Posted by Vince on 11/4/2009, 3:31 pm, in reply to "Re: What is WPA?"
68.144.14.16
G-> [ I would have no idea how to encrypt anything :-) ]
Nobody does. Encryption happens quietly behind the scenes. Your computer does it by itself. You'd be surprised at how MUCH encryption you are ALREADY using. If you do online banking or any sort of e-commerce on the internet ....... or even email online .... it's already using encryption. It's not the SAME encryption as a router uses but the process is essentially the same.
G-> [ And why do I have to have a password ...when and where would I use it? ]
You use this password ONLY to SET UP the router's wireless. After it's set up you forget about it completely. You never need it again ...except for adding new computers to your home network. This is a password which ....... you can always read if/when you access your router's setup. So you need never worry about forgetting it.
If you DO get a router, just let us know what brand and model you're planning to get and we can do the necessary research to guide you through the setup process.
G-> [ When I log onto a Net 54 discussion board I have a password and for personal things like my online banking ... ]
Yes, these passwords are for personal security when connected and ON LINE. They should never be the same either. My N54 password is always remembered by my browser because I'm not particularly concerned with that security. My banking password on the other hand? Whoaho ..... not on your LIFE would I even keep a record of it on my computer! That one is "sacred".
G-> [ So I would only need one like you suggested if I use encrypttion? ]
Yes, because ............ it IS the password which CREATES the encryption for wireless security. Don't worry too much about it. If you buy a router, we can give you a step-by-step on setting it up.
First of all, you would take it out of the box, plug it into the wall, unplug the clearwire modem from the back of your computer and plug that into the router's internet port. Then you would plug in a cable between one of the 4 other ports on the router, to the back of your tower where the clearwire modem had been plugged in. At this point, your computer would connect exactly as it had before. (Barring a MAC address clone, that is. The salesman should be able to tell you whether you need to clone the MAC address or not. If you do, it's also a very simple procedure).
Once your computer is connected successfully, you go into the router's control panel just the same as if it was a website!
On mine -a Linksys router- for example, I put
http://192.168.1.1/ into my firefox header and hit Enter. Immediately, it opens up a page, showing my router's control panel. Inside of that panel then, is where I do all the configuring and changing.
Don't worry about the complexity of that though, you won't need to configure anything immediately unless you are wanting to go wireless instantly. We can guide you through every step (or a website can ....... from which "we" would get the information ourselves anyway ... LOL).
-Vince
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