Dear Geek,
I am SO tired of my neighbors mooching off my wi-fi! It’s slowing down the upload of my stop-motion lego batman video to YouTube! This genius needs to be shared! Help me!
Sincerely,
Help! There’s leeches in the water!
Dear leeched,
Cheap neighbors can be a problem. Easiest solution for this problem, is to add a password to your wi-fi.
To do this, you first have to access your router. If you still have the manual or disk for your router, you can use it to find the router address. If not, the address can usually be found on the manufacturer’s website. The address should look something like “192.168.1.1”. If you type that address into a web browser, it will bring up a box. It should look something like this:
The default username and password is usually “admin” for both name and password, unless you have changed it before. If this is not the case, look up the name and password, again it will be either in the manual or on the router manufacturer website.
Now that you’ve accessed your router, there will be a “Security” option hidden in one of the tabs. Every router has it under a different selection, but it will most likely be under a “Wireless Settings” or “Security Settings” tab.
From here, you will have to choose an encryption type. This is usually under a drop down menu labelled “Authentication Type” You will be typically be able to choose from “WEP”, “WPA–PSK” (personal), or “WPA2-PSK”. If you have the option, WPA2 is a good choice, however, some older routers do not have this option, and some older devices will not be able to connect to a network that uses WPA2. This means it may not be a good option if you have quite a few older devices that are needing the internet.
Next, you might have the option to change the encryption. If it gives you the option (which it may not), change it to “AES”. This stands for “Advanced Encryption Standard” and is the best set of algorithms, making it way better than the older version “TKIP”.
Now, you get to name your network, or the SSID. Name it anything you’d like, from “C3P0’s MOM” to something more professional like “TbyD”, just as examples. It will also ask for a “Pre-Shared Key”. This is your password. It is important not to have something simple like “password”, because it is easy to guess, and your neighbors will be on your wi-fi in no time.
Only thing left to do now, is save the changes and re-set your router!
If you have a question for our Resident Geek, send it to: geek@tbyd.ca.
We’ll translate it from Geek-lish to English, so it actually helps!
Leave a Reply