Help needed to secure router

Looked through the relevant threads but nothing that really helps me, meaning I need a Router 101 course. Adrynalyne mentioned to: 'Use WPA, WPA-2 is better, with a completely random key, very long, with letters, numbers and symbols. turn off SSID broadcasting Use MAC filtering". I'm stuck pretty early on.
Two questions for now about my DI-524 router:

#1) My SSID is set to default, what would I change that to, no dropdown menu available. Is it as easy as changing it to 'off'?

#2) The router only has WEP as shown below, where do I find the key to enter?

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/2492/routertu9.jpg

I also noticed in my travels that MS has WPA and WPA2 downloads for XP. (forget Vista for now) Would these help me out in any way? Thanks for your time.

 

Which version? A, C, D, E
Should be on ID tag on bottom.

Look at this link also.
http://www.ezlan.net/Wireless_Security.html

 

It's an 'E', I saw that link in one of your earlier posts. It's still Martian to me ATM, I have to let it sink in. Thanks.

 

The SSID is just the name of your wireless network connection.
(For example mine is MUSTOPYVJ.) Just input a new one and you would connect to that with your wireless computer.
Turning off the SSID broadcast should be something in the wireless section. (Which after looking at the manual does not seem to be offered as an option.)
Also looking at the literature on the website there should be a setting for WPA Pre-Shared Key which isn't shown in the manual. That's stronger security than WEP.
You can assign a WEP key yourself if you want to.
I usually use the Windows wizard to set up my wireless.

 

Thanks for the help lbmest, looks like it's all working properly now and the router is passworded too.

 

So, you're using WEP? You never found WPA in your router admin panel?

 

The DI-524 does feature WPA wireless security. See http://support.dlink.com/faq/view.asp?prod_id=1506

 

Well duh, so that's WPA! I passed that 100 times. LOL Ya, to answer your PM, I have WEP setup with MAC filtering which seems to be working. I live in a rural area and there's only two neighbours so that should be OK. Thanks.

 

Yeah, WEP is probably OK for you at your location. I bought a Notebook PC in July and started wirelessly connecting to the Internet with it via my DI-524. At first, I had no wireless security enabled in the router. Then, one day, I noticed that Windows Vista showed 4 other networks besides mine. I soon realized it was picking up signals from nearby residences. And, presumably, they could detect my network. Indeed, I could logon to my router admin panel and see that one particular outsider had used my wireless signal to connect to the Internet. I then enabled WEP. But, just few days ago, I increased the security to WPA.

Getting WPA setup was a bit confusing at first. The router simply showed two options: WPA and WPA-PSK. But, Win Vista showed WPA2-Personal, WPA-Personal, WPA2-Enterprise, WPA-Enterprise, and two other choices which did not even have the letters WPA in the title. So, I wasn't sure how to match the options in the router to the options in Vista. Did some searching and found that WPA2-Personal should work, and it did.