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You should obviously secure your wireless router if you are using one on your home network. Ok that’s great but how do you do that? Well it’s simple. First gain access to your router. Generally you can do this through a browser by typing in its IP address. Usually the wireless router’s IP address is 192.168.1.1. Consult your router’s manual for address of your particular model. Now that you are in there are several options based on how secure you want it. The first would be to secure the connection. Most likely there will be a wireless security section or tab. In there you can choose your encryption type and give it a password along with giving the connection a broadcast id. Broadcast id is just a name for the connection.

To add further security I recommend not broadcasting the id. Generally this is an option that is yes/no or a check box. Uncheck this box and remember the name. This will keep people from scanning for your broadcast id when trying to connect. To be really secure you can filter the connection by MAC address. A MAC address is a serial number assigned to your network card that is unique. You can set the router to only allow connections from that MAC address, this way even if someone cracks your password and guesses your broadcast id they will still not connect because they do not have your MAC address. Normally there is a filter section in the router where you would enter the MAC address. To obtain the MAC address check the network card settings on the computer that will be using the connection.

Matt Christensen http://www.mattchristensen.net

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