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[SeaCastle]

A few weeks ago, I came back from vacation at a beach house, and I brought my laptop, the main source of my downloading. I had everything configured and was uploading 100K per second on  a regular basis. The wi-fi was spotty, and I think I must have messed something up because now my speeds aren't really great at all.

I tried port checking and it's giving me the green, but I can't access my wireless router, and I doubt anyone in my household would change the username/password. My router is a Netgear WPN824V2 or something of the like.

Thanks in advance!

[kirky]

I don't understand what you are asking, how does this relate to port forwarding?

If speeds are slow, but still working, then port forwarding is NOT the issue.  It sounds like you are saing that you were away for a bit, and since you came back, you cannot log into your router.  If that's the case, I would shut it off IMMEDIATELY!  Reset the router back to factory defaults and reconfigure it.  Make sure you secure it with something like WPA, not WEP.  WEP is extremely weak and can be broken in a matter of minutes (possibly seconds).  Don't plug that router into the Internet until you have it secured.

Heck, if it were me, I'd buy a new one, unplug that old one from the Internet but leave it on (functioning).  It'll take the person who hacked it a while to figure out it's just not plugged into the net. 

If that's the problem.  It could very well be that a power surge messed up the modem and it just needs a good power cycle.  I never did have any luck/faith in Netgear products.

[eyore]

Kirky has said most of the important stuff.
The ports will either work or not - they shouldn't slow anything down - they are either open or closed.
What message do you get when you try and access the router?
Is it not accepting passwords or what? The message wording can be important.
If it's refusing to accept your details AND you are absolutely sure nobody has messed with it (as if they are going to say "oh by the way, while we were gone we messed up your........" I would do just as Kirky suggests.
Factory reset and start as though you just bought it - it certainly sounds like someone has been messing around with it and maybe hacked it (you DO have a firewall?).
Unplug ASAP, just in case.
I think it will probably just be someone pressed a wrong button while you were away and, just maybe, it's been reset already (I did that by accident once as the reset button on mine is in just the right place to press when you pick it up).
The slower speeds may just be down to your  your ISP (you wouldn't know as you were away) but, to be sure, I'd follow the advice given and rest and, if yoou can afford it, set up a new one.
Oh, scan the PCs that use it as well (I take it there's a home network there?). You may have a virus on one which is causing the problem. Check by shutting all programs down and seeing what and see what's still gong backwards and forwards via the router. That could be a reason for the bandwidth reduction.
One other possibility is that someone has hacked into your router and set themselves up on it and is now getting free Internet access through it.
Many possibilities but go through things one at a time and see if any solutions work.
Let us know.

[SeaCastle]

It never occured to me that somebody would be using our internet...but other houses are too far away to get in on the signal, which is why I don't think it's that. And we've been away before and this has never happened, could it be my computer itself?

Here's the message I get when logging into my router: A username and password are being requested by http://192.168.1.1. The site says: "WPN824v2"

After that, I get: Access to this resource is denied; your client has not supplied the correct authentication.

And just to note, none of my family's computers have viruses.

[kirky]

And just to note, none of my family's computers have viruses.

That you know about?!?  hehe

Virus is a broad ter, actually, it may be malware or some other type of program that someone installed.  I consider things like google toolbar, etc to be malware, but most will argue they are not. 

Regardless, a factory reset of the router is a good idea.  I recenlty had a friend suffer from slow speeds and it was his router needed to be reset.  Kindof like your computer needs to be reset sometimes to keep it working.

Also, a scan using Spybot Search and Destroy and Ad-Aware are a good idea to try to get rid of most of the malware.  At the very least power off the router and the cable modem or DSL modem) and then turn the cable modem (or DSL modem) on first, wait till it's online and working, then the router, then the computers.

Around here, a power surge has caused my cable modem to reset, but not the router which causes all sorts of trouble.  I really need to get both on a battery backup (as well as my print server), but that's another thread.

Check all that, and secure that wireless access point too!  You'd be surprised how far that signal travel, especially at night when you're probably sleeping.  During the day I only see two networks on my wireless scans.  At night I can see 7 or so.

[eyore]

I'd also suggest one other program to run.
www.malwarebytes.org program "anti-malware" (free).
I recently got a Trojan (passed through everything I had and wasn't picked up on any scan) and, when I ran this program, it picked up uite a few things that had been lurking for years (nothing too bad but who want's stuff like that on their PC).
A factory reset isn't that difficult and will at least rule out other problems won't it?
Trying to figure out the cause probably isn't worth it.
Accept that something has gone wrong, reset the thing and, if it works, that's fine - problem solved. There's obviously a BIG problem if you can't access the router so start from scratch (factory reset should put it back in the box - as new).
If it doesn't, then start to worry
Make sure you have a surge protector on your electric socket. It doesn't take much to fry things (even unplugging something can cause a problem) or someone else in the house plugging something in - not to mention lightening and problems at the electric company.
Not every virus etc will be picked up by just one program.
Run a few free scans on the PCs from different companies (to be sure) - most companies offer these on their sites - and run all the programs suggested.
That should make sure everything is clean.
Keep us up to date with how things go.