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How can you connect a IBM compatible laptop computer to a Mac wireless router?

Problem is I am temporarily staying with friends, I have a Dell and they have a MAC with a MAC wireless system. None of us can find a way to connect my laptop to their system and in fact I can not even read that there is a wireless network for them, but I can pick up others in the area (locked). Is there a solution?

Public Comments

1. oh my goodness  my wonderful Airport express hooked up 2  and 9 windows machines in under 50 minutes. And it is password protected. all you guys need is an apple  airport express. It walks you through everything
2. Does the wireless router have a password? Mac's can use passwords of ANY length Windows requires the password to be 13 characters long (and may have other restrictions) If there is a password, ask them to change it OR remove the password for the time being. If they are filtering based on Mac ADDRESS then you need to get your Mac ADDRESS and add it to the ACL list.
3. The simplest way I have found to do this is to toss all the ISP- and manufacturer-supplied CDs in an archive folder and configure the router manually to "dial" into the ISP and act as a DHCP server. As it is set up now, each machine only knows how to connect directly. You want to create a common access point for all internet connections in your location. I would recommend connecting the modem to the router via the uplink port and the Mac to the router via ethernet. Depending on the OS version, use either Open Transport or the Finder's "Go" menu "Connect to server..." command to access the embedded software on the router. The default IP address and administrative password should be included in the documentation for the router. Once connected, this should present you with a web page viewable with a web browser where you can set up the the router to dial into the ISP connection with the account and password info from the ISP, and to provide NAT as a DHCP server. Once that is done, anything that connects to the router is automatically connected to the internet as part of a WAN. At the very least you will want to set up a WEP password. Additionally, you might wish to change the default name of the router, the administrative password, firewall settings, etc. Alternatively, you can set up the Mac to act as the DHCP server. That is what it is trying to do now, and failing. This can be as simple as enabling internet sharing, or more elaborate. I find it to be more flexible and less of a burden on any of the working machines to off-load networking to another machine, yet it can also make sense to be able to control and monitor activity from a desktop PC