After setting my up wireless home network, I want to protect it from public access. How do I do this?

I want to prevent others from accessing it and snoping on my data

Public Comments

1. Enable WEP or any other encryption security on your router. Also, to make it more secure, enable your MAC filtering so only computer you put into the MAC table can use your network. Oh yeah - don't forget about the router password - change it, you'd be surprised to know how many people don't.
2. i would read about how to setup a 128bit wep key. this is the best sort of security, u will also need a complex passphrase, this can be done from the router. and only give the passphase to people u want to connect to the router/AP
3. i am running vista but it should be pretty much the same go to your browser and type in 192.168.1.1 and it will show you your router setup click on encryption and follow the menu or alternitivley you could download network magic you get 30 days free and it will help you do it there
4. There are three things that I would recommend. 1. Set up WPA encrytion. It is a stronger encryption than WEP. When you set that up pick a good password, at lest 8 characters or longer and use upper and lower case as well as numbers. 2. Set up and use MAC addressing on your router. This way only the computers that you explicity authorize can connect to your WAP. 3. Set your WAP so that it does not broadcast your SSID.