Hi evenshade,

Name of router? So we can see if has the ability to do that, looks like the cisco below does...

See this example for a cisco router...

Joe

Here is a link that might be useful: cisco

Hopefully your router can be configured to use WPA2 encryption. WEP encryption is VERY easy to hack.

Pam Google change password on type make and model here and follow along. It is quite easy but each router maker uses their own way to do this.

As noted try changing your security, I cannot get WPA2 on mine so I am comfortable with WPA.

Please please please do not change your LONG safe secure passcode to something like butterfly it is long and made of various characters for a reason!! It is keeping you secure. I personally never change mine I do write it down on a slip of paper and tape it to the router. To get it someone has to be in my house.

If you do decide to do this which I warn you highly to be thoughtful of, you must choose a LONG password that is NOT a real word but made up of letters and numbers and characters.
Create a sentence and use the first letter of each for example.
If you have 3 children Bob, Ted, Alice you could do BTA*79*81*83*1950

that is the 3 first letters of the children
*79 would be Bobs age etc for each childs age
and the last 1950 could be the year you were married or you were born etc.
those are things you would remember but do contain all of the required characters.
JUST do NOT use any real words.

another option is to download a very simple little program that lets you type in any phrase and it will translate that into the proper code needed.

so you can type in something like
I like to ride bikes and swim
and it turns that easy to remember phrase into the long complicated key code, but all you need to remember is the easy phrase.
WIFI Key Generator 1.0
I have seen some routers that have that built in and allow you to do that.

Thank you, everyone. I've decided to go for safety instead of convenience. I appreciate your time and thoughtful responses. Such a great group.

Raven I have seen suggestions for passwords in here that would be hard for me to remember and even the sentence. The kids and their ages is a an easy one to remember. When setting a new password for anything I will remember that.

Keep in mind that there is a difference between the 26-digit hexadecimal secure encryption key and the passphrase. They are 2 entirely different methods of access to a router. I believe the OP was referring to the hexadecimal encryption key.

My Netgear router has a guest account that I can set a separate password for, so that friends and family can log on without divulging any of my security codes...maybe you have that too? You have to log onto the router with the admin account and enable the guest account first, then set the password.

Thanks again, everyone. This router is an Embarq 660 Series that my CenturyLink tech gave me when he came to work on my connection several years ago. I don't even know how to get into its settings. On the bottom are a SSID code and a WEP Key# that is a combination of 13 numbers/letters. I should probably leave well enough alone. I sometimes get myself in trouble. :)

Ahhhhh....the Embarq 660 is a modem, not a router. Disregard my previous posts in this thread, as they were for a wireless router. If you go to youtube and type in "Embarq 660 series", you will find several videos that may be helpful for you.