Need help setting up a wireless connection

Hi Guys
I currently have a 16 port netgear switch in the office. Im looking to connect a wireless router or wireless access point of some sort.
Don't really know what im talking about, but that's why im here.
I just need to know how to do this and what I need. Im in the UK, if anyone can advise me of what to buy and where to get it I would be greatful.
I'm not looking for something expensive, it's just a small office and im near the switch at the moment. We currently only use 6 ports on the switch.

It's really easy if you already have a wireless router.

Since your PC is already connected to your router, simply open up your browser and enter '192.168.1.1' without quotes (this is the usual default address, if this does not work try 192.168.1.100 or 101, 102 and so on) into the address bar. This should bring you to the router setup page. You will most likely be prompted to enter an account name and password, which will usually be 'admin' and a blank password if you have never accessed it before. Check your router manual for the default combination.

Notice the surfeit of 'usually'; whilst the basic steps are the same there may be slight adjustments needed according to your router brand and firmware.

Once you've managed to access your router setup you just have to navigate to the wireless settings and configure the following

>enable wireless
>name your network, aka setting the SSID
>you can leave the wireless channel as it is, unless you have difficulty with the reception
>enable the auto channel scan (this will also gray out the above option)
>super G mode or whatever, leave this enabled
>disable 802.11g only mode, since you just got a new laptop most likely it supports wireless N. your router may not though
>disable the hidden wireless, because hiding the SSID broadcast doesn't actually provide any significant security benefit

which brings us to securing your network,

>since it's a personal network set the security mode to WPA2 wireless security at least, enable the TKIP encryption if there is such an option
>set the password for your network
>if possible set your connection to accept only whitelisted MAC addresses. The upside is unlisted devices cannot connect to your network unless they somehow manage to spoof the MAC address, but you'd have to maintain the address list manually every time you want to use another device to connect. Alternatively you can just leave it as blacklist mode and hope your password is secure enough.

to find the MAC (physical address) of your laptop wireless adapter:
>if you want to use whitelist you have to add the MAC address of your LAPTOP's wireless adapter to the whitelist.
>To find it run cmd.exe from the Windows Start menu to bring up the command prompt. Type in 'ipconfig /all' without the quotes and press enter. This will bring up a long list of internet protocol related stuff, just scroll up and look for the one that states 'wireless LAN adapter' or something similar
>the MAC address will be listed as 'physical address' in this format: xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx
>all that's left is to enter the physical address into the whitelist (the format might be different, instead of dashes you may have to use colons, like so, xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx) on your router wireless network settings, and this device will be authorised to connect and use the network.
>if you want to use your phone/iPod/iPhone to connect to your wi-fi network you just have to find the MAC address and input into the whitelist as well.

And that's it, you have your wireless network up and running, and reasonably secured to boot. Have your laptop rescan for your wi-fi network, once you've connected and entered the password it'll be automatically saved as a profile so you won't have to retype the password every time.