how do i add a password to my wireless network? its a home network i have an adapter in my pc upstairs and the router is downstairs
how do i open up the thing that shows you all the connections/wireless networks in the area?
thanks

the adapter is a linxsys wirelss g pci adapter 802.11g
it uses the software that came with it

here you can find the manual.

That's the manual for the wireless adapter, but that's not where im_no_good_with_computers will need to setup wireless encryption.

im_no_good_with_computers, what model router do you have?
You can probably login to it at http://192.168.1.1/ or http://192.168.0.1/ (check the manual for the default password if you haven't set one - it's probably a combination of "admin," "default," and/or blank).
Once in the setup page, look for a link regarding the wireless setup.
You'll want to turn on WPA encryption. Once you turn that on you'll have to enter the key you want to use into both the router and the computer. Make sure you remember that key or write it down because if you lose it the only want to get it back may be to reset the router back to the factory defaults.

Hope this helps

Ben