Networking is an area that is abundant with a seemingly endless parade of in-house terms, specifications, abbreviations and settings that can confuse even tech savvy peeps. Securing a wireless network involves changing settings with the router and all PCs connected on the network. Therefore, to go over a router manual and decipher the lingo needs a clear head and free afternoon where Internet and network connection might be down for a little while.

Firstly, a word on why a wireless home or home/office network should be secured. An unsecured wireless network leaves the information on PCs that are connected to it vulnerable to theft. Any files and folders shared for convenience on a network are shared for theft as well. Secondly, a connection from an unknown source can leave you vulnerable to any viruses that unknown PC might have. And lastly, the suckers might use up all of your Internet download limit (if you have a limit) and bandwidth! You don't want your neighbor using your Internet connection to download dozens of movies that slows down your connection do you? Of course an open wireless network could lead to hackers maliciously deleting critical files from your system or trying to gain access to crucial private information like your Internet banking details, but thankfully for most home network scenarios it's only the casual low-grade hacker who wants free Internet access that you need to be concerned about.

The security measures that I will be exploring in this article all require that changes are made to the router's default settings via the router's web-based configuration utility. Grab your router manual and follow the instructions to access the web based configuration utility. It should be extremely similar to the instructions detailed below and the extra explanations and images might help you.

Plug a PC directly into the router - that is a network cable plugged into the LAN port in the back of the PC and the other end into the back of the router.

Go to Control Panel and double click Network Connections (above).

Right Click on Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) select Properties (highlighted above).

Find the default IP address, Gateway Address and Subnet Mask for the router, as listed in your router manual.

Select the Use the following IP address option and enter an IP address in the same range as the default router address. The IP address could for example be:

192.168.2.254

An IP address in the same range would fall between 192.168.2.200 and 192.168.2.255. That is - you only need to alter the final number set, otherwise known as an octet. 

Leave the gateway address.

Enter the subnet mask address that is specified in your manual.

Leave the DNS server address information.

Hit OK and restart.

Once your computer has rebooted fire up your Internet browser of choice (ie. Internet Explorer) and enter the default IP address into your browser address bar with no www or http preceding it. This will open a login screen. Check in your manual. There may be a default password or no password set by default. You are now ready to alter settings for your router.