How To: See Who's Stealing Your Wi-Fi (And Give Them the Boot)

Does your network begin to crawl right around the time your sinister-looking next-door neighbors get home from work? Do you harbor suspicions that one or more of them may be stealing your Wi-Fi? It's easy to find out. And equally easy to give freeloaders the boot. In the guide below, we'll show you how to secure your wireless connection in three easy steps.

Step 1 Log into your wireless router

Enter your Wi-Fi router's local IP address into your web browser and, when prompted, log in.

Tips

• Don't know your login information? Try downloading AnswersThatWork's List of Default Router Passwords and Default Router IP Addresses.

Step 2 Find and check the list of attached devices

Once logged into your router, do your best to locate the list of connected devices. On a Netgear router, for instance, you'll find Attached Devices under Maintenance in the left frame.

Find the link? Click on it.

You'll now be presented with a list of all the wireless devices on your network. You'll have access to IP addresses, MAC addresses and, where applicable, device names.

Go over the list. Do any of the entries stick out? If so, move onto step 3.

Step 3 Secure your network

The surest (and quickest) way to protect your network is to set up a WPA or WPA2 password. As an added perk, changing your security settings will  automatically knock any moochers off of your network.

Need help figuring out how to configure a WPA or WPA2 password on your own wireless router? Search WonderHowTo's ever-expanding collection of networking tutorials.