HowTo: Setup Linksys Wireless Router
This is the first time of me working with wireless router so it takes a lot of time before I found the solution for the right settings. For now, I will post here what I did so others can get help. I know now that Linksys is a powerful tool but isn’t user-friendly enough as I thought of it. At first glance others may think that it is just like a “plug and play” equipment but it is not. All others thinking of this, I will say to all of you, you are wrong. As for my part, the very mistake I did was to make a call to the ISP of my sister. It took me 36mins to no avail. That call just took as a lot of time. Now, let’s get started.
The only thing we will need to do to connect is to open up the router, PC/Laptop, and modem and connect the plugs. The problem will be system vulnerability because if you will use the default factory settings then it is more likely unsecured and everyone can access your laptop or internet and change the settings of your Linksys Wireless Router. And that is what we will do. Setting up and securing your wireless router is a necessary method to avoid hackers hacking your systems.
Before starting up the whole process we will need your laptop’s Physical Address. You can do this by going to Start > Run… and enter cmd then press enter. Then a black screen, the DOS Command Window, will pop up. By the help of it we will get the Physical Address. Now type in ipconfig /all until the Windows IP Configuration has been printed.
After writing down all of the laptop’s physical address, we will now go to the installation of the router. At first, you will need to plug and connect you modem, router and laptop altogether so we can configure the settings of the router. Now I assume that your laptop, modem, and the router are plugged and working. Open a browser and type in http://192.168.1.1 and then press enter. A window will pop up prompting you for a username and password to access the configuration page for your router. Enter admin for both the username and password.
After the authentication you will enter the setup page where you can configure the settings of your router. In the Setup tab you will see 4 subsection in it and the default is the Basic Setup subsection. Search for the Router Name and put in your preferred router name. For me, I used Linksys WRT54G Wireless Router for my sister’s router. At the drop-down list make sure it is in the Automatic Configuration - DHCP.
After Setting it up save the settings by going down to the bottom and pushing the Save Settings button. We will now go to the Wireless section. Here in the default page enter your Wireless Network Name and make sure you will use your name like “MyName Wireless Connection” so to avoid connection to a different router. At the Wireless Network Mode drop-down list choose Mixed and enable the Wireless SSID Broadcast. After doing this make sure to save your settings. The Wireless Security subsection will be the next to setup. In this page you will find Security Mode with a drop-down list and choose WAP Personal. You will now be able to set the WPA Algorithms and the WPA Shared Keys. In the WPA Algorithms choose the TKIP (you can also use the AES but I prefer using TKIP) and enter a alphanumeric random string inside the WPA Shared Keys. It should be “random” as I prefer using a random key but it is not required. You can use any string you want to use as a Network Key. This will be like a password to access the router in first time connection of the laptop. Save Settings and we are done here.
We are almost done. The only thing left is by enabling the security of the router by going to the Wireless MAC Filter. Here you will enable the Wireless MAC Filter and choose the Permit Only radio button. We will now use the Physical Address so make sure to get and prepare the one you wrote earlier. 
Push the Edit MAC Filter List and a window will pop-up. Note that creating a MAC Address Filter List will prevent unauthorized computers from using your connection. Put all the Physical Address and then save it after.
Another thing is make sure that the status in the Basic Wireless Settings subsection is SES Security Parameter Configured, if not then just push the round picture with lock and wait for it to finish configuring the SES Security. After it the status will surely change and then save settings and then you can now try to connect to your internet wirelessly.
Finally click on the Administration tab at the top of the page and change the default password for accessing your wireless router setup pages by typing a new one into the Router Password field and then confirming it. This should be a different password than the one you setup for WPA Shared Key encryption, but should be atleast 6 to 8 characters in length.
Don’t forget that the Network Key will be your WPA Shared Key so don’t lose it or misplace it. Now right click the wireless connection icon in your icons toolbar or you can go to the Network Connections in your Control Panel. Click View Available Wireless Network and the Wireless Network Connection window will appear. Here you will see all available connections in your laptop’s range and try to search for your Wireless Network Name and click it then click the button Connect at the bottom right of the window. If you are connected a authentication window will appear and you should see 2 fields namely Network Key and Confirm Network Key. Just put the WPA Shared Key you used in the settings and after authentication you can now connect everytime you want to the router’s internet connection.
Your Linksys Wireless Router is now secured
If you want to add laptops to access the router just put the laptop’s Physical Address in the MAC Filter List and after that they can access the internet using your router in no time.
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