How to Connect Another Computer to My Wireless Internet at Home
One of the key advantages to wireless home networking is that you can connect multiple computers to a single wireless access point. Both wired and wireless-capable computers are able to connect to a wireless router. This allows computers to share internet access as well as other wireless devices such as printers, eliminating the need to unplug and relocate shared hardware. Connecting additional computers to a wireless network is moderately easy and should only take a few minutes.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Click on your wireless icon on your desktop. On a PC, this icon is located on the lower right corner of the screen and resembles a silver antenna or a omputer with green or gray lines next to it. You may need to click on the small arrow next to the taskbar icons to expand the toolbar and reveal the wireless icon. On a Mac, the wireless icon is a small series of curved lines forming a cone in the top right corner of the screen.
-
2
Select "Turn on wireless" or "Connect to a wireless network" to enable the wireless card. In Mac OS X, select "Turn on Airport." Wait a moment for a list of nearby networks to appear on the screen.
-
-
3
Scroll through the list of available networks that appears in the pop-up window until you see your home network. You should look for the network that matches the designation you gave the network initially; if you never named the network, it will be a default name such as "linksys" or a series of numbers.
-
4
Click on the chosen network and select "Connect to network." If prompted, enter the password for the network and check the box next to "Remember this network" or "Save password." If you do not know the password to your home network, it may be the default password---usually "default," "admin," or "password." If the network does not have a small padlock icon next to it, it does not require a password.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
If you have a computer such as a desktop model that lacks wireless capabilities, you can connect an Ethernet cable from the network jack on the rear of the computer to one of the Ethernet to computer jacks on the rear of the wireless router.
Connecting to networks that lack a small padlock icon next to them means you are connecting to an unsecured network. Data sent over these networks may be accessible by outside users.
