HOW-2

Everything you need to know when you don't.

 

Hide that wireless signal!

 People find it entertaining to turn their laptop's or desktop's on and have the computer recognize all their neighbors wireless signals. Well really that's no laughing matter. Its bad enough that its extremely easy to hack a WEP encoded network, let alone have a network screaming out to everyone's computer that its available for intrusion. You can make your home network a little more secure by making sure these 2 steps are taken.

In every router there is an IP address that you can enter in your browser like Internet Explorer, and access your home routers settings. Typically by default that IP address is either 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 depending on the manufacture. You will be prompted for a user name and password, enter it now. By default it is a blank username and password is "admin".

• Go to your routers wireless tab.
  
• We are looking for a setting that says "Wireless SSID Broadcast".
  This is the setting that allows your network name to be available for anyone to see. Un-checking this setting will prevent your network from popping up on anyone's PC that is in the range of its signal.
• You are your own network admin and you know your own network's name. Take note of your networks name so when you add another computer to your network you can manually enter the network name.
• Save the setting and close your browser.
  Congrats! You just made it harder to be hacked!