I recently changed the wireless configuration around the house. One of the primary tasks that I wanted to accomplish was changing the security to WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access 2). For those of you wondering how you might go about doing this, here is a slide show that provides a nice screenshot overview.

Windows Vista machines support WPA2 out of the box, but I was confused and concerned when two XP machines in the house could not connect to the network. One machine was able to see the network, but unable to connect, while the other could not even see the network.

As it turns out, XP machines need to have the following patch applied:

The Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2)/Wireless Provisioning Services Information Element (WPS IE) update for Windows XP with Service Pack 2

Once your machine is updated with that patch, you should be able to enable WPA2 along with AES. Most people are often unaware that WEP (the default security many people use) can be crack in minutes. With WPA2 and AES, you are afforded a much more secure network experience.

Technorati Tags: encryption, security, Wi-Fi, WPA2