i am a novice with computers, i want to use my lap top in other rooms. i brought a router but my lap top will only work if hook up directly. please help. do i need to get an adapter or did i do something wrong

You mean you want to set up a wireless network? Turn on the wireless switch on your laptop. Perhaps your laptop came with a wirelss utility/program. Basically, you need to make sure your laptop sees the wireless network. Go to network connections, you will see the normal network, connection, if there is one that says wirelss, go to properties, check for wireless connections. You might see your neighbours, if you see an unsecured one, that could be yours. If you can see it as unsecured, then you need to log into the router, to asign a wep key etc Before posting try google. Backup. Use anti virus software.