When you use a wireless network at home, range and performance can be influenced by a lot of factors. The location of your wireless router as well as the location of your PC and/or laptop can make a lot of difference. Concrete walls also have a strong influence on Wi-Fi signals, so too many concrete walls in between the communication devices will reduce the signal strength, and as a result, the performance.

But range and obstacles are not the only possible problems with wireless networks. What about your neighbors? If they are using a wireless network, chances are, you are both using the same frequency, which would cause interference and again loss of signal quality. Since wireless internet access is so common these days, it’s better to check that too.

Here’s How You Can Improve Your Wi-Fi Network!

Depending on the location of your equipment, you can try to change the direction of your antennas. If your router has a built-in antenna, consider hanging it on a wall instead of placing it horizontally on a cabinet to change antenna direction. Most routers will come with instructions on best positioning for maximum range.

If you want to further optimize the range and performance of your wireless network, you might need to change the frequency of your WiFi communication.

There is a dedicated bandwidth for WiFi networks, in which multiple channels are defined. The problem is that many vendors configure their hardware to use a default channel. Typically this is channel 6, since it is the middle of the range (1 to 11 in the US, up to 13 for Europe).

To find out if you need to change your wireless network frequency, you need to know what channel you are using and if the other channels are better. There are many tools available for this, and one of them is called NetStumbler. The current version is 0.4.

The program can be installed with the default options. Once you start the application, it will automatically start a scan of the wireless networks in your surroundings.

In the results pane, you can see all detected networks grouped by MAC address, SSID or channel. The colored icon in front of the MAC address indicates the signal strength. Using these details, you can first check how many networks are using the same channel as you are.

You will need to know your SSID of course (either printed at the bottom of your wireless router, if it came from your ISP, or check the network settings on your computer’s wireless card).

Ideally, there should not be (too) many wireless networks on the same channel, but if there are, you want to make sure they have low signal strength.

If there are too many wireless networks on the same channel, try changing the channel to improve your wireless network range and performance. This needs to be done in the wireless router or access point.

The hardware will come with instructions on how to change the WiFi channel. Your laptop or PC’s wireless card will automatically switch to the new channel.

If you are using a laptop, you can also use the program to see where your signal strength is best. Move around with the laptop and see which location in your house has the best signal strength.

You can use the colored icon as well as the ’signal’ columns to assess the network quality. Make sure the network scanning is active to ensure the values are updated while you move around.

Using these Wi-Fi tips, you can easily improve your wireless internet access speed, or solve problems with your wireless internet connection.

Good luck!

PCauthorities.com is a tech-related site dedicated to providing solutions to your every day computing problems. For more free Internet Optimization tips n’ tweaks, check out what the professional IT bloggers have in store for you at www.PCauthorities.com

Plenty of people are into creating their own websites now-a-days, mainly for the purpose of earning a little bit of extra income that way. Maybe you have created one of your own too. Now money will flow in only when some sort of traffic is generated to your website. And this is a little difficult considering that that there must be millions of websites over the World Web, and a few hundred more coming in each day! So expecting a visitor to just casually walk into your website is expecting a little too much!

Here is where URL search engines play a tremendous role! What is this URL search engine? Well, this program has been created for the purpose of guiding web browsers to a particular website of their choice. The search is based on keyword or keywords. Every keyword leads the searcher to web pages that relate to it and get the information that they are seeking. The front-end in each search engine is used for typing in your question. When the query is typed in, hundreds of URLs are displayed on the results page, according to their order of ranking.

Now, your URL has to stand out from the others and has to be submitted to the search engine for inclusion. How do you go about it? Some search engines have a very easy process. All you need to do is go to a certain website and paste your URL for inclusion along with the others. One such website is www.google.com, or what we commonly refer to as Google. This website takes care of more than 80 search engines, even AOL. So should you be allowed to put down your URL on their lists for free, you are making that sure that the 80 search engines listed with them all display your website in their results pages. Another such website that caters to over 125 search engines (including HotBot, Yahoo and MSN) is Inktomi. But unlike Google, Inktomi does not allow free listings. You have to pay for your URL to be displayed on its search engines.

Your website will not achieve success unless it is indexed by the search engine. Merely handing over your website for inclusion is not going to get the job done! Your website has to become known to visitors within a month to eight weeks of its inclusion, for it to be indexed. This is so with most search engines. In case you really cannot afford to wait that long, just aim for the pay-per-click option.

The pay-per-click becomes very useful if your aim is to generate as much of traffic as possible to your website, rather than conducting any type of transaction. In this case, your website comes up on the results page, should a visitor type in those keywords related to your URL. Each time he/she clicks on your website, you as the owner, will be charged. The amount that you shell out will be determined by how high your ranking is or want it to be and how common are the keywords that are typed in, leading to your website.

