The last thing you want is pesky neighbors or random passer-by stealing your Wi-Fi any more than you want them borrowing milk or your stash of the Blu-ray movies. It's really more serious than that–if someone can get into the same network as you, it becomes easier for them to snoop into your browsing history and locally stored files.
So what has to be done in order to lock things down? Thankfully, keeping annoying unwanted visitors away from your Wi-Fi isn't difficult and doesn't need any IT qualification.
By far the EASIEST way to boot these freeloaders off your wireless network is to change the Wi-Fi password. This can be done through your router's settings– either dig out the manual or do a quick Google search to find out the correct instructions for your make and model.
Change the password to something very hard to forget (for you) and impossible to guess (for everyone else.) This leaves you with a clean slate as far as access to your wireless network goes. Unfortnently, this also leaves you with the task of having to go back in and reconnect all of your devices and computer to the Wi-Fi. But hey, its a small price to pay for a clean Wi-Fi start. Pick something that's important to you, like a date or a name, but that no one else would think of, so it's both simple for you to enter but also secure against unwanted visitors.
The router's initial password is usually printed on the sticker that's attached to the device itself, so changing it right away will prevent guests like party goers from spying on the security code.
Since we've got your router configuration open, a few other settings are worth looking at. First, change the default password used to access the router settings page to something else– this stops anyone who might gain access to your network from changing the Wi-Fi password themselves. As you have realized when you accessed your router settings for the first time, you need a password to get into the menus, and a separate one to connect Wi-Fi, so changing them both gives you maximum protection.
It's also worth applying any pending firmware updates, which ensures your router is running the latest and most secure version of its own basic operating system. Again, with so many router makes and models on the market we can't give you instructions for each one, but it should be simple to do–find the instruction booklet or a guide on the web for your device and it will only take a couple of minutes.
Elsewhere in your router's settings you should find a screen listing the devices connected up to your Wi-Fi: Is there anything there you don't recognize? You often have the option to disconnect a device, depending on the type of router you've got, though you might need to do a bit of detective work to identify the devices your router lists.
Finally, you should be able to find a setting that 'hides' your network (the technical term is the SSID or service set identifier) from view, so it won't appear when your neighbors or visitors scan for Wi-Fi on their devices. If you need to connect a new device, you need to enter the SSID manually. It's not a huge improvement in Wi-Fi security, but it's a neat trick that can help you stay under the radar of hackers and Wi-Fi freeloaders.
If you want extra help spotting who's on your network who maybe shouldn't be, beyond what your router offers, try Fing or Android or iOS, Acrylic Wi-Fi for Windows, or Who Is On My Wi-Fi for macOS. All of these apps are free (for non-commercial use), and are easy to navigate around no matter what your level of networking know-how. Various other apps are available also.
Installing a VPN on your computer doesn't do anything extra in terms of stopping people from connecting to your Wi-Fi, but it does add an extra layer of encryption between you and the web–so that anyone who does manage to gain access to your network is going to have a much harder time trying to snoop on your activities (which websites you visit, the data you're sending, and more). While a VPN might slightly slow down your connection speed, it keeps you a lot safer–just be sure to choose a reputable, paid-for service.
Finally, if your computer is close enough to the router to wire it up directly, and you've got strong cellular reception on your phone, you could turn off Wi-Fi on your router every once in a while, which can be done through router settings on all modern boxes. No one's going to be able hook up to your Wi-Fi network if it's switched off.
Hopefully these tips will help you keep unwanted visitors and pesty teenagers off your Wi-Fi. If you have any more questions in regards to keeping your network safe, give us a call!
We Can Help You Make The Shift
