NETGEAR WG121 Chapter Basic Setup, What You Need Before You Begin, Verifying System Requirements

Chapter 3

Basic Setup

This chapter describes how to install your NETGEAR 54 Mbps Wireless USB 2.0 Adapter WG121 and set up basic wireless connectivity on your Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). Advanced wireless network configuration is covered in Chapter 4, “Configuration” in this manual.

Note: Indoors, computers can easily connect to 802.11 wireless networks at distances of several hundred feet. Because walls do not always block wireless signals, others outside your immediate area could access your network. It is important to take appropriate steps to secure your network from unauthorized access. The NETGEAR 54 Mbps Wireless USB 2.0 Adapter WG121 provides highly effective security features which are covered in “Enabling Wireless Security Features” on page 4-6in this manual. Deploy the security features appropriate to your needs.

What You Need Before You Begin

You need to verify your computer meets the minimum system requirements and identify the wireless network configuration settings of the WLAN where you will connect before you can configure your wireless USB adapter and connect.

Verifying System Requirements

Before installing the NETGEAR 54 Mbps Wireless USB 2.0 Adapter WG121, please make sure that these minimum requirements have been met:

•You must have a PC with a Pentium® 300 MHz or higher compatible processor with an available USB 2.0 or 1.1 port.

Note: If you do not have a USB 2.0 port on your PC, the throughput of the WG121 will be limited to the 14 Mbps of the USB 1.1 standard.

•A CD-ROM drive.

•5 Mbytes of free hard disk space.

Basic Setup 3-1