How to protect my wireless network???

Hello. I have had a wireless network set up for some time now, but it has been unprotected up to this point. It is entirely possible that people are stealing wireless access from the network. I am not very good with networking. How would I go about protecting this network? All computers in the home are using Windows XP. Thanks.

 

Check this link out.
http://www.ezlan.net/Wireless_Security.html

 

Thanks, but is there anything I can do within the Windows environment like maybe password protect the WAN? Does Windows have any options to protect it, per se? Thanks.

 

The Wireless connection is in the Air, people can intercept the signal from the air.

Windows can not know whether it was intercept or not.

So the only way to deal with it is to encrypt the signal. It can be still intercepted but it is useless because it is encrypted.

The encryption is done between Windows and the Router, thus both have to be set to support it.

From the weakest to the strongest, Wireless security capacity is.

No Security
MAC______(Band Aid if nothing else is available).
WEP64____(Easy, to "Brake" by knowledgeable people).
WEP128___(A little Harder, but "Hackable" too).
WPA-PSK__(Very Hard to Brake ).
WPA-AES__(Not functionally Breakable)
WPA2____ (Not functionally Breakable).

Note 1: WPA-AES the the current entry level rendition of WPA2.

Note 2: If you use WinXP and did not updated it you would have to download the WPA2 patch from Microsoft. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/893357

The documentation of your Wireless devices (Wireless Router, and Wireless Computer's Card) should state the type of security that is available with your Wireless hardware.

All devices MUST be set to the same security level using the same pass phrase.

Therefore the security must be set according what ever is the best possible of one of the Wireless devices.

I.e. even if most of your system might be capable to be configured to the max. with WPA2, but one device is only capable to be configured to max . of WEP, to whole system must be configured to WEP.

If you need more good security and one device (like a Wireless card that can do WEP only) is holding better security for the whole Network, replace the device with a better one.

Setting Wireless Security - http://www.ezlan.net/Wireless_Security.html

The Core differences between WEP, WPA, and WPA2 - http://www.ezlan.net/wpa_wep.html

.

 

Here is a very good read, and yes it can be stolen if not at least a password key.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_security