First, connect to the netgear with an Ethernet cable.
Then, open up a terminal and type "ifconfig"+ENTER and get the IP address that has just been assigned to you. It should be 192.168.something.something
Then, open a browser and type
http://192.168.something.1 and enter, which should take you to your netgear admin page.
Then, set the encryption from WEP to WPA2+PreSharedKey or WEP2 Personal, and set a preshared key. Use more than 8 characters, use upper and lower case. Use a $peci@l character or two. password sucks, P@$$w0rd sucks less. Something specific to YOU will work better.
Also, go to the advanced page and look at your current software version. Then go to the netgear.com support page and make sure that you are at the latest/greatest version for your router. If not, download and update.
Then, disconnect the ethernet cable, try to join the WLAN, and be happy ;-)