How to Enhance and Secure Your Wi-Fi Network

Easy-to-implement strategies for staying connected and secure on a home or public Wi-Fi network.

Becky Waring, PC World

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Turn Off Wi-Fi When It's Not in Use 5 of 18

On the road, it's best to turn your notebook's Wi-Fi adapter completely off when you aren't using it. This prevents you from inadvertently connecting to a malicious hotspot, and it extends your laptop's battery life. Some newer notebooks have a hardware button that does this; otherwise, to turn off Wi-Fi in Windows XP, click the wireless network icon in the system tray and choose 'Disable'.