When you say "64-bit encryption", do you mean WEP? WPA? Something else? WEP is not secure, and can be broken in minutes. As far as I know, WPA is still considered reasonably secure. IF your router is requiring 64-bit WPA for connections (do you have to set up the WPA key on your laptop before connecting?) then you have reasonable privacy, yes.

But when you say "it cannot be seen from the outside", do you mean "is my traffic secure as it passes over the internet", or "can my neighbors sniff the traffic with their laptops"? #2 is yes, #1 is no. Let me know if you desire clarification.

Oh, and you can probably tell if it's WEP or WPA by looking at your router settings.

If it is a WiFi router, and has 64 bit WEP encryption running on the wireless network, machines manned by hostile strangers within radio range could detect the presence of your network by radio emissions, and, because of a widely known flaw in 64 bit WEP, gain enough information about your network from listening to your normal traffic between your router and wireless network computers, to crack your encryption in about 10 minutes. 64 bit WEP encryption is so trivially broken, it's about the same as having no encryption at all.

You need to be running WPA or WPA2 encryption. You may need to update your router's firmware to obtain this better level of wireless security, or if your router is very old, you may need to buy a new router.

thanks for the spedy reply Agropyron, I've looked in the conrol panel and can't begin to see which of the following would let me know whether it is WPA or WEP. Network Connection, Phone& modem, Internet options, Wireless link, or windows firewall. See what I mean about illiterate?
I have just seen in the control panel that there is a wireless Network set-up wizard so I may not have even set it up as I thought first day (it was two years ago!)

I'll probably have to ring the BT helpline, I was just hoping for some links to on-line directions before I start a phone marathon to get to the bottom of this.

As you say I don't have to do anything special on my keyboard so it does look like your #1 scenario and therfore insecure.

I meant "speedy". Also I'm not too concerned in the sense that anything work-related and therfore sensitive goes through a VPN. It would only be home use that's wide open. I'm really looking to become less ignorant about my own set-up. Thanks also Paulsc, will see if I can upgrade.

Wilder, typically, there is a Web page running on a tiny (as in small, basic amount of code needed for a functioning interface) Web server in your router. You normally get to it, by opening your browser, and typing a common default address for the router like http://192.168.1.1 or http://192.168.1.100 or http://10.0.0.1 It's usually recommended that you do this while connected locally via a wired connection to the router, as changes you make can "break" a wireless connection temporarily, thus locking you out of the router until you can make appropriate changes in the network setup of your PC, to match those you've made on your router (this happens if you change passphrase for WPA, as example).

The exact numerical address will depend on the model of router, and is usually disclosed in the manual or setup documents that came with it. The internal Web server on the router may also greet you with a login page when you contact it, where you'd need to enter a user name and password, for security. The default user name is often something like admin and initial password maybe admin or even blank (nothing) until you reset these as part of your initial network set up.

The Web pages your router displays ususally give you a simple means of choosing configuration options for your network, and of doing administrative tasks like software upgrades and setting security modes, enabling firewall protection, etc.

Finally, if you are planning to use this router in line with a work VPN, you need to understand that not all VPN solutions will work through a router doing NAT (Network Address Translation) which is common to about 99.9% of home WiFi routers made. Some VPN solutions can work through NAT, but many others require that the machine on which you are doing VPN be directly connected to the Internet, with a conventional, routable IP address. Check with your work IT department to be sure.

Firstly can I say thank you that neither of you have made me feel like an idiot, I really appreciate that.
I will get on to see what my router settings are, although I am guessing simply because I seem to have a firewall installed that this happened as a default with this particular model.
Secondly a good point about the VPN. When my work IT set it up with me I had a cable, not wireless. I did not realise since it worked equally well when I moved to wireless that it might give my IT guys cause for concern. Will contact them tomorrow.