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I am on lockdown bitches!
Well, my wireless router is, anyway!
I wanted to secure my wireless router a few months ago and did the research on it, but I never got around to doing it. If you're not following me, by securing I mean setting a password for my network at home, so that no one in my apartment complex can steal my innernetz via the juicy wireless waves. I pay $43 a month to Comcast for the ability to get online quickly, and I don't want anyone yoinking the precious, precious download speeds.
I didn't catch anyone doing it (there's a freeware program called AirSnare that allows you to see if anyone is trying to get into your network to steal free internet), but I wanted to be safe.
A lot of people advocate running an open network and allowing whomever to access the wireless waves whenever they want. Me, I don't like people stealing my shit. And I don't want to run the risk of someone using my connection to download bad stuff.
I was reading Lifehacker.com yesterday, and they had yet another post about securing your network, and I decided I needed to do it.
I have a Linksys gateway, which is a modem and router combined. After reading all about it online, I shut off my Windows firewall and virus software, reset the router (because the default password wouldn't work), and tried to access it. It didn't work, so I had to call my brother the computer guru to help me.
Me: Stsve, I need help with this. I shut off the firewall, reset the router, but it still won't let me access the default IP address to get into the router's setup menu to change the password...
Steve: (yelling in the background) Why are you out of bed?
Harmony: I wanna glass of water. I'm hot.
Steve: You're hot because you have too many covers on. You already had water before you want to bed.
Harmony: But I neeeeeed it. Who you talkin' to?
Steve: Chuchi [an Americanized variation of the word "aunt" or "auntie" in Polish, ciocia, a word our family always used in our mixed Ukrainian/Polish/Slovak heritage]
Harmony: I wanna say hi to Chuchi...
Steve: Go back to bed!
Harmony: But...
Steve: Harmony Grace!
LOL. I had to wait a while for the computer guru to help. I got it figured out following Steve's instructions, which was basically flushing the DNS and doing a release and renew via the command menu. It sounds complicated but it really wasn't. That got me the right IP address of my router, and I was able to go into it and change the name of my network to a super sekkrit one.
For more information, check out Lifehacker's post about securing your home wi-fi network.
apatheticI wanted to secure my wireless router a few months ago and did the research on it, but I never got around to doing it. If you're not following me, by securing I mean setting a password for my network at home, so that no one in my apartment complex can steal my innernetz via the juicy wireless waves. I pay $43 a month to Comcast for the ability to get online quickly, and I don't want anyone yoinking the precious, precious download speeds.
I didn't catch anyone doing it (there's a freeware program called AirSnare that allows you to see if anyone is trying to get into your network to steal free internet), but I wanted to be safe.
A lot of people advocate running an open network and allowing whomever to access the wireless waves whenever they want. Me, I don't like people stealing my shit. And I don't want to run the risk of someone using my connection to download bad stuff.
I was reading Lifehacker.com yesterday, and they had yet another post about securing your network, and I decided I needed to do it.
I have a Linksys gateway, which is a modem and router combined. After reading all about it online, I shut off my Windows firewall and virus software, reset the router (because the default password wouldn't work), and tried to access it. It didn't work, so I had to call my brother the computer guru to help me.
Me: Stsve, I need help with this. I shut off the firewall, reset the router, but it still won't let me access the default IP address to get into the router's setup menu to change the password...
Steve: (yelling in the background) Why are you out of bed?
Harmony: I wanna glass of water. I'm hot.
Steve: You're hot because you have too many covers on. You already had water before you want to bed.
Harmony: But I neeeeeed it. Who you talkin' to?
Steve: Chuchi [an Americanized variation of the word "aunt" or "auntie" in Polish, ciocia, a word our family always used in our mixed Ukrainian/Polish/Slovak heritage]
Harmony: I wanna say hi to Chuchi...
Steve: Go back to bed!
Harmony: But...
Steve: Harmony Grace!
LOL. I had to wait a while for the computer guru to help. I got it figured out following Steve's instructions, which was basically flushing the DNS and doing a release and renew via the command menu. It sounds complicated but it really wasn't. That got me the right IP address of my router, and I was able to go into it and change the name of my network to a super sekkrit one.
For more information, check out Lifehacker's post about securing your home wi-fi network.
Ahem. I've done that. I'm one of those people who like other people's open networks. I don't use it to download pirated material though, nor massive files. I use their internet to check my mail and read fanfic.
That being said, I still advocate closed, secured networks, because it cuts down on YOUR liability, and of course, allows you to make sure your precious 15 mbps or whatever is ALL yours. :D