Information Addicts

More and more people are choosing Wireless networks, as they give you greater freedom to share data between computers, and allow you to be able to surf the internet from practically anywhere in the home. However wireless networks can be quite frustrating, disconnections, slow network speeds, not to mention being unable to get a signal in the part of the house where you want to work. Aaaaaaah.

My 10 tips below will help you get the best out of your wireless network, and give you peace of mind knowing that you will be secure while you surf the net in peaceful bliss.

1. Upgrade your access point. If you’ve had your wireless access point for over 2 years, then go to the manufactures website and check to see if there are any new firmware updates. New updates sometimes increase performance and enhance security features.

2. Make sure you have Service pack 2 installed on your PC if you are using Windows XP. You can download SP2 from this link. If you are unsure whether you have SP2 installed on your PC, then right click My Computer > Properties, on the General tab you will see under System what version is installed.

3. Are you using the right drivers for your wireless network card? Most users don’t install the drivers that come with the network card and use the generic drivers built in Windows XP instead. These drivers only have basic features and you might be jeopardising your networks security, you might not be getting the fastest speed from your network card. If you can’t find the original drivers then go to the manufactures website and download them.

4. Whether you use 802.11b (11Mbps) or 802.11g (54Mbps) your network will very rarely reach the maximum speed. Why? Mainly due to interference and how far away your PC is from the wireless access point.

5. What can you do to keep your network speed as fast as possible? Keep your PC and Access Point away from wireless phones and microwaves as they use frequencies close to the 2.4Ghz used by wireless networks.
If possible put your wireless access point near the centre of the room and off the floor as its signal is spherical, this will give a better reception, and try to avoid working through thick walls or metal frames as the interference will weaken or even block the signal.

6. Extend your Wireless network. If you find that you work quite far from your Access Point and the signal strength is very poor, then you can purchase a wireless extender which can replace your Access Point and network cards antenna, these can be purchased from most computer stores or Amazon. If you like tinkering then take a look at this great video to extend the antenna.

7. Another way to Extend your wireless network is with a repeater. Place the wireless repeater halfway between your wireless access point and your computer, and you’ll get an instant boost to your wireless signal strength. Various wireless repeaters come from ViewSonic, D-Link, Linksys, and Buffalo Technology

8. Secure your Wireless network. If you’re are using WEP, change it to WPA, read an earlier article I wrote ‘How Secure is Your Wireless Network’

9. Print Wirelessly. You can buy wireless printers or print servers, which means that you don’t need a dedicated PC for printing, you can print from any pc in your home and you don’t even need to be in the same room. Wireless printers and print servers can be purchased from most computer retailers.

10. Check your Network Performance with Qcheck. This free utility is excellent for checking and testing your wireless network connection. If you find that your wireless connectivity is poor, move your Access Point around and Qcheck will show you the best position in the room to place it. It can also test the network speed between 2 PCs, test whether a network can support multimedia traffic, and much more. Click on the link for more info.

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Its a fact that on average people have to remember four passwords, and some, including myself have up to 40, and this doesn’t include pin numbers for cash machines, the house alarm etc.
If you forget any of your passwords then at the very least they can be time consuming to replace, or at worst you can kiss goodbye to your precious data.
But what if you forgot your Windows logon password? There are ways to get around this, but it is not easy, can be very time consuming, and success is not guaranteed.
If you are unsuccessful, then you will need to format the hard drive and reinstall Windows, which means you could loose all your valuable information, program settings and any updates that you painstakingly downloaded and installed.

Prevention is better than cure, or so the saying goes, and in the IT world it is very true.
Did you know that you can actually backup your Windows XP or Vista password? A lot of users are not aware of this little know feature, which can turn out to be a life saver. Windows named it the Password reset disk and it can be created in both XP and Vista, which I will show you how to do, starting with XP first, then Vista,it literally takes minutes.

Note: To create a password reset disk you will need either a flash drive or a floppy disk. Also the password reset disk must be created while you still remember the original password, and you are the Administrator of the PC. When created it should then be kept in a safe place just in case it’s needed in the future.
You only need to do this once, even if you change your windows password at a later date and forget it.

You could also ask your family and friends to create one, or even better, do it for them.

For Windows XP:

1. Click on Start > Control Panel.

2. Click on User Accounts, Note: If you’re viewing the Classic View of Control Panel, double-click on the User Accounts icon.

3. In the pick an account to change area of the User Accounts window, click on your Windows XP user name.

4. Make sure you have a USB Flash drive or Floppy disk inserted, and in the Related Tasks area on the left, click on Prevent a forgotten password.

5. When the Forgotten Password Wizard window appears, click Next

6. On the next screen, if you are using a USB drive Windows will show you a designated drive, if more than one usable device is listed, just click on the arrow to open the drop down list and choose the right one, if you are using a floppy disk, you will be asked to insert a blank disk into the drive. Click Next to continue.

7. With the disk still in the drive, (or the USB flash memory inserted) enter your current account password in the text box and click Next.

