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Old Feb 23, 2007, 09:58 PM
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jlove973 jlove973 is offline
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Member Since: Oct 2006
Location: I think I\'m in the US?
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Well, chances are that the laptop will already be configured for DHCP (obtain an IP address automatically) - same for DNS.
So it should auto-detect your wireless router and connect automatically.

The issue that needs to be addressed here is one of security. The strongest WEP encryption is pretty much useless (keys can be cracked in a matter of minutes by war-dialing programs). The only truly secure options are either WPA (which isn't very well supported by hardware manufacturers right now), or the manual assigning of MAC addresses via the router configuration panel. MAC addresses uniquely identify your network card to the world.

What you'll need to do is obtain the MAC address of your computers (PC and laptop) network cards, and then setup your router to accept connections only from these MAC addresses.

To find your MAC address on a computer that is running Windows, perform the following:

1. Click on Start, and goto Run.
2. Type "Command" and hit enter.
3. A command-line (DOS) window will appear.
4. Type "ipconfig -all" and hit Enter.

Your MAC address will be listed as "Physical Address" - please write this series of numbers and letters down.

Once you have your MAC addresses, you'll need to go into your wireless router's configuration. The steps required will vary per router, but usually you can access it by opening Internet Explorer (IE) and going to http://192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1, depending upon your router's make/model.
Once you login to your router's configuration panel, you'll need to navigate to your Connection or Firewall settings area and list your MAC addresses as being the only accepted connections.
This will prevent any connection attempts to your network from machines other than those listed.

This may sound like a bit of work, but please understand that if this isn't done, your wireless network is basically wide-open for usurping by any war-dialer or close-by neighbor.

Lastly, please make sure that both your PC(s) and laptop are in the same Workgroup - This will help when it comes to sharing files (if you are so inclined to do so in the future).
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