Archive for Computer
Wired Networking Basics
Posted by: | CommentsThe traditional way to connect computers and routers is with Ethernet cables. These are very secure and reliable but can be inconvenient (and expensive) when the computers on the network are located in different rooms.
Wi-Fi, by comparison, lets you connect throughout the home and garden. It’s not quite as fast or secure as Ethernet, but you’ll only notice the speed difference if you’re moving large files between the various computers on the network.
It’s perfectly possible to combine Wi-Fi and wires on the same network, and sometimes this is the most sensible thing to do. Let’s say, for example, you have a desktop computer in the corner of the living room only metres away from the wireless hub that your ISP provided. Let’s also say that your household boasts a couple of iPhones, a laptop and perhaps a games console – that’s a lot of traffic for one Wi-Fi network to deal with, and you may well find that adding an Ethernet connection from your router to your desktop machine both improves the desktop machine’s networking performance, and also frees up the airwaves for all the other Wi-Fi-capable devices in your home.
Most wireless routers offer Ethernet ports as well as a Wi-Fi signal. As for computers, most recent models have Ethernet and Wi-Fi built right in. For machines that lack one or both, inexpensive adapters are available in USB, PCI or PCMCIA formats.
Powerline networks
If the computer that you want to connect to your router is in a distant corner of your home, then Ethernet cables may well not be a practical option – they are untidy when visible and expensive to have wired into the walls. A seemingly futuristic, but very practical, alternative is powerline networking, whereby you connect your router to the electrical wiring system of your home and distribute the network signal by exploiting the miles of copper wires already hidden away within the fabric of the building. A pair of powerline adapters (like those pictured opposite) cost around £70/$140, connect to your computer and router via Ethernet cables, and then plug directly into the regular power sockets on the wall.
As with Ethernet, you can expect to achieve faster data rates than you will with Wi-Fi, and you can add multiple adapters to the same electrical system to tap into the signal from as many electrical sockets as you need to.
Wi-Fi Security – Tips and Advice
Posted by: | CommentsBecause Wi-Fi can work through walls, your network won’t stop at your front door. This is great news for surfing in the garden, say, or sharing an internet connection among various apartments in a building. However, if the router has no security features enabled, anyone within a few hundred feet could connect to your network. They could then potentially download large files, slowing down your connection and using up your allocated monthly bandwidth; download illegal material or carry out other illegal acts that would be traceable to your ISP account; spy on your internet activity; and possibly even access personal data on your computers.
There are two main ways to secure a wireless network. You can use one or both of these techniques.
Add a password
Some routers come with a password already set up, but in other cases you’ll have to log in to the setup section of your router and configure it yourself. This usually involves opening a web browser window, entering the admin IP listed in the router’s operating instructions, and looking for the relevant settings. You may find a few different types of password protection on offer:
- WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) is offered by all routers but isn’t very secure. Anyone technically minded can find and run software capable of cracking the password.
- WPA & WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access) are newer standards that are both incomparably more secure than WEP, so always choose one of these options when available.
Access lists
A WPA password is enough for most people, but for maximum security you may also want to tell your router to refuse internet access to all computers other than those you have specifically approved. You give your router an access list containing a ten-digit identity code – a so-called MAC address – for each approved computer. It then bars access to all other computers. Note that if you use an access list without a WPA password, you won’t be protected from people potentially spying on your internet use.
To set things up, look for an Access List or MAC Filtering option in your router’s configuration settings and enter the address of each computer.
Wi-Fi Networking – Apple’s AirPort Family
Posted by: | CommentsHistorically, Apple branded their wireless-capable kit as “AirPort”. The underlying technology, however is Wi-Fi – just as with PCs – and these days even Apple have deferred to using the generic term “wireless”. Whatever you want to call it, the end result is that Macs and PCs can connect to the same networks, and to each other. So feel free to mix things up on the same network.
Wi-Fi, also known by the less user-friendly name 802.1 1, is actually a family of slightly different standards, all of which work with each other Most recent computers can handle 802.1 1 n. This allows faster data transfer than the earlier 802.1 1 g (aka AirPort Extreme) and 802.1 1 b (aka “non-Extreme” AirPort).
Apple produces three routers – AirPort Extreme (pictured below), AirPort Express and the Time Capsule. All are wireless, nicely designed, fully featured and very easy to set up. You will, however find that Apple’s wireless hardware is more expensive than similar non-Apple devices and none of the current line-up feature their own modem – you will have to purchase one separately to use ADSL or cable broadband.
