A Real-World Example

Explain Twice, Succeed Once!

I'm going to explain setting up security here twice. The first time I'll explain it stepby-step, with all the 'whys' and 'what this means' in place, but without using any particular system as an example. Then I'll go through it again, with screen shots for the extremely popular LinkSys BEFW11S4 Residential Gateway and Orinoco Gold PC card, but without the background advice and side comments. I'm doing it this way to keep the general principles separate from the details that are specific to a particular make and model of Wi-Fi hardware.

If you have hardware different from what I use in the examples, you'll have to follow along with its manufacturer's documentation. If that documentation puzzles you, don't feel bad-virtually all Wi-Fi documentation I've seen so far has been terrible. (The Linksys documentation is clearly written by someone for whom English is a second-or perhaps third-language.) Read the following sequence of steps first, so that you'll have a sense for what you're actually doing, and why. If you understand that, working through illiterate or outdated documentation will be easier.

One more thing before we start: This should be obvious and simple common sense, but you must configure WEP from the machine connected to your access point or residential gateway via cable. Turning on WEP at the access point will instantly break any wireless connections to Wi-Fi client adapters. Don't embarrass yourself.

With that caution, let's get to work.