Precisely... When you set up an AirPort Base Station with AirPort Utility it's made abundantly clear that there are two separate p/w's with differing functionalities, but I've got zero familiarity with the Netgear setup procedure, so I don't know how obvious a setting Bensheim missed.
It's this widget:
http://www.pimley.net/projects/#airlockIt came from here:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/top50/Re: "when you set up an Airport base station with Airport utility.....", the Netgear router has a phone wire coming in and four Ethernet cables going out. Two of the Macs are Ethernet wired, also the printer. The other two Macs are wireless (connected).
I didn't need to set up an Airport base station etc., the Macs connected without any trouble as in (finding network....). At no point have I ever been asked to set a password.
That's all been the case for years - through several generations of Macs and through more than one Netgear router.
Hence my wondering how people DO set password protection, since at no point have I ever been asked for it.