All home Wi-Fi gear comes with the bricks and mortar to put up at least a basic security wall against intruders and eavesdroppers, but McAfee wants to sell teleworkers a better trowel for building it.

The company's McAfee Wireless Home Network Security software automatically sets up encryption keys on Wi-Fi routers and the PCs connected to them, and then rotates the keys every three hours, says Stu Elefant, senior product manager for wireless and new initiatives at McAfee. The software will work with older Wi-Fi systems that use the Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) encryption system, as well as current equipment that supports the newer Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA ) and WPA 2 technologies. It is scheduled to go on sale online next week and in stores next month.

McAfee's software is designed to keep intruders, either malicious "war drivers" or neighbors who just want to freeload on a broadband Internet connection, from accessing wireless LANs and deciphering the packets that travel over the network. As users rapidly embrace Wi-Fi for their home networks, many are not using any security, usually because they can't figure out how to set it up, industry analysts say.

McAfee isn't alone in trying to tackle the problem. Broadcom, which makes the chips used in many popular WLAN products, has developed a simplified security setup technology that was introduced in some Cisco products last month and might be coming to other vendors' offerings soon, observers say. And the Wi-Fi Alliance, the industry group that certifies Wi-Fi gear, in the first half of next year plans to create a standard for easy security setup that vendors can build in and have certified as a check-off item on their products.

After loading McAfee's software on a PC, a user can set up security in a few steps, Elefant says. McAfee uses the standard Wi-Fi security mechanisms, but also produces a stronger key than most consumers can and adds automatic key rotation. The full features of the software work on PCs running Windows 98 Second Edition, ME, 2000 or XP.

The software saves customers from having to log on to the Web browser page of the Wi-Fi router and going through a series of settings, Elefant says. Once loaded on the first PC, the software can detect an unsecure WLAN node nearby and asks if the user wants it protected. If the user confirms it, the software puts a key on the PC, sets up a secure connection to the router and sets up the same key on the router.