Going from WEP to WPA

[ArtShapiro]

I could probably Google a few sites and get this information, but the folks here are always a great source of knowledge, so:

Over the past few months I've upgraded the home's networking equipment from older 802.11b to nice current technology. I'm now running a fancy Belkin Vision N router, and all the laptops have had their mini-PCI and PC-card (for the older guys) wireless cards upgraded to recent models.

I'm still using the 128-bit WEP that has been in place for years. "They" say that WPA is much more secure and less crackable than WEP, and while I don't worry too much about evil hackers parked in my cul de sac to decode and steal my wireless signal, I guess it wouldn't be any skin off my proverbial back to convert over to the better security of WPA.

I know absolutely zilch about WPA, having never had to deal with it. Could any kind souls give me the 100-words-or-less pep talk about what I need to do to migrate my machines and network to WPA?

Art

[carbon_unit]

Enable WPA, pick a password/passphrase, Put it in the router and connect all the clients using the password/passphrase, Enjoy.
There is nothing tough about WPA. It is just a better encryption algorithm and somewhat harder to crack.

[underclocker]

For maximum protection with WPA, use a passphrase generator like --> http://www.kurtm.net/wpa-pskgen/

[Stan]

Many modem/ routers use the same password for WEP and WPA as default and this information is located on the base of the unit, normally.

Enable WPA and change the administrator password for the router from the default (which is not set with a password from the factory), change the SSID if you want to also.

I’m not convinced that changing the SSID has any impact on improving security considering the ability of today’s Black hats, though.

My best advice is to use WPA rather than WEP and always set up an administrator logon and password for any type of internet gateway.