Trying to set up wi-fi wpa encryption!!

Hi folks. I have an Acer Aspire with Win7 64 bit OS that I bought a few months back. At that time I didn’t want the Wi Fi working since I use hard wiring here, but my wife is taking the computer abroad in a couple days and I have been trying to set up the security encryption settings that I shut down before, but for the life of me I can’t remember where I went into to do that. I have tried among other things going into the network and sharing center from the control panel, but am not finding anyplace to set up encryption. I have turned on the wi fi adaptor, but can’t find where to set the the wpa etc.
Please can any of you computer wizards out there help me with this? I only have the next day or so to get this figured out. I'll keep trying in the mean time.
Thanks in advance for all your help.
SW

Right click network connection in notification area (bottom right), then select network and sharing center, in top left of page select manage wireless networks, highlight your network connection then right click and select properties. Then select the security tab in the window that pops up and set settings accordingly.

Perhaps you are seeking this path?:
Network and sharing centre - Change Advanced sharing settings -

Then choose you particular option. In my case Home or Work

Down at the bottom you can elect Password protetected sharing and,, 128 bit encryption.

P.S. Just read your first post again. I am not 100% certain, but I think WPA encyption is in the router, not on the computer. In your case, this mod would not apply.

Are you saying you actually disabled the wi-fi adapter? If so go to Control Panel > Device Manager and find it in the list of devices and reenable it.

And if you go to Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Network and Sharing Center you may need to go to "Change adapter settings" and select the wireless NIC instead of the Local Area connection.

Also in some foreign countries if she needs to share files she may need to "enable file sharing for devices that use 40- or 56-bit encryption" in the "Advanced sharing setting"s