Edimax ADSL2+ help

Hi all

I bought the Edimax ADSL2+ router (AR-7084gA) to allow my daughter to connect to the internet on her laptop, started to set it up prior to going back to work some weeks ago and could not get it to work, anyway, my daughter managed to get it working saying that the program had not completed and was only half way through when I left it, so since then it is working fine, only thing is, we have no security set up on it and I cannot find any icons for it, nor even find any reference to the edimax at all anywhere on my PC, both the PC and the laptop are still connecting to the internet, the old modem is not even connected to the new wireless modem and I thought that I read somewhere that it had to be, in fact its not connected to anything at all, so need some help with this please, my internet provider is Talk Talk, my Operating system is windows XP Pro on the PC and Vista on the laptop, hope some can advise, thankyou.

 

First off you should download the user manual for your router which can be found Here as a zip file.
I will reference different pages in the manual for different operations.

To get to the configuration utility in your router, use your browser and type in 192.168.2.1 in the address bar.
This will get you to a sign in page for your router. (Default username is admin, default password is 1234.)
You should change this password. (Running the Quick Start wizard on pages 27 & 28 allows you to do this.)
To set up security on your wireless connection, (go to page 39 section 5.2.3), this can be accessed by selecting Interface Set up, Wireless tab.
Since you have a working connection on the laptop, I'm assuming all selections are at default values as shown in that section.
Any changes you make to the wireless connection at the router end will have to be duplicated on the laptop connection so it will be able to connect.
If the laptop is Vista, I would assume it has a wireless capability for the 802.11g standard. This can be changed under the access point settings to G only if you do not have any plans to put another computer on the wireless connection that does not support the g standard.

You can change the SSID value if you want to. (This is the name of the wireless connection that is seen when you are trying to connect to a signal.)
Leave the broadcast as enabled until you have a working connection and then disable the broadcast to prevent casual lookers from seeing the network. (This will not stop a determined hacker.)

The authentication is where you can decide what type of security encryption for your wireless connection. I would choose the WPA2-PSK as it is the most current and powerful and the laptop should support it. Using a long network key will help to keep things secure. When connecting the laptop, use the same key to access the connection.

The wireless MAC filter can be used also to help keep out casual intruders. The MAC would be the number assigned to the wireless adapter in the laptop.
Use the ipconfig /all command at a command prompt on the laptop. (Directions for this can be found Here. The Physical Address series of numbers is the MAC.)

Any changes you make should be recorded and filed in a separate place so if you add another wireless computer you have all the settings at hand.
A good guide for wireless security can be found Here.
Hope this helps.

 

Ibmest

Will follow your instructions, take care and thank you.

Regards
Pozzy