Disable SSID Broadcasting & other things

There's a thread over 6 months old which deals with this problem, but of course, it's a dead thread now - so, here goes: the problem with disabling your SSID, once you have set up your network is that your own machines can no longer find the router. The solution is said to be to start the setup again, with SSID disabled in the first place. However, I'm reluctant to mess with a satisfactorily working network, because if something goes wrong with the re-setup it could involve hours of work!! (been there, done that...Especially the problem if getting the printer sorted as well - believe me, it can be hell). Is this the only way of doing it, or is there a simpler solution?

Similar considerations apply with junking 128 bit WEP in favour of WPA... I've changed my router password, I have 128 bit WEP plus restricted MAC address access. It's a home/work installation in a suburban (almost innner city) London street, where all the neighbours (at least 4 in 'view') also appear to have secured networks, and there appear to be no unsecured ones. But how paranoid would I need to be to change WEP encryption for WPA encryption?
David

Win XP Pro SP2 - fully up to date
Firefox 2, regularly updated
Thunderbird 2, regularly updated (it's an addiction)
F-Prot Win version 6
ZoneAlarm Pro 6.5
Microsoft malicious wotsit tool
Windows Defender
Spybot S&D 1.4 (Advanced mode)
Wot - me paranoid?

 

Thanks TonyT for a breath of fresh air - commonsense reassurance. I won't bother to disable my SSID - who cares if everyone can see there is a particular brand and model of wireless router operating in the neighbourhood, where one person has given his router the name of the street, and another, poor sod, his own surname... (But he should be proud: there's no way this guy could have set it up himself...)

Edit - by the way TonyT - while I wouldn't dispute the first half of your L Ron Hubbard quote (after all, it is 'every man's right to go to hell in whatever way he chooses' - I think that was an old SF colleague of LRH, John W Campbell Jnr) the second half of the quote is very easily falsified in any number of ways, many of which can kill you! F'rinstance, it may not be true for you that jumping out of a 20th story window will most likely be terminal - but it is still true... But the truth of the matter is, it's always fruitless to command someone to believe anything at all.

 

Logging onto to non broadcast ssid network

Depends on your wireless utility and its settings.
And of course your OS.
You can set the wirelessly utlility to log on automatically.
You can usually just place the ssid name into the wireless utility with the name of the hidden ( non broadcasting) ssid.
Once it logs on on ( after you enter the wep codes) you should be ok.
You can use third party wireless utilities if you need to.
There was one called WINC at downloads.com .
The newer network magic can also act as the default wireless utility.
It is fairly routine.
Some of the setups of the newer model /versions of routers are set as default not to broadcast their ssids.
It is still remarkable what you can do searching for ssids of "Linksys" , "Wireless" or "Default ".

 

Yup. Thanks visionof - I think that was what TonyT was saying. But, in the end I decided life is just too short to bother, and, hell, let everyone see there is a Belkin_wotst_wotsit_ADSL router in the district. I got 128 bit WEP and MAC access control and changed my password on the router and someone would have to be pretty determined on breaking into my system to bother, and why would they do that, when there are plenty of easier systems to break into? 'snot as if the crown jewels are there, anyway...

 

Yay! Paranoia is a way of life! (Ned: An American I shared an appartment with, back in the 60s)

 

I'm just going to assume you have a perfectly legitimate reason for using such a device, so you can access your own router when you're working at the bottom of the garden. Anything else would surely degrade someone else's broadband performance, even at its most 'innocent' use - and I'm certain a nice guy like you wouldn't want to do that to some poor unsuspecting sod... who's wondering why they are not getting anything like the throughput their ISP advertised.

 

Have a look:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/index.php?p=43

 

OK, OK ... I promise to get round to it one day...