Wired desktop..wireless laptop??

chocdip

Hello..I've got a laptop that has a wireless card and a desktop that hasnt,or i dont think it has. Sorry not very tech minded. Anyway I have also just got a wireless router. Can I have the desktop as a wired one to the router and laptop wireless and are there any idiots guides that i can follow??...i'm really lost on this one. Any help much appreciated.

John_Gray

Yes, just as you suggest -- provided you have a long-enough ethernet patch cable to connect the desktop to the wireless router. "Directly connected" is the recommended way of setting up the wireless router, anyway!

John

chocdip

hi again...think i've done it, must have done as both seem to work ok..one last ?...on network connections by my name its got a padlock and says security enabled wireless network. is there anything else i need to do or is that ok to stop other ppl using connection. Thanks loads for help

Browntoa

just make sure you have a firewall and antivirus on both PC's and you are ok

chocdip

Thanks brown..I've got avg on both pc's ...sygate firewall on desktop but only windows firewall so far on lappy. When i tried to put sygate on lappy i couldnt connect to aol for some reason,even tho its ok on the d/top... I've read that routers have built in firewall but how do i know whether its on or not and where can i find out? jeez, wheres my headache pills...:rotfl:

Browntoa

it's in the admin panel for the router....somewhere lol

Chippy_Minton

chocdip wrote:

I've read that routers have built in firewall but how do i know whether its on or not and where can i find out?

Access the router's web configuration screen in your browser.

If you don't know how to access it, click Start - Run - type cmd - OK. In the new window that's just opened enter:

ipconfig

The IP address shown as the default gateway is your router. Enter that address in the address bar of your browser, e.g. 192.168.0.1.

chocdip

ok done that...got a small box up asking for user name and password etc..would that be the one i used for router....sorrryyyyy for being a pain,lol..

Chippy_Minton

What is the make and model number of your router?

Or look at this thread for default usernames and passwords for the popular makes --> http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=2471410&postcount=38

chocdip

Its netgear DG834G and i've got onto the page now..all double dutch to me tho..lol.

Under both inbound and out bound its got 'yes' under the enable tag..'any' under service tag..allow always / block always in action bit..Lan users its got 'any'...Wan user...'any' and 'never' for log.

Chippy_Minton

By default the DG834G is set to allow any programs on your computer which attempt to connect to the internet (outbound services) and block any programs which attempt to access your computer (inbound services).

Because of the default outbound rule, it's far easier to use a software firewall in addition which will warn you if a program attempts to connect to the internet, and leave the Netgear firewall rules as they are.

WAN users are computers on the internet. LAN users are computers on your local network, i.e. other computers connecting to your router.

If any computers are connecting to the router wirelessly make sure you enable wireless security (WPA-PSK encryption). If not, disable Wireless Access Point. All these settings are in Wireless Settings.