made to make it even more secure:

1) Disable the broadcast of the SSID
This means that if someone searches for a wireless network, your wireless network wont appear in his / her list, you are basically invisible to them

2) Enable / Create an Access List
An access list controls what devices can and cant access your network.
To add a device to the list, you need the MAC address of the device you wish to add.
Once the device is added it can access the network.

Hope this helps

Answer 5

My advice would be not to use wireless, if your worried about security. I work in IT and wireless can cause no end of problems in my experience. The technology is just radio waves passing from a router/access point to a pc/laptop through a wireless card. There are numereous things that can interfere with the signal such as portable phones, microwave ovens, other wireless networks etc making a wireless network unusable in some environments.
If you haven't set up security on your wireless network then anyone with a bit of knowledge and the right equipment can gain access to your wireless network. To configure security settings for a router/access point you generally connect to it through a web browser using the router/access point IP address. Enter a Network name (SSID) which is not easy to guess and set the router/access point not to broadcast this name. Then setup a WPA encryption key using hex numbers at least 26 digits long. Dont use WEP encryption its very easy to crack with the right software. Setup MAC address filtering on the router/access point so only computers on your network are allowed to connect to it.
Duplicate these settings SSID and key onto your pc/laptop, enabling your pc/laptop to connect to the router/access point. This is about as much as you can do to secure the wireless network.
If your still worried about security then use a wired connection or if you dont want wires all over your house then use something called Homeplug which uses your house electrics for the network, although your network must be on the same ring main for it to work. Wired connections are more secure and more reliable, why use wireless at all.

Answer 6

This was on the news very recently, and what the computer experts said was, it is absolutley vital that you have a password to log on to your computer and another a password that allows you to connect to the internet. Make sure that there is no other way of connecting through the internet without having a password. You usualy have a password when you access the internet through your ISP (Internet Service Provider) browser.
This is the simple way to block hackers near your property from trying to access the internet on your computer.
There are other ways such as using special software,for different purposes, for example you must dowload ENCRYPTION software if you are wireless and are banking online.

There is lots to it, and I hope I have given you enough information for you to be assured that you are free of hackers.
To get more information, I recommend you to contact your ISP - Internet Service Provider i.e BT, AOL e.c.t

I hope I have answerd your question as you would have liked.

Thankyou

Answer 7

Do not let this threat put you off using a wireless connection as long as you can get a good signal from the router.

Use the precautions suggested to make your wireless connection safe and then you will be safe from having your computer damaged by a nearby lightening strike via the telephone circuit. This is as likely to be a cause of damage as a mains surge

Answer 8

Your best option, if your router supports these protocols, is to setup 4 levels of security:
1.) Enable the WPA wireless encryption feature. This means that only PCs that have the "pre-shared key" phrase or word will be allowed access to the network.
2.) Discover the MAC address of all wireless devices that you are going to allow onto your system, and build a table of these permitted devices on your system.
3.) Map a range of IP addresses to the MAC codes so that the DHCP server function of the router will only allow IP addresses to be given to "known" machines on your system, and make sure your router isn't allowing more IP addresses than your network needs, say 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.4.
4.) Finally, stop the router broadcasting the SSID name of your wireless network to make it less discoverable to outsiders.

All functions supported by the latest Netgear routers, and as these "MIMO" wireless devices have enhanced range, it's more important than ever that you know your stuff on wireless security before you open your network to the ether!

Answer 9

I would recommend using WEP protection. If you login in to your router (usually 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 in your browser). You should be able to check your wireless settings and there you can set ur WEP keys as some phrase that u can memorise. The router will then generate a 64/128-bit key to be entered on every computer you want to give access to :)

Answer 10

regularly on the spot routers comprise a passcode, the two interior the documentation or written on the unit itself. examine your instruction manual- there is regularly a thank you to password guard get right of entry to to the relationship. i'm no IT expert, yet i'm conscious that making use of somebody's connection with out permission is technically stealing. As in unlawful. this is attainable to discover the guy consumer numbers of those gaining access to your connection (i've got faith this is called ISP and is, because of the fact the call implies, guy or woman to each and each consumer's laptop). Ask a techy buddy to allow you to out- in case you get those numbers logged then once you're feeling extremely ruthless then you definately can sumbit it to the government. Any moron is conscious that in the event that they do no longer look to be procuring information superhighway get right of entry to yet they're waiting to get right of entry to somebody else's connection then they're doing some thing naughty. you does no longer enable somebody walk into your domicile, borrow your automobile keys and take it for a spin, might you? PROSECUTE ;-)

Answer 11

You have to encrypt the connection. when you set up your router, there will be a spot for "WPA encryption". That is where you enter a password, then each of your computers that use the connection has to be setup in the connection properties to use your password.