Belkin Router - Noob question

[Howard Sterndrive]

I bought a new Belkin wireless router at Costco.
I hooked up my Presario tower type PC computer to the router and ran through the setup. All seems to work ok.

Do I now have to leave that computer hooked up to the router all the time?

I unplugged the LAN cable and can still access the router wireless from my laptop, but I was under the impression the router had to live with one permanently connected PC all the time.

no?

 

[BuzzStPoint]

Re: Belkin Router - Noob question

No. You only need to be hardwired in to setup and make changes to the router. You can still make changes to the router on your wireless but it's not recommended.
The only thing you need the router hooked up to is the internet. Either your cable or DSL.


Side note: Did you set your wireless signal for encryption? WEP or WPA? If not you should.

 

[bkwapisz]

Re: Belkin Router - Noob question

I bought a new Belkin wireless router at Costco.
I hooked up my Presario tower type PC computer to the router and ran through the setup. All seems to work ok.

Do I now have to leave that computer hooked up to the router all the time?

I unplugged the LAN cable and can still access the router wireless from my laptop, but I was under the impression the router had to live with one permanently connected PC all the time.

no?

You can leave it connected but the PC doesn't have to be on. The way you have it now it's serving as a gateway and a wireless access point. As long as the router is connected to the internet you can connect anything anytime thereafter. I've always left everything connected and just shut down the computers I wasn't using.

Oh, and BTW-- if you're using wireless access on that router be sure to password protect it so people who pass by can't access it and use up your bandwidth. There should be a way to turn on the security (something like WEP encryption or whatever they're using nowadays) and usually once you log the laptop in once it will automatically send the password. EDIT: Buzz beat me to it.

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: Belkin Router - Noob question

Yes I'm using the WPA (?) security. The one the setup recommended as most secure type.

thanks.
this saved me buying a UPS.
I was thinking the pc had to be running and I was going to buy a UPS so my g/f wouldn't have to go through rebooting the computer in the basement if the power went out (as it does here once in a while)

 

[dlindeblad]

Re: Belkin Router - Noob question

WPA, even WPA-2 are a much better encryption than WEP. You sound like you have a handle on it OMG.

For those that do not have encryption it is not just the fact that passers by and neighbors can steal your bandwidth, but the information being passed wireless can be intercepted. If you are curious one day, download wireshark and unsecure your router. You will be surpirsed on what type of activity you will see down to your username/pass for websites you enter and even bank account data entered.

 

[PiratePast40]

Re: Belkin Router - Noob question

At the very least, hide the name of your your home wireless network. It's like closing the door. Might not be locked, but at least it's closed and others won't readily see the network and try to logon.