The PC Informant » Networks

Quick tricks to repair a wireless connection

Vic Laurie — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:42:10 +0000

While we are on the subject of wireless networking (previous post), let me remind you of the trick that often repairs a wireless Internet connection that is slow or inoperative. Sometimes all it takes is to reboot the modem and/or router. Turn the power off for 10 seconds and then turn it back on.

Also, sometimes rebooting your computer will work. And don’t forget that Windows has a repair function for network connections. Often a problem is due to trouble getting an IP assignment from your router. If you have the network icon in your tray (AKA notification area), right-click it and choose “Repair” as shown in the figure below for Windows XP.

The procedure in Vista is very similar except that the menu reads “Diagnose and Repair”.

Secure your home wireless network

Vic Laurie — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:09:29 +0000

A lot of us have home networks or at least are using wireless to connect to the Internet. Unfortunately, we are not always careful about making the network secure. I have posted about setting up a wireless network before and here is another article worth reading. It’s at Digital Inspiration and is described:

This article describes how you can secure your Wireless Network from hackers and you’ll also learn about free tools that people generally use to intercept your Wi-Fi signals.

Via TechSupport Alert

Guide to setting up a network

Vic Laurie — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:00:09 +0000

Not too sure what goes into connecting your computers to the Web and to each other? Baffled by wireless terms like WEP and WPA? MakeUseOf has a guide for you. Download the PDF guide and learn. Here’s a description:

Networking is still a delicate subject for many people. Today, everyone needs to know how to set up a local or home network, share printers, share internet connection and protect their privacy online using services like VPN or encrypting your network traffic.

You’re not alone. Most of the people I know that don’t work in technology-related positions don’t know what even the simplest of acronyms mean or how to set up a wireless network at home. This guide aims to provide you with all the basics you need to deal with networking related tasks.

Monitor your Internet usage

Vic Laurie — Tue, 26 May 2009 11:30:56 +0000

Did you ever wonder how much Internet bandwidth you were using? A lot of ISPs seem to be muttering about installing bandwidth caps and those videos and TV programs you watch can use a lot of bandwidth in a hurry. MakeUseOf recommends the free program Networx to see your statistics. The site gives detailed instructions on using the program. In addition to usage statistics, the program can let you check your connection speed and access some of the standard TCP/IP tools like “Ping” and “Trace route”.

Finding wi-fi hot spots when traveling

Vic Laurie — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:13:15 +0000

I’m about to travel again and I am always interested in finding a wi-fi hot spot when on the road. Panera bread is a widespread sandwich and coffee shop that has free wi-fi. Starbucks and McDonald’s also have wi-fi but it isn’t free. There are many local spots like libraries with wi-fi and there are several Web sites that will help you locate one. Here are two of the bigger directories:

You can find others by searching Google. No list is guaranteed to be complete and most depend on submissions from viewers or from paid advertising.

If you know of a useful link for finding hot spots, let us know.

A faster broadband connection

Vic Laurie — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:12:58 +0000

Many home PC users with broadband connections have not optimized their connection. There are a number of steps that might increase your connection speed and a good article on some of these is at NetworkWorld.

My own experience is that the one adjustment that many systems need is to change the RWIN setting. There is considerable discussion about RWIN and what it does at DSL Reports. DSL Reports also offers a number of tests to check your connection and tools for configuring the Windows parameters. I have found the free utility DrTCP to be handy for easily adjusting settings like RWIN.

Check the speed of your Internet connection

Vic Laurie — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:16:58 +0000

There are a number of sites that will check how fast your Internet connection is by downloading and uploading files but I like the one at Speedtest.net. They have a lot of available servers at different geographical locations.

Via Tweakhound.

Command line tip #11- Find local IP addresses with “ipconfig”

Vic Laurie — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:28:13 +0000

Command line tip #10 mentioned that your router or Internet gateway will have a local IP address. There will also be a local IP address for your computer. Entering “ipconfig” in the command line will display both addresses as well as something called the “subnet mask”. For home setups the subnet mask is almost always 255.255.255.0 and is not usually a parameter that needs attention. As mentioned in the tip on using “ping”, you may need to know the gateway IP so you can check if you are connected. Also, the local address for the computer can be useful if you have more than one computer on your network. You can “ping” another computer on the local network to see if your computer is communicating with the second computer.

The command “ipconfig” has a number of switches and functions. They are discussed at commandwindows.com/tcpiputil.htm.

Command line tip #10- Check your Internet connection with “ping”

Vic Laurie — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:22:02 +0000

I previously noted that there are a number of commands that can help with checking out a home network or a broadband connection. There are more details at commandwindows.com/tcpiputil.htm but here’s an example of using the command “ping”. Suppose you are having trouble with connecting to the Internet. Is it your connection to the Internet that’s the problem or your connection to the local network/router? Ping can help you find out. Ping sends out a packet to a designated address and measures its response time. The target will return (hopefully) a signal. For example, you can “ping” Yahoo by entering “ping yahoo.com” into the command line. (Not everybody will accept pings. For example, don’t expect any response from Microsoft.) If Yahoo responds, you know you are connected to the Internet. If you get no response, you can check if you are connected to your local network by pinging the local IP address assigned to the router or “gateway”. The local gateway IP address will be something like 192.168.1.1 or a similar group of numbers. So you would enter “ping 192.168.1.1″ in the command line. If you get no response, then your problem is that you are not connected to the local network (or your router isn’t working).

How do you know what the local gateway IP address is? That’s in the next command line tip. Stay tuned.

Command line tip #8- Check your network

Vic Laurie — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 21:44:51 +0000

Many PC owners now have home networks. Being able to connect several computers together is great but networks bring a new set of problems. The command line comes with a variety of tools for checking networks and it is worthwhile for even average PC users to know how to use some of them. Three commands that everybody can use are “ipconfig”, “netstat”, and “ping”. I give some details about these commands at this link.