If you own a Chromecast and have annoying friends or housemates, you’re probably tired of them interrupting your movie-watching by streaming stupid videos to your device. Rickrolls are funny the first time, not the 26th, and especially not when you’re invested in your favourite show or film.

Windows: There are a million little apps that feature some combination of the words "Wi-Fi" and "analysis", or something really close to either. Some apps are paid; some are free. And they all allow you see different combinations of information about your wireless setup (and the wireless setups of those around you).

Last week, we reported on an attack, that's been attributed to Russian malware distributors, that attacks a number of home routers and can be potentially used in large attacks or to steal data from you. Law enforcement has taken down the botnet that used the hack, called VPNFilter, but the risk isn't completely gone.

We talk a lot about software designed to attack our smartphones and computers, but it turns out your router might also be at risk. That's right. Some dangerous new malware is going after the box you use to beam internet around your home or office.

Various models of Netgear routers have been found to have a critical security flaw that lets hackers take over the devices and remotely run code on them. The vulnerability is easy to exploit and the list of affected Netgear routers is growing. Here's are all the Netgear routers that have been found to carry the security bug and a possible workaround.

If you're building a new home, or renovating your existing one, you have a great opportunity to update and future-proof your home's wiring -- not only for power (like adding USB sockets to your wall outlets) but also for networking. Putting a bit of thought into how you set your home up can save you from the woes of dodgy Wi-Fi connectivity, unwanted buffering and black spots throughout your living space.

Between your home or work network and the internet sits your broadband router. This humble device is often overlooked, yet it is also your first line of defence against hackers, malware and viruses.

Cutting dados and tenons require precise tolerances. This handheld router is easy to make and provides a consistent depth of cut and better feel than a powered router.

Dear Lifehacker, For some reason the router at my place seems to need resetting on a regular basis. Is there any way that instead of walking downstairs to physically press the reset button on the side of the router I can cause it to reset via the software? I don't have admin access to it either, if that makes a difference. Thanks, Scoon

Wired's How-To Wiki details step-by-step how to set up port forwarding to make sure you're getting the best experience from your Xbox 360 and Xbox Live game play. Depending on your router you may never have needed to do this, but if you've ever experienced long wait-times between games and other suspicious network problems, there's a fair chance that a quick trip through your router's settings could make a big difference. While you're at it, you may be interested in tweaking your router to ensure your Xbox gets the lion's share of your bandwidth when you need it. Finally, now that you're gaming is set up for top performance, maybe it's time you do more than just game on your 360. Set Up Port Forwarding on Your Xbox 360

Lifehacker Reader Jared Valentine tried ensuring a fast internet connection by setting Quality of Service rules on his router but found that QoS just wasn't working well for his needs. To solve his problem, Jared wrote an extensive howto detailing how to set up his computer to automatically detect when he's on a VoIP call, then aggressively limit his other traffic to make sure he's got plenty of bandwidth for his voice calls. The tutorial is not for the faint of heart, but if you can pull it off, Jared calls it his holy grail of traffic prioritisation. If you're looking for a simpler way, you may want to give router QoS rules a try to see if they'll work for you first. Application Aware Triggered Quality of Service (AATQoS)

If you like to have ready-to-go access to remote machines (or a home server, perhaps) from your Linux desktop, you might have noticed that you can't always get what you want. Many home and office routers kill "idle" connections after a certain length of time, forcing you to log in again. The FOSSwire blog points out a one-line addition to the end of the client's SSH configuration file (found at /etc/ssh/sshd_config in many systems) to fix this:ServerAliveInterval 180That should send a little ping out every three minutes to ensure the connection is kept alive. This tip should work on most any OpenSSH server that allows access to its sshd_config file, but, as FOSSwire points out, it means any connections you leave open are just that—open to any nefarious passer-by, so use session-closing caution when needed. Keep Your SSH Connection Open

The Web Worker Daily weblog suggests several methods to keep your router performing and your wireless internet strong. The post offers several tips for how to improve your wireless network, from performing a cycled reboot when things aren't working correctly to adding access points to boost get your signal to every corner of your home. Honestly, after having turned my router into a super-router with both DD-WRT and Tomato, I've never enjoyed more stability and performance from a router. I can't remember the last time I had to do a cycled reboot, and the Wi-Fi signal boosting doesn't hurt, either. Routers running Tomato/DD-WRT also work as wireless bridges for extending your base signal, and they're a cheap way to do it. Let's hear how you keep your home network churning day in and out in the comments. Regular Checkups to Keep Your Wi-Fi Signal Spiffy

You want access to your home computer wherever you are, whatever you're doing, whether that's via a remote desktop connection, SSH, FTP, web interface, or any other remote access you've set up. The catch is, you don't like throwing money away to an always-on system. Luckily you can have your digital cake and eat it, too, and today I'll show you how to boot and shut down your system remotely so that it's ready for you when you need it and it's not wasting energy when you don't.

A year-and-a-half ago, we showed you how to turn your $60 router into a highly configurable $600 router with DD-WRT, a free, open source firmware. Since then there's been a lot of development of open source firmwares, and today we're taking a look at my new favorite, a firmware called Tomato. Tomato does almost everything DD-WRT does—from Wi-Fi signal boosting to Quality of Service bandwidth allocation—in addition to offering a simplified interface chock-full of fancy charts and graphs. Sound good? Let's get started.

Web site YouGetSignal scans your external IP address to let you know which ports are being successfully forwarded through your firewall and which ports are closed for business. Whether you've set up your own home server or gotten down and dirty with BitTorrent, chances are you've had at least one run-in with port forwarding, the process that lets computers outside your network through your firewall to access your computer. If you don't know how to set up port forwarding but would like to, check out our guide.

Port Forwarding Tester