How do you stop people from accessing your wireless internet?

Question

I'm not sure if people have access to my internet and using my internet, how do I set it up on the computer with a password so that other users in my area cannot use my internet? I have a Toshiba L600 series laptop with windows vista. I can go to manage area network connections but cant find a way!!! Thank you!

Answer 1

The best ways to do it are a bit "techno" but they're not as hard as you think. The first step is to find the user manual for your router, either the one that came with it, or on-line on the manufacturer's website. Here are the things you should look into:

SSID Broadcasting: You want to turn this off. SSID Broadcasting sends out the name of your wireless network for devices to find it. If it's turned off, then you need to know the name of the network before being able to connect to it. (Turn it off, change the name, now only you know it).

Encryption: You want to enable this using (in order of preference) either WPA2, WPA, or WEP (Use the best one your devices, ie laptop, desktop, videogame consoles, can connect to). This is like adding a password to your wifi network.

MAC Address Filtering: Every single wifi wireless device has what is called a MAC Address, which is kind of like a name or ID. If you use MAC Address Filtering, you can choose to either only allow specific devices to connect to your network, or block specific ones.

Ideally you would take all three of these steps, but any of them will get you an extra layer of privacy and security.

Answer 2

You set it up on the router rather than your computer. (of course you use the computer to do it)

Usually u use your web browser to access your router by typing in it's address. Your router manual will tell you what the address is, as well as the default username and password to get into it.

Then the simplest thing will be to turn on the encryption . Basically all you will need to do is think up a password and the router will use that to encrypt the wireless signal so no one else can log on to it without the password.

Answer 3

Checkout http://www.geeksjunction.com/network%20s... to secure your wireless netwotrk.

Answer 4

Setup Mac filtering and or WPA. If you need help in doing this or have any more questions check out http://www.nicklockard.com for more help

Answer 5

Protect it with WPA

- http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/winxp...