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How you should configure your laptop really depends upon your wireless access point. If it is configured to use WEP then all of your laptop and PCs should be configured to use WEP, same for WPA. Ideally use WPA as it is more secure, but even WEP is far better than no encryption at all.

You can configure your laptop to have different wireless profiles. You can set one up for when your at home and then another for when your in your favourite cafe using their wireless. Using WPA in one place doesn't imply you have to use it everywhere. Each profile has it own settings.