At the moment, my wireless encryption is WEP. As I read through your posting
( Lanwench [MVP - Exchange] 1/17/2009 6:48 AM PST ) may I know what are the
advantages and if I want to change to WPA+PSK, what must I do?  My router is
Linksys WRT54G2 V1 which is connected to my modem (DSL) broadband.I have both
wired ( DT) and wireless ( LT). Many thanks for your time

The difference is that WEP can be hacked in a couple of minutes, and WPA,
supposedly, cannot, provided of course you use a good password (long, random
characters, special characters... the ususal stuff).
See if your router, and your receiver!, support WPA2, upgrade the firmware
if necessary/possible. Then use WPA2 with AES encryption.
To set it up, log into your router and change the wireless security
settings. After that, you'll need to update the connection data on your
computer as well so that it knows you're using WPA(2) and what the password
is.
It's fairly simple, and since you've got WEP to work, this shouldn't be a
problem for you at all. :)
Good luck.

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liveprices wrote:
WEP is an older wireless encryption technology. It can be easily
defeated in minutes using tools readily available on the Internet.

WPA was an improvement over WEP.  Often, WPA could be implemented on the
same hardware that supported WEP by means of firmware or software upgrades.

One of the improvements of WPA2 compared to WEP and WPA was the use of a
new encryption algorithm, AES (Advanced Encryption Standard). Before
WPA2 was widely available, some manufacturers offered WPA with AES, but
did not call it WPA2.

WPA2 is the current standard for wifi encryption. WPA2 probably can't be
implemented on hardware that was not designed for it.

In a commercial wireless setting using WPA or WPA2, a wireless client
wanting to communicate with a wireless network first obtains the "key"
needed to use the encrypted communications from a special server
attached to the network. Because this arrangement is more complex and
expensive than the usual home user wants to implement, a somewhat less
secure system was devised in which the appropriate key is "pre-shared"
with the client (i.e., stored in the client computer instead of being
obtained from a server each time a new connection is established). Thus,
"PSK" (Pre-Shared Key). Linksys uses the term "Personal" instead of
"PSK" but they are the same thing. Do not use the "Enterprise" mode of
WPA or WPA2 because this requires a separate key server as described above.

Your WRT54G2 supports WPA2. You should use this -- if the hardware in
your computer, which you didn't specify, is capable of doing so. If your
computer's wireless adapter doesn't support WPA, see if will at least
support WPA with AES. You may need to get the latest driver for the adapter.

That's better than no security but it's very easy to break.

Your wifi router supports WPA2. That's the highest protection you can get
for home use and it's still unbreakable as of these days. Set your router
wireless security to WPA2 Personal with AES. Use a 30 character or longer
shared key. Do not use any word found in a dictionary. Use that shared key
on your computers when prompted for a key to join your wifi network.

Remember, your computer wireless card must also support WPA2 security.
Windows XP with SP3 and later versions support WPA2. Older versions might
need an additional WPA2 patch.

Get the manual at http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/products/WRT54G2

Hi
From the weakest to the strongest, Wireless security capacity is.
No Security
MAC______(Band Aid if nothing else is available).
WEP64____(Easy, to "Break" by knowledgeable people).
WEP128___(A little Harder, but "Hackable" too).
-------------------
The three above are Not considered safe.
Safe Starts here at WPA.
-------------------
WPA-PSK__(Very Hard to Break).
WPA-AES__(Not functionally Breakable)
WPA2____ (Not functionally Breakable).
Note 1: WPA-AES the the current entry level rendition of WPA2.
Note 2: If you use WinXP and did not updated it you would have to download
the WPA2 patch from Microsoft. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/893357
The documentation of your Wireless devices (Wireless Router, and Wireless
Computer's Card) should state the type of security that is available with
your Wireless hardware.
All devices MUST be set to the same security level using the same pass
phrase.
Therefore the security must be set according what ever is the best possible
of one of the Wireless devices.
I.e. even if most of your system might be capable to be configured to the
max. with WPA2, but one device is only capable to be configured to max . of
WEP, to whole system must be configured to WEP.
If you need more good security and one device (like a Wireless card that can
do WEP only) is holding better security for the whole Network, replace the
device with a better one.
Setting Wireless Security - http://www.ezlan.net/Wireless_Security.html
The Core differences between WEP, WPA, and WPA2 -
http://www.ezlan.net/wpa_wep.html
Jack (MVP-Networking).

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Is this patch already included in SP3?

Yes. WinXP SP3 is WPA2 ready.

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