You ask many questions.
Hopefully these answers will help.
1. There are two links for latest software, what is officially supported, and what is open source. Here they are:
http://wrt54g.thermoman.de/
http://www.linksys.com/download/ (be sure to select the proper version of product)
2. If your router is completely screwed up, you may be out of luck, like let's say if the box is powered down in the middle of a firmware flash. On the other hand, this document may help:
http://docs.sveasoft.com/SV-RecoveringFirmware.html
3. This is a loaded question, best configuration to run a safe environment means many different things to many different people. Interpreting your question to me means, how do you run a wireless network and prevent yourself from being hacked. If you want 100% security consider a few of these things:
a. use WPA for wireless security, not WEP. WEP is cracked.
b. Don't broadcast your SSID, and change it from 'linksys' to something else
c. Consider using MAC-filtering to only allow your MAC addresses on the network
d. Make your wireless strength as weak as possible, so that it works well in your house but not beyond your walls. don't arbitrarily go for strongest signal as that extends your reach.
e. Change your router login password to something other than 'admin'
There may be a few other tips but that is my quick summary.
4. I'm not sure if this question means that you know something about wireless networks, or you know nothing about wireless networks, and the answer would differ depending on your knowledge level. Start with Linksys user documentation and review some primers on wireless networking. The following link provides some good overview of many o fthe settings.
http://docs.sveasoft.com/SV-Guide.html
Hopefully these answers will help.
1. There are two links for latest software, what is officially supported, and what is open source. Here they are:
http://wrt54g.thermoman.de/
http://www.linksys.com/download/ (be sure to select the proper version of product)
2. If your router is completely screwed up, you may be out of luck, like let's say if the box is powered down in the middle of a firmware flash. On the other hand, this document may help:
http://docs.sveasoft.com/SV-RecoveringFirmware.html
3. This is a loaded question, best configuration to run a safe environment means many different things to many different people. Interpreting your question to me means, how do you run a wireless network and prevent yourself from being hacked. If you want 100% security consider a few of these things:
a. use WPA for wireless security, not WEP. WEP is cracked.
b. Don't broadcast your SSID, and change it from 'linksys' to something else
c. Consider using MAC-filtering to only allow your MAC addresses on the network
d. Make your wireless strength as weak as possible, so that it works well in your house but not beyond your walls. don't arbitrarily go for strongest signal as that extends your reach.
e. Change your router login password to something other than 'admin'
There may be a few other tips but that is my quick summary.
4. I'm not sure if this question means that you know something about wireless networks, or you know nothing about wireless networks, and the answer would differ depending on your knowledge level. Start with Linksys user documentation and review some primers on wireless networking. The following link provides some good overview of many o fthe settings.
http://docs.sveasoft.com/SV-Guide.html