This world can sometimes be a scary place; the days of carrying mace and locking our doors is not nearly enough defense when trying to protect yourself from the bad guys nowadays.  The internet has generated an entire new species of criminal - criminals that will assume your identity in order to profit financially, hackers that will make your life as inconvenient and miserable as possible, for no other reason than simply because they can, or creeps that avoid being captured by Chris Hanson and his crew because they found a clever little way to access millions of images of child pornography by piggybacking through your Wi-Fi.

But not to fear, password protecting your Wi-Fi is probably one the easiest and most effective ways in protecting Wi-Fi from hackers. Below I created a step by step guide on how to password protect your Wi-Fi.  Since I’m currently visiting my mother in Kansas, I will be using her NETGEAR router for reference. If you are using a different brand router, note that most routers follow similar instructions.

Step 1: Use an Ethernet cable to connect your computer to any one of the LAN ports of your router (Your router should have provided you with a short cable for this purpose)

Step 2: Flip your router upside down (or view manual) to find your routers default information. Type the router’s IP address into the web browser. Example: http://www.routerlogin.net or it may read as numbers- http://192.168.0.1

Step 3:You should now be prompted by a Username and Password pop-up window. Most routers by default have the same login info. Username: admin, Password: password.

Step 4:Select “Wireless Settings”

Step 5: Rename your Wireless Network (highly recommended)

Step 6: Mode: Select “g and b”, or look for the option “mixed”. This option is helpful if you have old and new computers you would like to connect wirelessly. 

Step 7:Security Options: Select “WPA-PSK [TKIP] + WPA2-PSK [AES]”. 
Note: WPA provides better protection against hackers because you have a greater range of letters, A-Z when creating a Passphrase, whereas WEP only allows you to use A-F. TIP: NEVER SELECT WEP! It’s extremely outdated and easily hack able.

Step 8:Create your Passphrase. Tips: 1. The longer the passphrase, the better secure it is.  Having trouble thinking of a strong passphrase? Try the website, strongpasswordgenerator.com - it will generate a strong, secure and random passphrase for you. 2.  WRITE DOWN or KEEP NOTE of your network name, security option and passphrase - you will require them to connect wireless computers and devices to your network.

Step 9:FINISH BY CLICKING “APPLY” or “SAVE”

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