linksys wireless stuff...security tips please ?

Hello all you WEP ..or is it WAN aware people in here , ...(...grovel
....grovel ....)

I've been using a Linksys WAG354G Router for a while now, and RJ45 LAN leads
to access the internet - on my main and 2nd PC's. 2nd PC now needs to go
downstairs for Dad and nieces to use, due to the PIII 600EB on an ancient
glitchy Asus board, down there, which now is going to pay dearly for its'
glitchiness by being replaced !! ...so earlier today I put a Wireless-G
PCI adapter into my 2nd PC, (with its' sort of rubber arial that sticks out
the back near the bank of expansion card plates), and sort of stumbled
through the "quick set-up," and switched on the wireless part of my router
by stumbling through the WAG354G menus that are accessed through IE6 and
going to http://192.168.1.1 ...what a hideous procedure !, ...and every
time one changes settings they take ages to save, almost as though an eeprom
is being written to, which suggests to me that I could be reducing the life
of the router by occasionally switching on or off the "wireless" part of the
router !

I now seem to have some sort of wireless network called "linksys" (should
that be changed ?) and I had to enter a passphrase during installation of
the wireless PCI card that generated a 128 bit "key," and I think I chose
WEP whatever WEP is ! ...and I noticed that it's using Channel 11, should
I change that ? Could I be providing free internet access to neighbours who
might happen to have a Linksys router ?

Any tips gratefully recieved.

regards, Richard