Is my network secure?

Thanks for your help. Since you bring up the SSID issue, you're right, I'm not sure why I'm able to view my wireless network.

My router does support WPA/WPA2. I've read that this can slow down the rate of transmission. I suppose that this will come into play if I am downloading large files, but does this make a big difference when surfing the net?

Also, do I need to change some settings on my laptop such that it is able to use the WPA/WPA2 encryption?

There are a LOT of people who are writing for tech magazines who probably don't know any more about computers than you do. Cnet picked up quite a few of them when it acquired ZDNet a few years back, though I haven't checked to see if they've survived CNet's financial difficulties.

It's true that the increased security of WPA/WPA2 will add overhead to the transmission and leave less total bandwidth for the actual data, but it's really more of a processing power issue on the router. Your typical router is basically a miniature embedded computer with a cheap 150-200MHz CPU and usually somewhere between 4-16MB of RAM. To save money, all the encrypting and decrypting is done in software instead of a dedicated chip to handle that task. So the same processor that's responsible for powering everything else in the router, now has this to deal with as well. Usually there's not enough to go around if you got one of those "speed booster" models with the 108Mbps capabilities, to do that AND the "speed boost" at the same time.

However, the part most people leave out, is that the fastest Internet connection I've ever heard of for residential users is 7Mbps. Factoring in overhead, that should be about the limits of 802.11b equipment. However, 802.11g has a theoretical max rate of 54Mbps, so even not accounting for overhead on the 7Mbps DSL, you're probably only using about 10% of the router's capacity. There's plenty of room left for the overhead of WPA/WPA2. It might slow down LAN transfers a little, but you should still be able to get 2-3MB/s easy.

Finally, yes, you'll need to make a small adjustment to your wireless settings on Windows. In the connection properties, you need to change the encryption method to WPA, or WPA-PSK for WPA2. I'd recommend WPA2, since it's more secure, and then using AES encryption if supported. There's a second box in the wireless encryption box for Windows which will have an AES option.

Joe - thanks for your illuminating answers. I was searching around for that "connections" option on my laptop to switch to WPA. I was checking out the control panel and looked under the "Dell Wireless LAN utility" and found out that it was set for "TKIP, WEP" which I thought was odd since my router is set for WPA, and my laptop now recognizes my network as a "WPA secured network". Does this mean my router is talking to my router with WEP encryption, or is this another case of not believing what Windows says?

I'm currently using 802.11g, and my laptop notes that I'm connected at 34 MBps, so I see your point about the router not being overtaxed with using WPA/WPA2 vs. WEP.

Thanks again.