How To Make Your Wireless Secure

Linking your home computers together in a network lets you share internet access, files including documents and music, and even accessories such as a printer, but you'll need to put up with network cables draped everywhere, or find a lot of furniture under which to hide them. At least, that's how it used to be, but these days it's cheap and easy to set up a Wi-Fi network, letting you to do away with the cables and clutter.

Although you'll often hear people talk about 'wireless broadband', you don't need broadband to make a wireless network, or a wireless network to use broadband. The confusion arises because most modem/routers are designed to act as the centrepoint of a home network, connecting to your broadband service, and linking your computers together in a wireless network.

So how do you do it? First of all you'll need to make sure that your router has Wi-Fi built in - look for a short aerial sticking out of the back, or check in the user guide if you're not sure. You'll also need at least one computer with Wi-Fi support - this is still rare on desktop computers, but you'll find it on almost every laptop computer sold in the last four years, including portable Apple Macs.

Even if some of your devices connect wirelessly, you can connect other computers without Wi-Fi to the same network using a cable. Getting rid of data cables is a great way to declutter your home, so if you have a desktop PC you could always spend a few tens of pounds on a USB Wi-Fi adaptor and connect it without wires.

You can also connect a Playstation 3 or Nintendo's Wii to a Wi-Fi network, but you'll need a cable or a special wireless adaptor to connect an Xbox or Xbox 360. Follow our guide to setting up a home network for more ideas and tricks.

Wire-free working

To start with, you'll need to create your own wireless network. Do this by logging into your router's web configuration page, or running its setup program - you'll find details of exactly how to do this in its 'quick start' or 'setup' guide, along with the necessary login and password. Look for a 'wireless setup' or 'wireless settings' link, and click it.

The exact settings you'll need to change depend on the make of your router, but you'll need to give your network a name (sometimes called an SSID), and select the type of security that you want. WAP is the safest choice, but some older devices (such as the Nintendo DS handheld console) only support the less secure WEP standard. We don't recommend that you create an 'open' or 'unencrypted' network - anyone will be able to connect to it - but make sure you don't forget the password (or 'network key') you choose. You may also be able to change other settings, such as the network speed or the wireless channel, but we'd recommend leaving the default settings unchanged.

Once you've applied your changes and allowed the router to restart if it needs to, you should find that your wireless network is up and running. If, after rebooting, your router's wireless status LED isn't lit, go back into the wireless settings page and make sure that any option to 'enable radio' or similar is switched on. If you're still having problems, check your router's setup guide for troubleshooting help, or ask a friend with internet access to look on the maker's support web page.

Well connected

With your network set up successfully, all that remains is for you to connect your computers and other devices to it. In Windows XP or Vista this should be very easy - a small bubble will appear in the bottom right of your screen letting you know that your computer has detected a Wi-Fi network. If it doesn't, double-click on the wireless icon at the bottom right of the screen, and select "View Wireless Networks". Look for the name of your network and double-click it - now all you should need to do to connect is to enter the password or network key you set earlier.

It's also easy to connect an Apple Mac. Just click the Wi-Fi icon in the top-right of the menu bar and choose your network name from the list. Again, you'll need to provide the password you set earlier.

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