To help control your security, you can tell your router to only give out a certain number of IP addresses—one for each computer on your network. How does this help you? If the computers on your network use all the available IP addresses, it prevents your router from assigning an IP address to an intruder trying to connect to your network.

This setup varies somewhat from router to router. In the Linksys WRT54GX4, log in as an administrator and go to the Setup screen. In the box next to "Maximum Number of DHCP Users:" type the number of computers that will use your network, (both wired and wireless), and click Save Settings. That's all it takes. Now intruders won't be able to get IP addresses to get onto your network. If you add another computer to your network, make sure you go back to the Setup screen and increase the number of DHCP users by one.

This is part four of a six part series about securing your wireless network.

See part one here.

See part two here.

See part three here.