Hello
I have a Netgear router at my desktop and a Netgear card in my lap top. All is running well.
I wish to change my passphrase and Netgear support is difficult to access and quite vague.
In the section that says security options I have my passphrase which is x amount of digits. I don't know how much I should divulge on the web so am beginning the thread with care.
There are many choices like WEP, WPA, WPA-PSK [TKIP], WAP.....etc
If I want to change this passphrase, will I need to know how to make other changes in the router and or card so they will communicate.
All runs well now but I think changing passwords now and then is a good idea.
Thank you

Certainly don't say what your passwords on the web at ANY time, no one has any need to know what these are, anyone asking for them should be treated with caution, because I can't think of a single reason someone else would need this info unless directly at your PC doing something for you, and even then if at your house they should ask you to enter this looking away while you do, or at a store they should advise changing it straight away when you get home.

Now when choosing a password you need to take care, do NOT use family\pet names, nor birthdays\anniversary's etc, too easy for anyone who knows you to guess these, also to make a strong password you need to vary them, use upper and lower case, add some numbers and characters, obviously you need to ensure you remember what this pass is, or you could be locked out of your own system.

Back to the actual query, those are various types of encryption, it's always best to use the most secure encryption your hardware can handle, I believe I'm right in saying it's WPA2 currently, so as long as both the router, and the card(s) are capable of using this encryption, then that is the one to use, obviously for peace of mind note the settings as they are before you touch it, then worst case you can revert after, but simply changing the pass shouldn't make any difference, you just need to tell the card the new pass and you should be good to go, hope this helps.

Some good reading here on WPA / WPA-PSK: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/n...n_03july28.mspx

Once you make the change in the router, the next time you try to connect to the internet from your computer you should be prompted for a password or pass phrase.

I guess my quick first question is, ater I change the passphrase on the desk/router, when I boot up the lap, when do I make the passphrse there?
I have never touched these settings so I cannot envision it.
The passphrase the tech gave me when under tech warranty looks like a phone number,something they probably generically give out.
Next I need to know how to change the ssid to a inique one b/c now it is my name whic isn;t to secure.
I'll be back and thank you.

I assume you will be using Wi-Fi ?
Basically think about how you very first made that connection, all you do is exactly the same thing again, I suggest deleting the current connection 1st on the laptop, it will save confusion, what you will see may vary from my directions here, but it should still be easy to make out what you have to do.

To begin click on Start - Network Connections, on the left (in classic mode anyway) you will probably see a "Manage Connections" link, click on that and you should see the existing connection, delete that, now go back to Network Connections (if needed) and again on the left there is another link that says "Make New Connection" just click on that, it should search for available connections then list them, there may be several depending how many neighbours within range have Wi-Fi, look for your connection, it should be the strongest one, but if you know the name of it you will see it easily (take notice of the old connection name).

Thats it really, click on your connection, then click on the button that says "Join" after which it will warn of it being encrypted, just enter the new pass and click connect, job done, if you get a prompt saying something like save and always use this connection say yes, job done.

Now the reason I say about you maybe seeing different things is due to what is controlling this, these instructions are possibly windows options, it's been a few months since I've touched Wi-Fi so my memory is fading a bit, although the instructions are fine, the main thing you may face is if you are using the utility that came with the laptop\connection, it has a habit of locking the m$ method from being able to be used, so in essence you do exactly the same thing, only from within it's own application, this will probably become apparent by a message from m$ during the above saying it can't control the connection.
Should that happen do the same thing from the application directly rather than the m$ method, but with this you should be able to do this easily, hope it helps.

If I may exchange a couple of messages with you.
I thought I went to 192.168.1.1 and when admin and password came up I filled in the boxes and now have access to my router. It list everything. I thought it was from there that I first made changes at my desktop.
Then I would open the 'card' in the lap top and in there, create the same information I changed at the desktop.
The above is not what I should be lookng at?

Hello 8210
My last post was vague; is this any clearer?

I want to change both SSID and passphrase in my Netgear router WGR614 v9 to correspopnd with my wireless card WG511v2.
If I type 192.168.1.1 the router info is available to do so.
Question, once I change the information in the router, what do I do with the card in the laptop so it will recognize the changes?