That said, there are good reasons to opt for Apple hardware, especially if you already use a Mac computer Here are a couple more features to consider when looking at Apple wireless kit:
AirTunes
Available on the AirPort Express. AirTunes allows you to connect to a hi-fi and stream music from your PC or Mac. By default it works only with iTunes, but coupled with a third-party app called Airfoil (rogueamoeba.com/airfoil). it can stream audio from any application.
Time Machine
If you have a Mac and intend to use OS X’sTme Machine to manage your backups, it’s worth considering the Time Capsule, though a similar result can be achieved with a router that can connect to a network-friendly external hard drive (also known as a NAS drive).
What If My Computer Dies?
Posted by: | CommentsHard drives occasionally give up the ghost, in which case the only chance of getting any of the contents back is a time-consuming and potentially expensive data-recovery process. And, of course, computers can meet many other nasty ends: theft, lightning, fife, spilled coffee and so on. That’s what is so great, in principle, about cloud computing – all your files, emails and the like reside on the web, so as and when the unthinkable happens to your computer, it’s simply a matter of getting yourself set up with another machine and then pointing it at your online data pool. Equally, when you trade in an old model for something newer, migrating becomes a whole lot less painful when all your files and tools are online anyway.
Troubleshooting Wi-Fi
Posted by: | CommentsWireless routers are now extremely common and many ISPs will include one when you sign up for a new account. In the UK, the typical arrangement is that the ISP sends you a wireless router along with all your login and password details. You then simply plug the router into a power source, follow a simple set of configuration instructions and then from your computer choose the relevant Wi-Fi network when it is detected. To do this on a Mac use the fan icon (at the top-right, by the clock). On a PC, if the list of available wireless networks doesn’t pop up automatically, choose Connect To in the Start Menu and select the wireless option. Finally, if required, enter the password printed on a label on the bottom of the router.
Setting Up a router can be painless but it can also throw up problems. You might find that your Wi-Fi network’s performance is not what it should be, or simply isn’t working. Here are a few potential solutions:
Modem – If you have a separate modem, make sure it’s working by connecting directly to a computer missing out the router
Position – Try and position your router at the centre of your home, bearing in mind that the Wi-Fi signal transmits equally in all directions from the majority of devices – imagine a sphere of transmission with your router at the centre. Take into account the effect of large metal objects on the Wi-Fi signal: refrigerators are more often than not the guilty parties here. Also think about how close your router is to other devices that pump out radio waves, such as cordless domestic telephone base stations.
It’s also worth checking the router’s settings. This is usually done by “connecting” your computer (either with an Ethernet cable or wireless-ly), opening a web browser window and entering the admin IP address listed in the router’s instruction manual – just as if ft were a website.
Wi-Fi channel – When you set up a new wireless network your router will automatically select a “channel” to transmit on. Without getting into technicalities, most common routers tend to default to the same channels, which as a result can get rather crowded, especially in apartment blocks where there may be dozens of networks transmitting within a relatively small geographical area. Download a piece of Wi-Fi scanning software such as CoconutWiFi (coconut-flavour.com) for Macs or NetStumbler (netstumbler.com) for PCs to see which the quietest channels are around you and then log in to your router and look for the option to switch channels.
Wi-Fi flavour Newer Wi-Fi devices tend to transmit at the faster 802.11 n rate, as opposed to the older 802.11 g and 802.11 b standards. If you mix different flavoured devices on the same network, you may well find that your network runs at the speed of the slowest device. Some routers have a special “dual transmission” mode to deal with such situations, though you may well have to dig through the settings screens to enable it.
Tips for Choosing a Web Browser for Internet
Posted by: | CommentsYour web browser is the key component of your internet toolkit. It’s not only the window through which you view webpages but a package for downloading files, viewing news feeds and much more. Your computer will almost certainly already have a web browser installed, but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily the best one to use. So here’s a quick run-through of the main browsers out there. Don’t be afraid of trying a few out to see what suits you best – you can always uninstall them, or use different browsers for different tasks.
Internet Explorer – Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, or IE, is far and away the world’s most widely used browser Recent versions are decent enough, but IE’s popularity is mainly down to the fact that for years it has come pre-installed on nearly every new PC as a part of Microsoft Windows, IE has traditionally trailed behind its competitors in terms of features and security. The most recent version, IE8, closed the gap somewhat, but Firefox is still a superior option.
