The router works

I got the router plugged in and working last night. In one way, it does
matter which cable is plugged where. I tried to leave the original cable
modem cord plugged into the computer and use that on the blue ethernet
labelled port, but the software for managing the network wasn't
detecting the internet connection to the router. So I turned off the
router and cable modem, swapped cables, and plugged them back in and
powered up.

Internet connection detected right away. I could put my other P4 tower
on the net again, but I'm not using it for doing that. My P3 with
Win98SE doesn't have the driver for the NIC yet, but I wasn't going to
get on the net with that one at all.

At least it's there for a wireless access point (or wired) when I work
on people's systems and don't need to turn off the cable modem when I
switch connections.

I have security on that as much as I could. It's got WPA2 turned on, and
the SSID is not being broadcast. I could even turn on MAC filtering. I
do not allow remote or wireless access to the router's management
features, and yes, the default name and password to the router have been
changed. In fact, I changed it a 2nd time to something harder to figure
out and I wrote it down. When using the HTTP interface, I had Firefox
remember the password.

The network manager software can detect intruders, but without the key,
they're not getting in. If they spent the time and effort, they might
figure it out, but by then I might have it changed and they have to
start all over again.