Lost The Password? How To Reset Your Router

If you have lost or forgotten the User name and password, and cannot get in to your router’s control panel (or wireless access point) here are the steps you should follow to regain access, and control over your network settings.

1) If you do not know it already, determine the Make and Model of your router. This will often be found on a label on the bottom.
(“Make” is the manufacturer: Belkin, Netgear, Lynksys, D-link, for example; and the “model” will the “DIR 655”, or “WRT-54G” [your letters/numbers will vary].)

2) Use your favorite search engine and look up your router’s defaults – and write them down.
In the search pane, type the make, then the model, then “defaults” (D-link DIR 655 defaults, for example). From the list of results, look for the one that is the manufacturer’s Support page. Write down the:

• IP address (this will be something like “192.168.1.1”)
• Username
• Password

[note: if all you need is the User+Pwd, you can also go to http://www.routerpasswords.com/]

3) Open your web browser (Internet Explorer/Firefox/Chrome)
Type the default IP address you just looked up into the browser’s address bar (where the http://www.website.com goes) and press “Enter”.
This will open the router Control Panel login.

4) Try the default Username/Password (Often, this is “Admin” and the password is blank [empty].)

No luck?

5) Reset the router

IMPORTANT Note: resetting the router wipes away any changes you had made — and your connection settings to your ISP. You will have to create new user names and passwords and “wireless security keys” (WEP, WPA, WPA2) and reconnect to the Internet/ISP. (Which means you will have to reconnect each of your wireless devices by entering your new “key”.)

On the back of the router, look for a small button, or hole, labeled “Reset”.

• With the unit on, use a straightend paperclip to press the reset down for about 15 seconds, and then release it.
• The unit will restart on its own.
As soon as the lights stop blinking, the unit is ready.

Now repeat Steps 3 and 4, and this time you will be in, and you will have access to the router’s settings control panel.

Related:

• How to secure your wireless network
• How To Connect a Router Without the Setup CD
• Restricting Roommates Internet Use – Continued.
• A New Wireless Router “Internet security made me decide to buy a new router...”

Today’s quote: “Fall seven times, stand up eight.” ~ Japanese Proverb

Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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Windows Update Broken? Fix it!

Microsoft has made available an automatic repair which will reset, and repair, the components of Windows Update. This can resolve issues where updates will not install.

To reset the Windows Update components automatically, click the Fix it button or link. Click Run in the File Download dialog box, and then follow the steps in the Fix it wizard.

Note: this Fix it Solution has two modes Default and Aggressive. You should run the Fix it solution in Default mode and determine if it resolves your problem with Windows Update before running it in Aggressive mode.

Note: this wizard may be in English only; however, the automatic fix also works for other language versions of Windows.

Note: if you are not on the computer that has the problem, save the Fix it solution to a flash drive or a CD and then run it on the computer that has the problem.

Check whether the Windows Update components are reset. If the Windows Update components are reset, you are finished. If the Windows Update components are not reset, or do not solve your Update problem, you can contact Microsoft support — which is free for security-related issues such as this.

Today’s quote: “Promise only what you can deliver. Then deliver more than you promise.” ~ Unknown

Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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Can’t Download? Reset IE

Outsmart Malware With This Tip

Sometimes programs get “corrupted” and just refuse to work right, and usually the way to repair them is to uninstall them (Add/Remove Programs), and then re-Install a fresh copy.

One of my more popular articles has been how to repair the hyperlinks function in IE when clicking on a link doesn’t open a new page (if that’s your issue, click here), and this tip goes a little further than that. (To see all my articles on Internet Explorer, click on “IE 7″ in my Categories widget.)

You can resolve many troublesome IE issues by “resetting” it (which also re-registers .dll’s).

[note: Export your Favorites to a file on your Desktop first, and then Import them again after the repair.]

For IE 7 and 8:
Click on “Tools” and then “Internet Options”.
On the Advanced tab, and then click the “Reset” button.

For IE 6:
[note: I highly, sincerely, and ardently, urge you to stop using IE 6, and switch to 7 or 8, or Firefox 3, or Avant, or whatever. Please? IE 6 is only the most hacked piece of software ever!]

a: Click Start, click Run, type “%systemroot%\inf” (no quotes) and then press Enter.
b: Find the Ie.inf file that is located in Windows\Inf folder.
c: Right-click the Ie.inf file, and then click Install.
d: Restart the computer when the file copy process is complete

Today’s free link: A fellow tech blogger asked for an interview to post on his website. If you’re interested, you can read it here.

Today’s free download: In one of the tips above, I mentioned Windows’ Add/Remove Programs tool (found in your Control Panel) which is the standard method for uninstalling programs from your machine. Long-time Windows users can attest that this utility doesn’t always work as it should, and completely remove all traces of the app you want gone. To really remove a program, you may want the power of a 3rd-party uninstall program, and the one that’s most recommended in the Geek community is Revo Uninstaller (also available in a portable version).

Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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