Safari (apple.com/safan) – Pre-2005 Macs also came with IE, but the standard Mac OS X browser now is Apple’s own Safari. In most ways, it’s an excellent browser – especially Safari 4, the version that was released in 2009. Safari is also now available to Windows PC users. It’s fast, intuitive and nice-looking, with a Google search box built in. It also features excellent tabbed browsing, top-class newsfeed tools and an iTunes-style Cover Flow view for browsing your bookmarks. Still, whether you use a Mac or PC it’s worth checking out both Safari and Firefox to see which suits you better.
Firefox (getfirefox.com) – First released in 2004, Firefox is an excellent browser created by the Mozilla Foundation as an open-source product with the help of volunteer programmers around the world. Firefox has a huge range of features, and even if you discover something that it can’t do, you’ll often find that the desired function can be easily added via an extension or some other customization. Furthermore, most experts agree that Firefox leaves PC users slightly less vulnerable to potentially harmful scripts and other web-based nasties than does Internet Explorer With customizable address-bar searching, excellent privacy tools and many other handy extras, this is the best choice for PC and Mac users at the time of writing.
Chrome (google.com/chrome) – Chrome is one of Google’s most recent additions to its armoury, and though still very much in its infancy is definitely worth considering. One interesting feature is the fact that when you open a new tab or window in Chrome you are shown nine thumbnails of your most frequently visited sites in place of the “home” feature that most browsers use. Given Google’s commitment to cloud computing tools, Chrome is sure to be an instant browser to watch over the coming months and years – its integration with the rest of Google’s toolbox will inevitably get slicker and more fully featured.
Opera (opera.com) – Hailing from Scandinavia, Opera introduced many now-standard features (such as tabbed and multi-page bookmarks) years before its competitors. And it still has many unique extras, such as a fully featured mail program built right into the browser window. It’s also very fast and worth trying.
The Importance of Backing up Your Home Computer System
Posted by: | CommentsA note on backing up your home computer system – do it now! Even if you have wholeheartedly embraced the cloud computing way of life, and migrated all your precious files, photos, music and more to the web, there is always going to be the argument that you shouldn’t keep all your eggs in one basket. Even if you rely on web services for your daily computing needs, it is worth regularly backing up key material to your computer, and in turn backing up the files on your computer to some kind of physically removable media – either CDs, DVDs or an external hard drive.
Both Macs and Windows PCs have their own built-in backup software. OS X’sTime Machine application is very easy to use and will effortlessly create hourly, daily and weekly archives of your data via either a wired or wireless connection. This archive can then be used to retrieve lost files or even set up a new Mac.
Windows 7, meanwhile, features an application called simply Backup, which creates an “image” backup of every file and folder on your PC. This can in turn be used to restore some, or all, of your files should the worst happen.
The Basics of Skype – Skype Review
Posted by: | CommentsSkype is what’s known as a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) client; in other words, it makes phone calls via the internet as opposed to the traditional means used by the phone companies. Assuming you have broadband, you can use a Skype account to make free computer-to-computer calls – with or without video – to anyone, anywhere in the world, who also has a Skype account. You can also pay to call regular landlines and mobile phones. This can be very useful if your home phone is often in use, effectively providing a second line without any standing charge. Potentially, it can also slash your phone bills, especially if you regularly call long distance.
There are even mobile Skype apps available for various handset platforms (the iPhone app is pictured to the left), though mobile network providers are understandably reluctant to let Skype traffic use their data networks, so expect only to use such apps over a Wi-Fi network.
Skype also gives you a means of instant messaging from both the desktop and mobile versions, in the same way that you can with the other messaging clients.
The Basics of Meebo – Meebo Review
Posted by: | CommentsBack in the internet days of old, “chat” referred to geeky Internet Relay Chat, complete with its obscure commands, confusing channels and free-for-all chat rooms, which were mainly used by frustrated teenagers (plus the occasional pervert) to flirt with each other. Thankfully, things have moved on. Today, “chat” programs let you exchange real-time typed messages with friends and family – and also make voice and video calls. Such programs offer a fun way to communicate and can save you money, too. Of the web-based chat clients out there, Meebo is the best one to get started with as it supports login details from most of the main chat networks and online community platforms (including Yahoo!, Facebook Chat, AIM, ICQ, MySpacelM, Google Talk and Jabber).
There are also mobile versions of Meebo and a special Firefox extension; and best of all, it’s free to use.