Some good points have been raised, however I'd add to the discussion and modify some of the suggestions as follows:

1) do not use WEP. Ever. There were flaws with it right out of the gate, and has only become easier to break with time; the effort to crack a WEP key is now trivial (read here for more info). Only use Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), and if you are going to use the Pre-Shared Key component (WPA-PSK mode), then make sure you are assigning a password of at least 20 characters. Use a combination of numbers, letters, and symbols, nothing found in a dictionary. It will probably allow a range from 8 to 63, depending on the implementation, but do not enter less than 20 or else your PSK will also be subject to cracking.

2) router placement -- ideally you want this to be in a location that's central to all the systems which you want to have access to it in your home, while being away from any areas which might allow RF leakage more easily (windows, corner of the house facing the street, etc.). The 1000 feet limit is typically an open space limit, indoors you will more likely see at most 300 feet depending on the composition of your home. However, even with careful placement, this won't stop somebody from camping out at a nearby location with an external antenna that can still pick up your signal and provide an avenue for attack. A good Yagi antenna can pick up your signal from a few miles away, so don't rely on perceived isolation as a defense -- assume that your wireless network will be under attack and lock down not only the wireless component but all systems behind it as best as possible (it sounds like you're doing that already with AV and software firewalls). You can mitigate some of this by placement/aiming of the antennas on your router -- if you have a multi-level home, rotate one of the omnidirectional antennas on the back of the router so that it's horizontal, as they have a donut shaped dispersion pattern that goes in a halo around the antenna, so this will push most of the signal up and down instead of around on the same floor.

3) Also in the vein of router placement, try to keep it away from 2.4 GHz (assuming you're getting equipment based on Wi-Fi b/g) cordless telephone base stations, microwave ovens, and fluorescent lighting.

4) Channel selection -- if you see wireless networks in your vicinity from neighbors, they will probably be on channels 6 or 11. There are 11 channels allowed for use in the US for b/g equipment and most people never move it off of the factory default, which creates problems in high density areas like apartment complexes or condos because everybody is stomping all over the other networks. Only channels 1, 6, and 11 don't have any overlap with each other, so stick to one of those three, unless you're really isolated from current/potential networks, then you can experiment with other channels if it seems you're getting a lot of interference.

5) Other simple but important items: (a) change the default password on the router (everybody knows the defaults, you'll make their job easier if you leave it intact), and use a combination of numbers and letters, nothing easily guessed or found in a dictionary. (b) Also change the default SSID for the router, and don't have it be anything that's personally identifiable (i.e. surname, street address, etc.) -- once again this raises the barrier for any potential eavesdropper, by making it harder for them to casually associate whatever traffic they're trying to monitor with a physical location.

6) As far as equipment, I haven't been pleased with anything in the consumer arena; I've seen build quality (both hardware and firmware) going way downhill for Netgear and Linksys over the past couple of years. I've have some okay results swapping in Belkin units in place of defective Netgear models (and brand new Netgear models, at that). I've been examining ZyXel's products and am leaning that direction, they seem to have a much better track record in terms of uptime, and also in stable, consistent firmware delivery and bug fixes, than any of the other products which I have examined.

Any other questions, let me know!