How to Set Up Linksys Wireless Network Security Settings

Linksys manufacturers commonly used consumer-level routers. Many of these routers are wireless routers, which share an Internet connection among wired and wireless computers. By default, Linksys wireless routers allow anyone to connect to your wireless home network. If your network is left wide open, having other people you don't know using it decreases your privacy and security, and even opens you up to possible legal vulnerability depending on what they do over your Internet connection. Set up your Linksys wireless network's security settings and make your network private and secure.

Instructions

1. Open your Linksys wireless router's configuration webpage by clicking your Web browser's address bar, typing "192.168.1.1" into it and pressing "Enter."

2. Login to your Linksys router. Leave the "User Name" box blank in the login prompt window that appears and type your password into the "Password" box. The default password is "admin" if you haven't set a custom password.

3. Click the "Wireless" tab at the top of the Linksys configuration page.

4. Change the name of your wireless network by typing a new name into the "SSID" box on the "Wireless" page and clicking "Save Settings."

5. Hide your wireless network, if desired, by clicking "Disable" next to "Wireless SSID Broadcast" on the "Wireless" page and clicking "Save Settings." Connect to the hidden wireless network by entering the wireless network's name manually on your computers.

6. Enable encryption for your Linksys wireless network by clicking "Wireless Security," clicking the "Security Mode" list and clicking "WEP."

7. Set the length of the encryption passphrase. Select a longer passphrase providing greater encryption by clicking "128 bit" next to "WEP Encryption," or select an easier-to-type, shorter passphrase by clicking "64 bit."

8. Type a passphrase for your wireless network into the "Passphrase" box; choose it like you'd choose a password.

9. Click the "Generate" button and write down the values of "Passphrase" and "Key 1." Older computers running Linksys wireless hardware cards with "Passphrase," computers running Windows XP or more recent versions of Windows as well as computers not running Linksys wireless cards require "Key 1" for connecting to the wireless network.

10. Save your settings by clicking "Save Settings."

References

• Linksys: Wireless Routers Configuration - Changing SSID & Disabling SSID Broadcast
• Linksys: Wireless Router Configuration - Security - WEP