~ HOW TO OPEN THE WA! PORTS ON A LINKSYS ROUTER ~

OK folks... here it is, the definitive guide (I hope) for eliminating firewall problems with your Linksys brand router.  Sorry, but this is the extent of my "expertise" if you can call it that :P  If you have a D*Link or some other brand, these instructions won't work for you.

1) First, you need to determine your computer's IP address.  For the purposes of this process, you need the true IP address of your computer, not the IP address seen by the internet through your router.  Therefore, IP Chicken and similar sites will NOT give you the correct address.  Follow step A for Windows XP and step B for other versions of Windows.

    A) Click Start, then click on Run.  In the text field, type in "command" and hit enter.  At the DOS prompt, type in "ipconfig" and hit enter.  You'll get a list of jargon, jot down the numbers you see after where it says IP Address and the numbers after where it says Default Gateway, then close the DOS window.

    B) Click Start, then click on Run.  In the text field, type in "winipcfg" and hit enter.  Write down the numbers after where it says IP Address and the numbers after where it says Default Gateway, then and close the winipcfg window.

2) Open a new Internet Explorer window and type in your Default Gateway numbers in the address bar.  For many Linksys routers this is  http://192.168.1.1/, though yours may be different.  You can try right-click this link and open in a new window if the numbers match your Default Gateway.

If you are prompted for a login, leave the Username field blank, and type in "admin" as your password.

3) The next screen may vary depending on what model and version of router you own.  The link you want to find, however, is called "Port Range Forwarding".  With my router this can be found under the "Applications and Gaming" tab, while others have told me their Port Range Forwarding is directly clickable from the main router management page.  Look for Port Range Forwarding, wherever it may be, and click it.

4) On the Port Range screen, there are several columns and rows to fill in.  You only need to fill in one row with the following information:

Application: WA!  (this is just a column to name the ports you are opening... it doesn't exist in all versions and it doesn't matter what you type- it's just to help you keep track of your ports.  Don't worry if you don't see a column for it)

Start: 7666

End: 7668

Protocol: Both

IP Address: Type in the last 3 numbers of the IP address you wrote down in step 1.  The rest of the IP address should already be filled in for you.

Enabled: Yes/checked

5) Click on the "Save Settings" button at the bottom.

6) Try challenging someone on WA!... it should work now.

7) PLEASE let me ('chu) know the results, whether the process was a failure or not, and what steps could be better clarified.  Even if it worked fine, I'd be thrilled to know that I could help anyone out ^_^