How To Secure Your Wireless Router In 2020

This is the first in a series My Computer Works is doing around Privacy and Security. We will have a new topic each week. Come back for more.

Just like software on your computers which needs frequent updating to protect against the latest know exploits your standard home routing equipment also gets frequent firmware updates to protect it against new and known exploits.

What is Firmware?

Think of this as the operating system for your hardware. (router)

How do you check and update your router?

Follow these steps:

Open your web browser and in the address bar type

192.168.1.1

and hit enter

For most people you will be prompted for a username and password. By default this should be ‘admin‘ and ‘password‘ this should be updated but more on that later.

After you login to your router listed on the main screen should be a firmware version and a link to check for updates.

If you can’t see that you can always call us to get professional assistance. This could mean you have a less common type of router or an advanced configuration. Either way one of our techs can help you update and secure it.

After you ask the router to search for an update it might take several minutes for the router to check the manufacturer server and request it.

Once located you will see the update run and you will be logged out and have to log back into the router when the update is finished.

Just enter the login ‘admin‘ and ‘password‘ in again and you should see the router has been updated to the latest firmware.

Congratulations! You have taken the first of many steps for making your network more secure.

A next and vital step we recommend is installing MalwareBytes premium and configuring it for maximum defense from Spyware, Malware, and other nasty internet software.

Give us a call today at (800) 208-6591 and we will have one of our professional computer technicians do it for you. All through the internet without leaving your home.