Need technical help/home wireless setup

[BCGroup]

I know I read a thread on this, but I searched and couldn't find it, so maybe it's on the old board and I can't even find those archives anymore. I have a desktop computer (Compaq if it matters), cable modem, and a Linksys router. I just bought a HP laptop, and I can access it through the router. But, it is unsecured. I know there is a way to secure it (I also don't want my neighbors piggybacking onto my connection). Can anyone help? Thanks in advance.

[TNTDevil]

I know I read a thread on this, but I searched and couldn't find it, so maybe it's on the old board and I can't even find those archives anymore. I have a desktop computer (Compaq if it matters), cable modem, and a Linksys router. I just bought a HP laptop, and I can access it through the router. But, it is unsecured. I know there is a way to secure it (I also don't want my neighbors piggybacking onto my connection). Can anyone help? Thanks in advance.

You need to access your router via your Linksys setup (usually a browser-based interface) and set up either a WEP key or a WPA-SPK security key.

Once you have either one set up, you will need to propigate it to your various computers.

[billybreen]

You need to access your router via your Linksys setup (usually a browser-based interface) and set up either a WEP key or a WPA-SPK security key.

Once you have either one set up, you will need to propigate it to your various computers.

What he said. Your router is probably set up at 192.168.1.1, so your router configuration page should be available here. The web interface is fairly nice -- there should be a menu at the top with an item named 'Wireless.' When you click on that, you'll see a submenu with an item named 'Wireless Security.' That's where you specify the security type.

Also, the old archive is offline. Enough time had passed that it wasn't requested much anymore, and I no longer had anywhere to host it.

[BCGroup]

I understand completely about the old board. Between the two responses, I think I've made progress. I put in a password, and I enabled the secure access. But now on my laptop, it doesn't show the router. Before, it showed it as a unsecured connection (as well as someone else's secure one). Now I only get the other one. I've shut down, unplugged the router and modem, then plugged them back in and restarted everything. Am I missing something? Do I have to do something on the laptop too?

[BCGroup]

Another shut down and rebooting seems to have done the trick! Thank you so much. Now, if I can just uninstall all the junk I don't want on this laptop.

[DevilAlumna]

Another shut down and rebooting seems to have done the trick! Thank you so much. Now, if I can just uninstall all the junk I don't want on this laptop.

A humble suggestion -- reinstall the operating system from scratch. It'll take less time to patch and update drivers, than to uninstall all the various bloatware; and it'll likely be more stable.