How to change the setup in a router

Hello everyone.
I bought a Macbook a few weeks ago. Before I had a Emac connected wireless to a Linksys 54-G router. What I would like to do is to change the setup of the wireless, in that way my new macbook will be the main computer. Also, I would like to make it more secure. Right now is open to everybody. And in the last two days the airport didn't connect properly and a windows popup saying "192.xxx.x.xxx in use by 00.04.xx:xx:xx:xx, DHCP server 192.xxx.x.x." . I am wondering if somebody is taking over my wireless connection. I am worry to be honest.
Thank you very much in advance.

Alex

P.S. My apologies for my English.

emelki1968 said:

Hello everyone.
I bought a Macbook a few weeks ago. Before I had a Emac connected wireless to a Linksys 54-G router. What I would like to do is to change the setup of the wireless, in that way my new macbook will be the main computer. Also, I would like to make it more secure. Right now is open to everybody. And in the last two days the airport didn't connect properly and a windows popup saying "192.xxx.x.xxx in use by 00.04.xx:xx:xx:xx, DHCP server 192.xxx.x.x." . I am wondering if somebody is taking over my wireless connection. I am worry to be honest.
Thank you very much in advance.

Alex

P.S. My apologies for my English.

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You have good reason to be worried. Not only is it likely that one of your neighbors is leeching off of your wireless network, you're also transmitting all of your sensitive information (credit card numbers, personal info, etc) in plain text over the airwaves, open to interception by anyone!

Your manual covers how to turn on wireless security. You should enable WPA or WPA2 if it's available. To access setup, connect to the router with an ethernet cable. Open a web browser and type 192.168.1.1 in the address bar. You will be prompted for username and password. I believe the default username is blank and the password is password (also try linksys and admin, or whatever password you configured during setup).

You should do this right away. If you live in a densely populated area, chances are someone is already "borrowing" your internet connection. This may not seem like such a bad thing on the surface, but it will be if they're using it for nefarious purposes like hacking, or downloading files that could be questionable to law enforcement - that sort of thing is directly traceable to you.

I tried what you told me, but when I go to the airport I still see linksys, even though I changed the name. Is there a possibility to turn it off?

emelki1968 said:

I tried what you told me, but when I go to the airport I still see linksys, even though I changed the name. Is there a possibility to turn it off?

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That's your SSID - and it's OK to broadcast it, providing that you have some form of security turned on (encryption, like WPA).

Thanks.
Well, Now I have the linksys and a new one -under another name- where I can see it is locked. I used WPA2 for this one, but still it looks like people can connect through linksys. I don't know how to completely change the setup for the router.

emelki1968 said:

Thanks.
Well, Now I have the linksys and a new one -under another name- where I can see it is locked. I used WPA2 for this one, but still it looks like people can connect through linksys. I don't know how to completely change the setup for the router.

Click to expand...

I don't understand. You installed another router in addition to the existing one?

cwa107 said:

I don't understand. You installed another router in addition to the existing one?

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I think he means he sees others wireless network in the list.

mojonandha said:

I think he means he sees others wireless network in the list.

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If that's true, then there are multiple wireless networks in your area. You need to positively identify yours, change the SSID to something unique, and make sure that WPA2 is turned on. All of this needs to be performed *on your router*. If you don't know how to do this, you need to reference the manual that came with your router. If you still have questions, please supply the exact model number of your router and I'll do my best to walk you through the process.