Word: router
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When setting up your router, be sure to pick a unique password and SSID (service set identifier, the name for your network). Keep WEP (wired equivalent privacy, a security feature) disabled for now. (We'll get to it in Step...
Remember, you need to install wireless adapters in every computer that doesn't have wi-fi built in (except, of course, the PC that's already connected to the router by cable). Use the CDROM that came with each card. And keep the SSID consistent...
...find that you can't venture as far away from the router as you'd like with one of your networked notebooks, experiment with the router's placement. Indoor range should be about 300 ft., but will be significantly reduced by walls, hallways and other barriers. If you are getting interference from a baby monitor or microwave, try changing the channel (a minor tweak in your router's basic settings). If your cordless phone is a problem, get one that automatically looks for a clear channel or, better yet, one that uses the 5.8-GHz band...
...prevent unwanted visitors, you need to enable the WEP security feature on your router. It's a flawed technology, but enable it anyway. You'll be asked to make up a pass phrase and generate a WEP key, a string of letters and numbers you will need to type into each machine on your network (after clicking on the networking icon and going to Network Properties). Friends who come over with their laptops will need that WEP key too, so write the key down and tape it to the back of your router...
Elsewhere, Braveheart-style battles rage between the IT department's obsession with security and the workers' demand for freedom. Slowly, freedom is winning--good news for equipment manufacturers like Cisco Systems, which recently announced it would acquire top wireless-router maker Linksys for $500 million in stock. "Once people have wireless inside their offices," says Frank Keeney, co-founder of the Southern California Wireless Users Group, "they never want to go back. It's a tremendous productivity tool...