How do i protect my wireless network?

[rclayton17]

I have been searching the forums and even on google but i haven't really found a good answer.
I have a dlink DI-624 wireless router with firmware 2.50.
We have a computer with win xp sp2 and I want to use a dlink dwl-122 wireless usb adapter with it.

I just don't know how protect my router so that my neighbors can't use it. I would like to put a password on it or whatever. When my sister comes she brings home her mac laptop so i would still like her to be able to use the network if she types in the right password.

What do i use? I read that wpa is the best but I'm not sure, and i don't even know what stuff to type in... there is radius server 1 ip 0.0.0.0 so i dont what ip to use and all that junk. Also, the usb adapter that i have dlink dwl-122 might not even support other things besides wep.

Thanks for your help.

[YeOldeStonecat]

WPA is the latest, and easiest to setup, security. Your wireless NICs that your clients use have to be able to support it also. Else, you're stuck with WEP.

Changing the default password to your router is important.

Another feature you can utilize is MAC access, only the computers with the MACs you enter can access the wireless.

You'll see change your default SSID mentioned often, but that's not really a security help...because if you don't disable SSID broadcast, then people pick it up anyways. Sometimes people have a hard time getting their wireless to work if they disable SSID, others have no problem

Getting even fancier, you can change your default IP scope for the network (meaning change to something other than the common 192.168.0.XXX or 192.168.1.XXX)...make it something like 192.168.23.XXX...and disable DHCP on your LAN.

[Respice]

Also with either WEP or WPA-PSK (Pre-Shared Key) you should use a long passphrase. A short key for WEP can be hacked in minutes, literally. I recommend WPA as YOS mentioned. Use AES encryption if you have a choice between it and TKIP. Always administrate your router through it's SSL web service. Most have either http or https. use https. Mainly because you don't want to send your router config password through the air using http (clear-text) . Anyone sniffing the traffic just got access to your router.