Video: How to secure your home Wi-Fi network

Is your Wi-Fi network at home secure? There’s a good reason it should be.

Unsecure networks allow neighbors or anyone within range to use your Internet connection. That will slow it down, make you more vulnerable to hacking or, even worse, have your connection used for illegal activity.

In this IDG News Tech Tip video, we’ll go beyond simply setting a password, and talk about three security options available in most modern base stations—WEP, WPA and WPA2. We’ll also show you how to find out which one of those you’re using as well as how to stop your base station from broadcasting its SSID—the name you see when you scan for a WiFi network.

Interested in upgrading your Wi-Fi router? Check out PCWorld’s reviews of the latest products:

Routers based on the draft IEEE 802.11ac standard deliver the best range and the highest speed.

Routers based on the older IEEE 802.11n standard are a safe bet for those worried that the final 802.11ac standard might render models based on the draft standard obsolete.