I am sure somebody is figuring out my Wi-Fi Password...?

Question

Almost every day I have to change my wifi pass word... When I change it, itnernet goes SOOO much faster... So i need to answers

How are they doing this ( i have a netgear router)

And how could I make my wifi signal weaker? ( so it won't reach my neighbors house?

Answer 1

Your neighbors could get in big trouble if they did do that and you found that out. But I would suggest making the password long and with different numbers and letters.

Answer 2

Are you using WPA or WEP encryption? Try using WPA encyrption, and a strong password. A strong password consists of numbers, letters (both lower and uppercase) and symbols (!,@,#,$, etc.).

Answer 3

what some people have already said... use multiple complex characters in your WPA password...

you can also try disabling your SSID broadcast on your wireless... and changing your IP address for your router to something different... enable MAC filtering also to prevent any unauthorized computers logging onto your wifi router... however this will produce alot of administrative overhead... whenever you have a friend over who wants to use the wifi etc... youll have to access the router, figure out their MAC address... type the MAC address into the table etc...

what you can do to check if someone else is using your router is check the logs of your router...

if someone else has logged onto your wifi you can see if DHCP has issued them an IP address... and see what their computer name is...

If no one has been issued a DHCP lease that is unauthorised to be on your network... then you can guarantee that the problem is connection orientated

Answer 4

You need to verify that your router can allow MAC filtering. This way you can filter just your machines to run off of your wireless network.

You should be able to get into your configuration page by opening up your browser and typing in 192.168.1.1    Your user name should be blank and password should be admin. Scroll through your tabs maybe under security and find the mac filtering option.  

Answer 5

try just shutting it off/unplug when your not using it and then only put back on when you need it. It would be inconveint but it would keep them from getting on it

Answer 6

I would recommend using  WPA or WPA2 encryption.  Next, in your routers settings see if there are options for viewing DHCP clients, and compare them to the mac addresses of any computers or devices that use the wireless.  If there are unauthorized users, you may want to consider filtering mac addresses of any stray computers or setting your router to only accept the addresses you exempt which would be your machines.

Answer 7

Because routers differ as to details, I can't be specific about how to accomplish these steps, but they're almost all done from within the router's administration web pages. Note: It’s best to do them from a computer cabled (even just temporarily) to the router rather than wirelessly, especially since wireless administration will be deactivated by step #1.

1.Deactivate wireless access to your router's administration web pages so only a computer connected via an Ethernet cable can reach them.  This won’t affect wireless use of the Internet, just wireless administration. Even if you don’t want to leave a computer connected via a cable, leave the cable there for when you need it.  Here are some horror stories of people who didn't:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?...

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?...

2.Turn off the SSID (network name) broadcast from the router.  There's no need to advertise your network's presence.  You're not running a hotspot; everyone who should be on your network should know its name.

3.Change your SSID from its current value -- radically.  Just hiding it with the previous step won't prevent people who already know its name from using it, and just adding a 1 to the end doesn't make it very difficult to guess.

4.Set up encryption with an encryption key.  The longer, the better. WPA (if your network and all your computers can support 802.11G) is better than WEP.  WEP is better than nothing.

5.Limit access to only the computers you want on the network via MAC filtering. (MAC refers to unique NIC (Network Interface Card) addresses, not Macintosh computers, and not IP addresses.)  This isn't a defense against hardcore freeloaders -- it's possible to fake MAC addresses -- but it keeps out casual interlopers.

6.Change the range of and/or limit the number of automatically assigned IP addresses (DHCP) to reduce the chance of extra users.  Again, hackers know what ranges routers come from the factory with.  Changing them makes it a little harder to hop on board.

Generally, to access your router’s administration pages, hook up a computer directly to the router and enter the router’s local IP address into a browser’s address window.  

Here's how to find your router's IP address:

1.Click on the Start button.

2.Click Run...

3.In the text box, type in  

cmd

and press Enter

4.A black "DOS box" window will pop up.  Type into it  

ipconfig  /all

and press Enter.

5.A bunch of seeming gibberish will fill the screen.  On the line next to "Default Gateway" your router's IP address should appear.

That should go far toward hardening your wireless network.