Ultimate Router Guide: How to Optimize Security and Performance

Home broadband routers are remarkably complex devices that few ever take the time to truly understand. As long as the lights are blinking, and webpages load, most people are inclined to leave them be. The few brave souls who venture into the firmware are often rewarded with a maze of menus that betray the true complexity of these underappreciated appliances. Wireless channels, security modes, and even port forwarding can be frustrating concepts for those without a networking background, but are absolutely critical to understanding how to optimize your home network. In this guide we will teach you the finer points of security, as well as give you surefire ways to boost your router's wireless range and optimize performance.

Why are Routers so Important

When most people think about online security, they often assume virus scanners, spyware detectors, and even firewall software are the most important weapons to level against those who would seek to exploit their machines. In reality, the router is one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal, and it rarely gets the credit it deserves. If you actually took the time to look at the raw data coming in through your broadband connection, you would be shocked at just how much background noise is constantly bombarding your machines. Unpatched PCs from around the world form sprawling bot nets designed to spew forth exploits both old and new in hopes of finding vulnerable targets.

Prior to the days of Windows XP SP2, machines plugged directly into the internet would often fall prey to these exploits, and would become infected simply because they were left on, and were connected to the internet. With the introduction of the firewall in SP2 the world literally changed. Windows now comes with this feature on by default, and drops unsolicited traffic coming into your connection. The Windows firewall isn’t perfect, but it was still a huge improvement.

Think of your router as an upgrade on this basic concept, and in reality, it makes for one of the most powerful firewalls money can buy.  Forming an invisible barrier between you and the net, routers drop incoming packets that you weren’t expecting, and is much less vulnerable to exploits that would seek to poke holes in your defenses. A good router not only drops incoming packets, but it also refuses to acknowledge that an active connection even exists.  This simple, but powerful difference between routers, and many software firewalls, provides that extra bit of security that can mean the difference between a virus poking around on your machine, or moving on. The Windows firewall is still important, but these days it should only be used as a secondary line of defense.

Let's Start with the Basics: Terminology

MAC Address

This string of letters and numbers is a unique identifier applied to all networking components. Think of it like a serial number that can be used to identify machines or devices on a network, even if their physical location or connection point changes.

IP Address

This is essentially your phone number within a network. An IP address doesn’t necessarily only come from the Internet, each and every device that connects to your home network also has a unique IP address within the routers network. This is how a router is able to share a single Internet IP address, but share it with multiple devices across its various connections.

DHCP Server

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol servers are built into every router, and provide each device with IP addresses, default gateways, domain names, DNS servers, etc. The most important thing to know about DHCP is that this is how your router manages IP addresses.

Latency

PC gamers might know this better as ping. It is a measure, usually in milliseconds, of how long it takes your data to get from your machine to its destination and back.

How Do I Access My Router's Settings?

Every router is going to be a little bit different, but most can be accessed from your web browser by entering in 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 into the address bar. Once done, you will be prompted to enter your user name and password, which if you don’t know it, is probably just the default. Many routers come stamped with this information on the bottom but if not, here is a link to your one stop shop for all the login info you’ll need. Generally your user name will always be either “admin” or “administrator” and your password will either be the same, or try leaving it blank.

Know your password? Skip ahead to the next step.

If you’re still locked out of your router and are unable to login, examine the hardware itself, often times you’ll find a manual reset button on the device that will restore it to factory defaults. This is a great way to unlock your device, but beware, more often than not this step will also clear all of the routers settings as well. Here are a few tips to make sure you do the reset properly.

1.)    Always hold down the reset key for at least 30 seconds, or until the indicator lights give you the impression that the reset has taken place.

2.)    Some routers require you to unplug them prior to trying a hard reset.

3.)    Always wait at least 30 seconds after plugging in your router before trying to reconnect.