Here's the deal...

Hello,

I've been noticing little kids posting their chairs in the middle of our street with their laptops in hand. They are in distance of my father's wireless router and before anything bad happens to his network I want to protect him and myself. I set up this router when he first bought it three years ago, I put a network name, but I don't recall putting in a password. The problem I'm having is that when i type in 192.168.1.1, the u/p prompt comes up but says authorization restricted after a few tries at passwords (admin:admin, networkname:admin, networkname:my name, etc.). I try all this troubleshooting through the Vaio connected directly to the router. If I could have anyones help, All I want to know is how I can put a network key on this router so that a password is needed to connect to the wireless network. If thats not possible, is there a way to restart the whole network so that I can put a password on it.

What I have:

Linksys WRT54G
year old Vaio desktop (contected directly to router port 1)
My laptop and Desktop both with wireless adapters connected to network

You're better off reseting the router and starting over.

Make sure, at minimum,you have WEP available to use as security. Its not the most secure but it will do the job to keep your average person from using your wireless. WPA is more secure but again, with a little knowhow you can get around it easily.

Also, you will want to set a password on the router. Chances are someone got into your router and set their own password to essentially block you out. You are capable of resetting the router but until you do so, they have full access to your wireless and attached devices.