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You need to encrypt your router's wireless. Use WPA-PSK and use a passphrase that's both long and not in any dictionary. If your key looks like an infant banged on your keyboard, you're on the right track. There is some overhead when using encryption but it's not going to slow you down unless you're doing heavy duty file transfers and have old and slow equipment. Typical web surfing isn't really affected.
Do a speed test before you apply encryption, then after, you won't see but a minor hit if any.
As suggested use WPA or WPA2 if your devices support it, there are other measures you can add but good encryption will keep out the rifraf.
It can keep your out of legal trouble. Assume someone finds your 'open' wireless and they go online and upload or download a bunch of kiddy porn. When the cops break down your door, you have absolutely no way of proving that it was not you that was all over the kiddy porn sites uploading and downloading.
After absolutely nothing is found on your computer, and thousands of dollars in legal fees, you may prove it was not you, or at least create enough doubt that charges are dropped, but you will have already been on the evening news as a child porn suspect, lost your job, and had your life trashed.
Is this likely? Probably not, but who are your neighbors? What about the nephew or grandson of the nice elderly couple down the street that visits for a weekend? Live in an apartment complex where literally hundreds of people are within range? It's not that someone can 'use' your internet connection, but what they do while using it. It will be "your IP address" that is tracked and used to identify you.
The sicko's that are into this type of stuff know that everything done on the internet can be tracked, so they will look for open wireless so they can exchange their sick stuff using your connection while remaining completely anonymous.
So even if encryption does cause a small slow down, does that really matter?
Ok I only surf the net-
we have a desk top I use and a lap top my wife uses.
We have comcast high speed and a netgear wireless hooked up to it for her lap top.
You need to encrypt your router's wireless. Use WPA-PSK and use a passphrase that's both long and not in any dictionary. If your key looks like an infant banged on your keyboard, you're on the right track. There is some overhead when using encryption but it's not going to slow you down unless you're doing heavy duty file transfers and have old and slow equipment. Typical web surfing isn't really affected.
LMAO! But this comment is spot on!
What is the model of your Netgear wireless? You can go to their website and likely find a manual that will walk you through adding encryption to the particular model you have.
Why? It doesn't stop anyone from eavesdropping if you're not encrypted. It's trivial for a hacker to clone a mac address off the air. And if you're using good encryption, it adds nothing to your security. And when you go to add a new device a year after setting up your router, you'll pull your hair out trying to figure out why it's not working until you remember you enabled mac address filtering.
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