Often people ask what the best wireless router is. I like to say:”Buying computer equipment is kind of like purchasing a vehicle; if you don’t know what you need, how are you going to purchase the one that is right for you?”

You may be talked into buying a huge gas guzzling 4×4 in temptation, when a Honda Civic would work just fine.

For a residential wireless router these are the key points to look out for:

Security Settings
The ability to communicate securely with your router is a concept sometimes overlooked and often misunderstood. Most routers on the market for home use should support the same encryption types as your wireless cards. If you have older computer equipment be sure to double check, it will save you some time when trying to configure your wireless network.

Good signal coverage
Being able to access your wireless from where you aim to use it in your house is probably important to you. Some routers have better coverage than others. Knowing which one to buy that will have the strongest signal is not always an easy task. Online reviews will help determine if the router your are trying to purchase will work. I’d avoid listening to any advice sales people will give you. They will always try to up-sell you to a “better, faster” technology not knowing that the most expensive is not always the best.

Cost
Since we are hypothetically purchasing a wireless router for home use the cost must be reasonable. Not necessarily cheap or expensive but affordable. A wireless router should not be like a disposable razor that when it breaks it gets thrown away. A good home router can cost between $35 and $80.

Fast transfer speeds
Playing into the factor of cost is the transfer speeds. All of the advertised transfer speeds for wireless are “best-case” theoretical transfer speeds. You will never get the full advertised speed for Wireless B or G, especially if you have the security settings enabled. Some of the higher priced routers have “Speed Booster” technologies that only work when paired with the manufacturers wireless card.

Number of clients
The number of clients that are allowed to connect to a residential wireless network will vary by model. Most wireless routers have a limit on the number of clients they can handle. Wireless in hotspots such as coffee shops and hotels generally need to worry about this option, but unless you have an unusual amount of wireless devices there is no need to worry. If you’re unsure if you have too many wireless devices - Ask!

Expandability
Some manufacturers have some sort of ad-on for their routers that promise better performance or coverage. These range and signal boosters may or may not work for your situation. If you need to get your wireless signal to go further then look for wireless routers with detachable antenna’s. Some of the best residential routers can be expanded with inexpensive high gain antenna’s to get your wireless working where you need it to. Purchasing the correct equipment and installation can be tricky so, call a professional.

Which wireless router meets all of these needs?
There are many good routers out there, and some are better than others. The one that I like to use is called the Linksys WRT54G. There are many versions available and some have different antenna configurations and software loaded on them. The particular model that is best for powerful residential wireless and light commercial use is the WRT54G-S. It has great wireless coverage out of the box, but also has detachable antenna’s. It can be used with DD-WRT which is a modified firmware that greatly increases performance and ot is affordable at around $60. The downside to this router is that it can be hard to find. If you need one of these or a comparable router give us a call.

This question has been around for years with varying camps leaning to one side or the other. Should you leave it on, or should you turn it off every time you’re done using it? Well, I suppose it would depend upon the situation. For example, if you use your desktop quite a bit, multiple times throughout the day, then it simply wouldn’t make sense to shut it completely down, spinning your Hard Drive up and down continuously, increasing the risk of Hard Drive issues. If, on the other hand, you rarely use your desktop, or perhaps use it once a day, then sure, by all means, turn it off. No sense in wasting power and creating extra heat in your house (especially during these sweltering summer months).

Moving onto the next topic…many of you may wonder as to whether or not you should leave your laptop plugged in all the time. As a matter of fact, I’ve see this sort of thing all the time. My answer would be, sure, you can leave your laptop plugged in all the time, if you don’t care about your battery life. If you’re going to plug it in, take your battery out, unless of course you’re charging it, in which case, do not do anything with the machine while you’re charging it, it just wears the battery down. If you leave your battery in your notebook while you have it plugged in, AND you’re working on it, well, that just eats your battery like cookies. Another suggestion when it comes to this is that you run your battery all the way down before recharging. This will also help preserve the battery for longer life down the road.

This has been another helpful tech tip from your Tech Fellows.

Recently, a local small business asked us to build an outdoor wireless network. The goal was to share an internet connection between two buildings that were spaced about 400 feet apart. As with many small businesses, we were asked to work with a relatively small budget.

Cisco and other companies offer high-end wireless solutions but we were looking for an inexpensive solution that would be fast and stable enough for everyday use. After a little research, we chose to purchase the Linksys WRT54GL and two Hawking Outdoor Hi-Gain 9dBi Omni-Directional Wireless Antennas.

The Tech Fellows can design and build a custom network solution for your business. Please call for more information.

So you’re not getting a display on your laptop’s LCD screen, or you’ve plugged in your Power Adapter, but your battery isn’t charging and you’re not getting any power. What do you do? Well, if your laptop is still under warranty, contact the manufacturer and they should be able to correct the problem. If they don’t, or if you’re no longer under warranty, bring it to us, The Tech Fellows and we’ll diagnose the problem. The most common hardware issues on laptops are the Screen and Power Adapter Input (DC Jack). The Tech Fellows have seen it all and are well equipped to handle any laptop issue.
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Ok, so modern PC manufacturers (along with bundling Vista) have decided to no longer include recovery media. Exceptions are Toshiba and Dell. Both include recovery discs with their machines. But if you decide to purchase one of the many other brands out there, what do you do? Go to the manufacturer and pay a premium for discs you can make yourself with a few dvd’s? Heck no. Here are some quick little tips:
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