Yeah NP's, and yes you log into the router from the desktop via an ip address as you describe, different makes may use different ip addresses but the procedure is the same, log into the router, then change the user name\pass there, from then on you will need the new user name\pass to log into the router.
Now the card on the laptop is completely different, you are not trying to log into the router from the laptop, although if you were then you would use the procedure as you describe, but the router is the router no matter how you connect to it, so it can only be changed once (figuratively speaking), now after you do that you need to tell the laptop the new pass so it can then access the net through the router, and that is as I describe above.

I'm trying to picture your end goal here, and I suspect a cross over of what you hope to achieve, so heres hoping I can cover this to help clarify, the router is just that, it is what allows you to access the net, and changing the default pass is always advised to secure that router, and the net access, otherwise people with Wi-Fi outside could download all sorts on your net connection and you'd know nothing about it.

The laptops card is both as best I can understand, the card itself will have the same procedure to change the pass by logging into it from your browser, just like the router, changing that from the default will secure your laptop, but not from the net, from those trying to access your laptop, as opposed to your net, so it's kind of the same, but different at the same time if that makes sense ?
Thats my understanding of it anyway, so the router secures your net, but your laptop secures your laptop, but for the laptop to access the net you will still need to create the new connection telling it the new pass you have given the router as I described above, hope that clears things up a bit.

*edit
Just saw your follow up, see if this answers your query, feel free to ask further if needed, but making the pass in both the same does nothing to join them together, that still has to be done via make a new connection, and it's possible the system will not like having the same details on each device.

This post has been edited by 8210GUY: Sep 18 2009, 12:08 PM

OK, so after the router changes, should I then double click the card at the lap top and try to tell it the same thing I told the router or will I have to do something to establish connection other than that?
I don't know if I have to configure the card and if so, how. The how is the big part as I believe I have to tell the card something.

This post has been edited by Grampy Pete: Sep 18 2009, 12:13 PM

To secure the router, changing any known or default pass, change it by logging into it via the ip address in your browser, make sure you don't forget them, and save and exit, doing that secures the router from any external source(s), and secures your net from the same.

The card in the laptop has 2 uses, if that card has a known or default pass then just as the router, log into the card via it's ip address via it's browser and change it, this secures your laptop from external intrusion, but has nothing to do with net access.

To get the laptop to be able to use the net via your router once you change that code, you need to create a new connection (or edit the existing one) as I described above, because once you change the routers pass you need to update that info on the laptop or it will not be allowed net access, does that help clarify this for you ?

To get the laptop to be able to use the net via your router once you change that code, you need to create a new connection (or edit the existing one) as I described above, because once you change the routers pass you need to update that info on the laptop or it will not be allowed net access, does that help clarify this for you ?

Should I open the icon in the system tray to make these changes? When I open it I see all that data.
OR, do I go to the control panel?
You know, I am sorry to be refining this so much, but, I need those tough answers when I actually put this into effect.
I think we are almost there and I do thank you for your support and patience.

NP, keeps my brain busy if nothing else lol, anyway, you can create the new connection to the router either way, you can go into the control panel as described above, or you can access the utility (if available) direct from beside the clock on the task bar, it's simply whats easier for you, both methods achieve a new connection to the router to get on the net again.

I am going to give it a try and I will let you know the results.
Need a iittle time though.
Thank you for all.

I wanted to report that the router and card are functional.
There was an oddity in that there was another ssid in the box along with mine and the default 'any available'.
It was Ned so I hilited it and clicked to remove the profile - it is gone.
Do you know what the significance of it being there is?
After doing the desktop, I could not configure the lap so I fiddled and hit, 'find a new network'.
This allowed me to follow a wizard's prompts and finally connect.
Thanx for the support and I look forward to your idea re; Ned.

Great job in getting there, and finding a "new connection" was the only way to connect back to the router once you changed that pass, what I described above would lead you into that, also the link from the task bar would as well.
As to Ned, only a few things come to mind, it was either the default when you got the router, the router had been used prior, maybe a store system, or another person who returned it for some reason, or possibly at some point in your setting it up trying to make the 1st connection you found a neighbour within range and had unknowingly save that detail perhaps ?
But now you've deleted it you will be fine, but if you want peace of mind check the settings once a week for say a month, if theres nothing there then great stuff, but if it appears again then we will need to investigate further, congrats on achieving your end goal.