Wireless security

[jcmack]

Sorry for what will appear as a basic/dumb question. I live across the street from a large university. Because of the proximity of the school and students living in the neighborhood, I pick up a lot of wireless signals on my laptop. As I result I've always hard wired my seldom used LT to the router. If I set the router up for WEP, do I use the generated code for access, or the original word I keyed in to generate that hex code. Windows 7 Ultimate.

Thanks, Jim

[Geek-9pm]

For WEP a ten digit hex code is all your need.
Here is an example:
B5C6D7E8F9
WEP is not very secure.

[jcmack]

Geek-9pm: Thanks for info/response

Jim

[Hig]

As said, WEP isn't very secure, so use WPA if you can.

Also, with your proximity to the University it may be an idea to disable the SSID broadcast (if you can) This basically means that people will have to type in the name of your router before they can try and connect (So will save from people accidentally trying to connect)

[jcmack]

Hig: Thanks for info. I'll try it. I loaded WIN 7 on an old laptop. Right now I have 2 routers 1 wired, 1 wireless. My 2 desktops (XP) are on a separate network plugged into the wired only router. This is what I'm on now and use 99% of the time. When I break out the laptop I PHYSICALLY swap the patch cable from the DSL modem to the wireless router. I know this sounds stupid and or cumbersome. The laptop is just a "learning experience". I don't use it for e mail or anything other than trying to figure out WIN 7. Swapping routers keeps those pesky college people from accessing my desktops via wireless. The laptop is never networked to the desktops. I've been doing XP since it came out but never tried Vista, so I'm way behind.