Disable "Show Character" in Windows Vista for Wifi connection

In my company I have given access for 10 laptop out of 20 to use internet by wireless. For security purpose I have configured WAP Personal and Encryption TKIP. So the other laptop users do not know the security key. But yesterday I have found that more than 10 laptops accessing internet via wireless. There was no problem with security of wireless access point. It is secures with password. For that reason I checked into the laptop. It was running Window Vista Business. When I opened wireless adapter connection --> Properties> Security Tab, there was a check box " Show characters" and it was checked and due to this Network security key is visible. Don’t know how? Anyway how can I disable it completely now?

As far as I know it is the feature of the Windows vista. There is no way you can disable it in Windows vista and for that you may need a new design. For now I recommend you have only way and that is reset your network settings and uncheck "Show characters" box. Otherwise you should restrict the privileges of the user from accessing the network settings which is not possible in your case.

I urge you to choose WPA2-PSK, as it provides the strongest encryption. Older devices and computers do not always support WPA encryption. In this case, select WEP. WEP is an older and less secure encryption keys and use difficult to remember. If you are using a very latest computer with latest OS then Choose WPA2-PSK or WPA-PSK.

I think Changing SSID of your modem can solve the problem.

• Open your browser and enter "http://192.168.1.254" on the address and press Enter. If a login screen appears, enter the default user "Administrator" (note the capitalization) in. Enter no password by default, unless you created a password.
• In the left column on "Home Network". As part displays a summary of your network.
• Click on the text that begins with "WLAN: SpeedTouch ... ..."
• Now right click on the text 'Configure'. You access the configuration of the wireless access point.
• Rename your SSID in the box next to "Network Name (SSID)"
• Click 'Apply'.

Active in the AP MAC address filtering from Wi-Fi devices currently have running. Enabling MAC filtering let only those devices with specified MAC addresses to connect to your Wi-Fi.
On the one hand it is possible to learn the MAC addresses of computers that connect to the network by simply "listening" to the appropriate schedule, since MAC addresses are transmitted "in clear", unencrypted between the Access Point and the team.

There is a better way to restrict the Wifi access point as your needs so that it can take only 10 devices at a time and no more than that. If the AP permits to do this, sets the maximum number of devices that can connect simultaneously to the AP. Also Unplug the Access Point power when you're not using or do not go to for a while. The AP stores the configuration and does not need to enter it again each time you connect.

Everyone knows that there are applications that can crack the WEP key of our Wi-Fi network by analyzing the data transmitted by it. It may take between 1 and 4 GB of data to crack a WEP key, depending on the complexity of the keys. When we reach this wealth of information transmitted is advisable to change the keys. Remember you have to put the same WEP key on the Access Point and the devices they connect to it.

The broadcasting SSID allows new teams who want to connect to the Wi-Fi data automatically identifies the wireless network, thus avoiding manual configuration task.

When deactivated you will have to manually enter the SSID in the configuration if you want to connect.

As far as I know that Show Characters box can be greyed out only when the network and/or computer may be restricted by a group or local policy. Otherwise there is no way it can be disabled via network. If it is a client PC connected to the network, then you could have disabled it by providing certain user account to login with limited user privileges. However in your case laptop is independent. So it could be little complicated.

Each solution has its advantages and disadvantages.

For my part, I would advise to keep the DHCP (especially with the more convenient Microsoft operating systems and especially coupled with MAC filtering), but to change the class of IP addresses or IP addresses. You will need to change the traditional 192.168.1.0 in, for example, 10.0.0.X. Will be distributed in your network with DHCP IPs 10.0.0.1 to 10.0.0.254.