Setting up a wireless connection

Question

I've got a DLINK router connected to my ADSL modem that forms the hub of my home network. I've two clients - A desktop with an onboard wireless adaptor and a laptop that's outfitted with the same. The former runs Windows 7 x64, the latter Windows XP x86.

I'd like to setup a wireless connection between the two that would allow me play games over to and to a lesser extent, transfer and stream data. How would I go about doing it ?

Answer 1

Assuming your DLINK router is a wireless router and nothing has been setup yet, do the follow:

1. Connect the ADSL modem to the WAN port on the DLink router
2. Get a network cable and connect your laptop to the DLink router (temporarily)
3. Open up the Dlink router's control panel by opening it up in either Firefox or IE and going to 192.168.0.1 (it might be 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.2.1)
4. Also, test if your Internet is working on your laptop when you have your laptop plugged in directly
5. Configure your router (check your manual or ask here at superuser.com)
6. Look for Wireless settings and changed the following
7. SSID or Wireless Name or Broadcast ID: this is what your wireless network will be called
8. Wireless Security: WPA2-AES is best, followed by WPA2-TKIP, WPA-AES, WPA-TKIP - this is the encryption used to stop people from stealing your information over the airwaves
9. Password/Passphrase: if you've got one of the previous security options, just choose a funny phrase or obscure password, though I prefer a 12+ character phrase thats easy to type
10. Done with router, move on to clients
11. In Windows 7, just use the networking tool to find your wireless router (it'll be named whatever you named it before)
12. In Windows XP, use the included Wireless Network tool

Note: if you're doing a lot of heavy file transfers or streaming video from one computer to another, a wired connection will be reliable and faster

Answer 2

skip the router entirely and set up an ad hoc connection