[Madison]

Hi all,

Okay, finally overcame my fear of screwing up, and hooked my cable modem up to my new Linksys Wireless-G router and bam, I'm online. Now, do I need to set up some kind of password or something? When I open the Internet Connect panel, under the Airport tab, it shows me connected to Linksys, the signal strength is good, and it says I'm connected. However, under the 802.1x tab, it says idle, is that only active when another computer is connected to the router? Am I screwing something up? Help, I know NOTHING about this stuff. Thanks in advance.

Tom

[C.J. Moof]

Yes, setting up a password would be a very good idea. You do this by setting it up in the router first. Go to http://192.168.1.1 and log in- default Linksys settings are user of root and password of admin.

First, go change that user/pass pair to anything else. Never, ever leave a router up with the default configuration.

Second, turn on wireless security. On my Linksys (with 3rd party firmware, so it may not be the same as yours) it's under Wireless, then Security. you'll see a pop-up menu with various flavors of wireless security. WEP is the most universally used, but it's also not very good. (but better than none). A WPA pre-shared key is your better choice.

Once the router is set with that pre-shared key, when your laptop asks to log in, it will need to provide that same key- you'll get a dialog box for it.

Don't worry about screwing up- that's why there's a reset button. It happens to all of us sooner or later.....

[Madison]

How do I change the login to the Linksys setup site?

[C.J. Moof]

Mine is under administration: Management, it's the router password. You don't get to change the user, just the pass. Remember, I've got 3rd party firmware, so I can't be sure the Linksys default is identical to this.

With WPA enabled this isn't as critical as it is on an unsecured access point, but a good idea nonetheless. It's comical how many access points one can just connect to and own.

[ghporter]

Always change the admin password. Always, no matter what other security you've implemented.

I'm assuming you have a WRT54G router, but the process is similar for all of Linksys' wireless router products. Go to 192.168.1.1 and log in using the default password. Now go to the Administration tab. There you'll see the options to change the router's local access password. Use a GOOD one, not some word found in a dictionary, and one that contains numbers and letters (and I think the box will also accept punctuation-use some of that too). A good password will look like gibberish, and that's good. Write down the password you'll use BEFORE you change it in the router. Once it's changed, file paper with the new password somewhere safe.

You'll also want to disable "remote management." Trust me, you DON'T want someone "managing" your router remotely.

Finally, these options are in the router's manual. On page 14, the first page of instructions for configuring the router, it says under the Management entry:

Click the Administration tab and then the Management tab. The Router’s default password is
admin. To secure the Router, change the Password from its default.

That's kind of straightforward to me.

[mellymel_va]

thx