Most people don’t touch their WiFi password until something annoying happens. A neighbor somehow knows it. Too many devices are connected. Or you simply can’t remember the weird default password printed on the back of the router.

The good news is that changing it usually takes less than ten minutes. Once you’ve done it once, you’ll wonder why you kept putting it off.

First, Log In to Your Router

You need access to the router settings page. Open a browser on a device already connected to your WiFi and type your router’s IP address into the address bar. For many routers, it’s something like 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1.

You’ll see a login screen. If you’ve never changed the router login details, check the sticker on the device itself. The username and password are often printed there.

And if those details don’t work, the router manual usually has the answer. Nobody keeps the manual, of course, but a quick search fixes that.

Finding the Wireless Settings

Every router looks a little different. Some menus are clean. Others feel like they were designed in 2012 and never updated.

Look for sections named Wireless, WiFi Settings, WLAN, or something similar. Once you’re there, you’ll see the current network name and the security settings.

• A field called Password or Passphrase. That’s usually the one you’re after.

• Some routers hide the password behind a checkbox, which always feels slightly unnecessary.

• If you see separate settings for 2.4GHz and 5GHz, they may share one password or use different ones.

Create a Better Password

This is the part where people either do it properly or set the password to something like “wifi12345” and call it a day.

Don’t do that.

A strong WiFi password should be long enough that nobody guesses it casually. Use a mix of words and numbers that mean something to you but aren’t obvious to anyone else.

Personally, I think longer passwords beat complicated ones. You’ll stop noticing a twelve-character password after a week. A short clever password tends to create problems later.

Save the Changes

Enter the new password and click Save, Apply, or Update. The router will usually restart the wireless connection.

For a minute or two, devices around your home may lose internet access. That’s normal.

Then reconnect each device using the new password.

Don’t Forget the Devices You Rarely Use

Raj changed his WiFi password after sharing it with guests during a cricket match. Everything seemed fine until his old smart TV stopped connecting three days later. He’d forgotten it even existed.

That’s the thing people miss. Phones reconnect quickly. The forgotten gadgets don’t.

• Smart TVs sitting quietly in the corner.

• Security cameras. They tend to complain only after they’ve gone offline for hours.

• An old tablet tucked inside a drawer somewhere, waiting to surprise you later.