what do i need to make my computer go wireless

[haydan]

hi
firstly please excuse this novice question
i have a wireless router and have been using an ethernet cable but now need to go wireless. My computer is about 5 years old and uses windows xp. What do i need to make it go wireless?
any replies appreciated
many thanks

[Saturday]

You need a wireless card/adapter for your PC.

They come in many "flavours" but probably the easiest would be to go for one that plugs into one of the PC's usb ports such as one of these.

They are easy to set up but wireless performance won't be as good as the ethernet you are used to.

[Tony1044]

I have one going free if you want it - I have no drivers for it, but it's a netgear WGT111 (from memory). If you want to send me a pvt message with your details, when I get home this weekend I'll drop it in the post for you.

[Patrick]

Originally Posted by haydan

hi
firstly please excuse this novice question
i have a wireless router and have been using an ethernet cable but now need to go wireless. My computer is about 5 years old and uses windows xp. What do i need to make it go wireless?
any replies appreciated
many thanks

One more thing, try to get a router/client wifi card that supports WPA2

If you are not sure how to do the following 2 things, then get help to do it, this is very important as you are liable for anything that a wifi hacker does via your internet connection:

1) Setup encryption, ideally WPA2.
2) Setup an admin password for your router settings page... so if someone does manage to hack your wireless, the cannot easily get into your router.

You may also want to setup MAC address filtering, which will protect you further - again, this can be quite involved, so perhaps ask for help if you are not sure how to do it!