8. Windows XP will now create the password reset disk.When the progress indicator shows 100% complete, click Next and then click Finish in the next window.

9. You can now remove the floppy disk or USB flash drive from your computer. Label the media “Windows Password Reset” and store it in a safe place.

Now go to the bottom of the article to find out how to use it :).

To create a Password reset disk in Vista:

1. Click on Start > Control Panel.

2. On the task panel under Control Panel Home click Classic View, then double-click on the User Accounts icon.

3. In the task pane on the left, click on Create a password reset disk.

4. When the Forgotten Password Wizard window appears, click Next

Note: You will need some kind of portable media before being able to create a password reset disk. This means that you will need a USB flash drive or a floppy disk drive and blank floppy disk.

5. In the I want to create a password key disk in the following drive: drop down box, choose the portable media drive to create a password reset disk on.

6. Click Next to continue.

7. With the disk or other media still in the drive, enter your current account password in the text box and click Next.

8. Windows Vista will now create the password reset disk on your chosen media.

9. When the progress indicator shows 100% complete, click Next and then click Finish in the next window.

10. You can now remove the floppy disk or USB flash drive from your computer. Label the media “Windows Password Reset” and store it in a safe place.

If you ever need to use the Password reset disk because you have forgotten your password, then make sure the media you used to create the disk is plugged in or inserted. To the right of the Logon box is a green and white arrow button, click on it, when the little hint box pops up, select ‘use your password reset disk’ and enter a new password.

Have I missed anything? Let me know in the comments box.

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You probably know that RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and is a convenient and more productive way to view your favorite websites (for more info on RSS click here.)
If you’re anything like me, then chances are you will have dozens of RSS feeds that you view every day, via a feed reader.
There are many feed readers available, Netvibes, (which is the one I love to use) is just one of them.

The other night I decided to do a search on the Internet to see if there were any other ways that you can make use of RSS feeds, and guess what? There is, take a look below at what I found, there are some fantastic websites that make excellent use of RSS feeds.

The first website I came across was called Feed Journal, which allows you to subscribe to your favorite feeds and then convert them into a PDF file, which is designed to mimic a printable news paper, and it looks quite cool.

Whats the point of this you may ask? If you haven’t time to read your feeds straight away, you could save the PDF file to a Flash drive, or any other media, to read later offline, or on any other PC. You could also print out the PDF document to read during the day, rather than having to stare at a computer screen,which is easier on your eyes. I found Feed Journal rather fun and easy to use. You have the option to add or delete any RSS feed, choose as many columns as you wish, I chose 4 and then Feed Journal instantly converted the feeds into a newspaper style document. Click here to take a look, its excellent for long or news articles.

Next on the list is a website called SendMeRSS which simply forwards your feeds to your email. This a great idea for anyone who prefers to follow up their RSS feeds via email, or who maybe unable to access a feed reader. SendMeRSS will check for updates around every two hours, so whenever something new gets published you will instantly receive an email.
SendMeRSS is compatible with most webmail services, Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail, Fastmail, etc. You can also subscribe and read feeds from your mobile phone or PDA. Click here to go to the website.

Pingie allows you to send RSS feeds to your mobile phone for free. You simply enter your mobile number, the feed address, hit submit and Pingie will forward it to your phone. Your RSS feed is then displayed as a SMS (text) message. There is nothing to install, but it only works in the US at the moment.

FeedBlendr, instead of having multiple feeds strewn all over the place, with FeedBlendr you can combine them into one. Again this is a very simple website to use, just give your blended feed a title and enter each RSS address, podcast, or any other type of feed including videos into the boxes. FeedBlendr will automatically create just one feed link address, of which you can add to your favorite reader or even view straight from with your browser, pretty neat.

Feedoor is very similar to FeedBlendr, the main difference is that you have to subscribe to it, which one you choose will be a personal choice.

Wigitize, this is one of my favorites as it allows you to add feeds to your blog or website. Enter the URL (web address) and Wigitize displays the feed on the right, you then have several options to change how it is shown on your blog.

Then all you do is copy the code that is created for you, and paste it somewhere on your blog or website. I have used it to create ‘My favourite websites of the month’ which is shown on the left hand side.

Feed Crier
Get the latest news, weather, blogs, and more delivered free to your instant messenger. There’s nothing to download or install, no spam, and never any spyware.

* Real time alerts when your favorite sites are updated.
* Nothing to download, nothing to install.
* Works with your existing instant messenger.
The above is taken from Feed Crier website, it works very well, give it try. Click here to go to the website.

Feedity. Have you ever visited a website and tried to add it to your RSS reader only to find out that you can’t subscribe to it, because the site doesn’t support RSS feeds? I have on many occasions, which makes it difficult to get automatic updates from the website. Feedity will take virtually any web page, and convert it into a fully formed RSS feed, which allows you to keep up to date with your favorite websites. You have the choice of a free version (which I use,) and two paid versions which give you various options such as how often the feed is updated. Its a handy tool to have, click here to go the website.

Have I missed any out? Let me know in the comments box.

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