Securing a home wireless network

I am new to home networking. I have been reading tutorials on how to secure
my home network, but I am still at a complete lost. So if someone can
explain this to me in newbie's terms that would be great.
My first PC is a desktop that I connect to the internet throught a dsl
modem that my isp Verizon sent me. I have it hooked up through the ethernet
plug into the phoneline. It is made by Westell. This has been the only PC my
family has used. This past Christmas I bought my husband and One daughter a
laptop and the other daughter got a desktop. This was in a way my present too
as I wanted to be able to use my PC. Anyway when they started there laptops
they used the wireless network wizard and they were online. Now my daughters
desktop needed a wireless network adapter which I bought and hooked up. I got
her connected through the wireless setup wizard too. When it went to show all
connecton it listed 3 different connection all of which said unsecure. I
picked the one I think was ours. Well I got to thinking if my neighbors
signal is unsecure and I can get theirs than of course than can pick up on
mine too. How do I fix this? When I first set up the wireless I never used
the USB connecton to transfer settings like it says to do in the wizard. I
know that the network is working because I can use the printer that is on the
first PC from the laptop. I am just worried that my neighbors can pick up my
shared files too

Thanks so much for replying. So how do i go about changinging my wireless
server to secure? And exactly what is the wireless server? My westell modem
that is connected to my desktop? Or do I have to enable this WEP on every PC
in my house? I know I am completely clueless when it comes to how networks
work. Hopefully I can find a Network for dummies book. I am reading these
tutorials and they are using all these networking terms that I am unfamliar
with. Thanks again for the help.

"Frankster" wrote:

> Change your wireless server to secure. They'll still see it (as you can see
> theirs and yours) but will not be able to connect. Anyone can connect to any
> unsecured wireless.
>
> As for "seeing" your files. Probably not. At least not easily. But why let
> them attempt to see them by running your wireless in unsecured mode?
>
> You should have a choice of WEP or WPA for security. Choose WPA. It is the
> latest and better of the two. If you don't have the WPA choice, WEP will
> work too.
>
> -Frank
>
> "Lost MOM" <Lost (E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:5444AC9F-918F-4B45-8D9E-(E-Mail Removed)...
> >I am new to home networking. I have been reading tutorials on how to secure
> > my home network, but I am still at a complete lost. So if someone can
> > explain this to me in newbie's terms that would be great.
> > My first PC is a desktop that I connect to the internet throught a dsl
> > modem that my isp Verizon sent me. I have it hooked up through the
> > ethernet
> > plug into the phoneline. It is made by Westell. This has been the only PC
> > my
> > family has used. This past Christmas I bought my husband and One daughter
> > a
> > laptop and the other daughter got a desktop. This was in a way my present
> > too
> > as I wanted to be able to use my PC. Anyway when they started there
> > laptops
> > they used the wireless network wizard and they were online. Now my
> > daughters
> > desktop needed a wireless network adapter which I bought and hooked up. I
> > got
> > her connected through the wireless setup wizard too. When it went to show
> > all
> > connecton it listed 3 different connection all of which said unsecure. I
> > picked the one I think was ours. Well I got to thinking if my neighbors
> > signal is unsecure and I can get theirs than of course than can pick up on
> > mine too. How do I fix this? When I first set up the wireless I never used
> > the USB connecton to transfer settings like it says to do in the wizard. I
> > know that the network is working because I can use the printer that is on
> > the
> > first PC from the laptop. I am just worried that my neighbors can pick up
> > my
> > shared files too
>
>
>

Might also want to turn off "broadcast SSID" after you change the name to
something other than the router default. Hardcore hackers can still find
your network but that will stop casual snoops from attempting to enter your
net.

If you have a wireless router, you need to enter the IP address of the
router which depend on manufacturer but will be something like
http://192.168.1.1. Change the default password to something personal to
prevent others from accessing your router. Change the SSID to something
also personal and turn off broadcasting. You'll want to enable encryption
like WPA and then select a unique key or passphrase.