To access your router logs you will have to connect to your router's interface. Most home routers use a web interface which you can access using Internet explorer. Check your device's documentation for information on how to connect to this service.

Most routers will have a 'status page' which contains information on the device's connection to the Internet, its logs, security alerts, etc. Your router's log should be located here, along with information on which systems are connected. If not, check your documentation for information on locating these features.

Pictured below is an example of the log and connected computer status from an SMC Barricade wireless home router.

While you are connected to your router, change the default username (if possible) and password to something more secure. This leads us directly into our next section...

This is impossible to stress enough. If you are using Windows XP or 2000, you must set a secure password for every user on your system!

Not doing this allows intruders to essentially have free rein on all your files. The reason for this is that XP and 2000 implement a hidden share on every drive in your system, accessible only to user accounts with administrator privileges.

Unfortunately, any user account created during the XP install process has these administrator privileges, in addition to the built-in 'administrator' account, and these accounts are not assigned a password by default, meaning that anyone who can find the username can access all files in your computer.

In Windows 2000, it is quite possible not to assign a password even to the administrator account itself, and of course 'username: administrator, password: (blank)' is the first combination any intruder will attempt when trying to get at your files. To set passwords in XP or 2000: Go to 'start menu/control panel/user accounts' and allocate passwords to all the user accounts you created during the install process.