LINKSYS WIRELESS CONFIGURATION UTILITY

1) Double-click on the icon near the time that looks like a green, gray or bluish-gray square with tiny curved lines in it.      This is the Linksys Wireless Configuration Utility.

2) Click on the Profile tab.

3) Click on the Edit button.

4) Click to put a black dot next to ¤ Obtain an IP address automatically (DHCP).

5) Click on Next.

6) Click to put a black dot next to ¤ Infrastructure mode.  (This obscure term means that you have a Wireless Router or Wireless Access Point in your wireless network and are not trying to connect to another wireless network card in some other laptop or desktop computer.)

7) Enter the SSID for your network:   linksys   or  mynetwork  or  wirelessnet  or whatever you want. This is the name of your Wireless Network. The name should be all lower-case and have no spaces or weird characters, such as # $  % ^ &   in it.  

Note: It is a good idea to change the default SSID from linksys to something else, because your neighbors may have the same SSID, especially if they don’t know how to change it.

8) Click on Next.

9) Set the channel to Channel 1.   (Try other channels if your neighbors have wireless networks, too, on the same channel, and you are not able to connect to the Internet on your laptop or desktop.)

Note: Try other channels especially if you have a microwave oven or cordless phone nearby, which may be using the same frequency. This can sometimes cause an interruption in your wireless network connection.

10) Set the Network Mode to ¤ Mixed Mode.  (This means that the older "B" wireless equipment and the newer "G" wireless equipment will both work on your wireless network.)

11) Click on Next.

12) Click on the Down Arrow next to whatever is in the Security box, then click on WPA–Personal or WPA2-Personal. (Do not use WEP unless your wireless equipment doesn’t have WPA. WEP is the older, less secure and more complicated way to encrypt your data on a wireless network.)

13) Select TKIP for the Encryption type.

14) Type in your Passphrase. (This must be at least 8 characters long and should be all lowercase with no spaces or weird characters.)

15) Click on Next.

16) Click on Save.

17) Click on Connect to Network, then close the Wireless Configuration Utility window.

18) If you see “No association with access point” (or words to that effect), then you have made a mistake somewhere, or you need to go to the Wireless Router and check its settings. (Click here.)

19) Otherwise, you can open Internet Explorer or your e-mail program to see if they are working.