Everything seems so easy on paper, but it is not really so! Imagine you have opted for the above-mentioned option. A few visitors click on your websites, but there are not really enough of them. Then is the amount you are paying substantiated by the traffic generated to your website or not? Will it really be worth it in the end? Your URL on the search engine results may become popular or not so popular. The expenses you have incurred are going more for advertising and marketing than for ensuring that your website becomes well known to visitors! So give it some serious thought before you go in for such an option.

So, you finally have your website up and running eh? Great! Now all you have to do is to sit back and wait for the visitors to come right on. But wait a minute there With over a billion websites existing at present and hundreds of thousands being added each day, how are visitors ever going to find their way to your website?

Welcome to the world of URL search engines! Simply put, a URL search engine is a simple program that trawls or crawls the web to look for keywords and classifies web pages on the basis of those keywords. This enables us to neatly categorize the worldwide web and to find relevant information when we need it. The search engine also has a front-end that we use to type in the query. When this query is run, it in effect searches through billions of URLs to identify and present those URLs which have the highest incidence of the search string.

But how do you submit your URL to search engines in the first place. With some URL search engines, it is as easy as going to the website and putting in your website URL for inclusion. For instance the URL search engine Google (www.google.com) feeds over 80 search engines, including the likes of AOL. So, visiting their website to ask for a free listing will ensue that if your URL is selected for inclusion, at least 80 search engines will reflect your URL in their search results. Inktomi is another URL search engine that feeds over 125 search engines including Yahoo, HotBot, MSN and several others. But Inktomi has no free submissions available. It only features paid search strings and submitting your URL here may not be worth the while.

Remember that merely submitting your website is not sufficient to get your website at the top of the search listings. Your URL needs to be indexed in these search engines. And indexing in mot URL search engine may take upwards of a month (and in some cases, up to 8 weeks) for your URL to become popular enough for inclusion. But if you are in some sort of a hurry to increase the number of visitors to your website, you might choose to go for the pay per click option.

Where pay-per-click search engines are concerned, when web browsers type in specific keyword (s) into the search engine, some results are displayed. The minute a visitor clicks on the resulting websites, you will be charged a certain amount as the owner of that particular website. The payment depends on the keywords typed in or your rankings. If you want a higher rank, you pay more. So if you are more interested in getting traffic to your website rather than conducting any transactions, this option is the best.

With other URL search engines, it is a little more complicated. You need to decide whether it is worth paying for the privilege of having your website listed there to substantiate the traffic that may result from your URL being present in the search results. At the end of the day, unless you can get visitors to your site, there is no point in having the site at all. And any expense you may incur as a result of trying to get your website featured on URL search engines, can very well be classified as a genuine marketing and publicity expense!

How many computers do you have at home? How many of those are in use? Do you have a number of computer users as well? One in the study, couple in the kid’s room, one for the kitchen, if you have more than two computers and computer users in your home then you may try networking all the computers.

What are the benefits of home networking?

If connected to a network, files can be sent back and forth by each computer.

You can play music and video files from another computer.

You can access the printer and the scanner that is connected to one computer from any other computer that is within the network.

You can avail of the best features of the computer with highest configuration.

If one computer in the network serves as a server, then you can store important files as back up in the server.

You can share one Internet account to reap its benefits from different computers at the same time.

Imagine playing Age of Empires or racing cars with real opponents at different computers in the house!

Yes, networking allows you to have multi-player games.

So how do you get home networking?

Networking can be done by using a wireless networking connection or by an Ethernet cable. All you need for Ethernet networking are:

- Number of networking cables
- Networking cards
- A router

Once you have these, follow the following steps.

- Select the computers that you want to be in the network
- Install a networking card in each
- Connect a cable to each which will in turn be connected to the router
- The router will then be connected to the server
- The router will then be connected to the modem machine in order to enable internet access to all the machines
- Once the hardware connections are in place, set up internet in each computer by configuring the Local Area Network (LAN) settings
- Finally use the router manual to access the password and set up internet connection on each computer through the router

So what are the precautions that you need to take while connecting your home computers in a network?

First and foremost you need to realize that whatever data you have in each computer will be accessible by everybody.

So start by defining the rights to each drive and folder of your respective computers. Since people other than family members who sit on someone’s computer can also access the information in other computers, ideally only “read” right should be given to folders and drives with sensitive information, so that someone else cannot copy, edit or delete such information.

You can even deny “read” rights to folders if need be. Since you are connecting to the internet through your network, you must install a firewall for maximum security. Install anti-virus software on each computer.

Connecting home computers in a network is a good idea, helps in staying connected and also make full utilization of the facilities available in each computer. With a little bit of precaution, networking can only be fun!

Gregg Hall is an author living on the Emerald Coast of Florida. Now that you know a little more about computer networking be sure that you get quality computer accessories by going to http://www.nsearch.com

A proxy server is specifically used by individuals surfing the Internet to wish to retain a degree of privacy. It is basically something that sits between a user computer and the Internet. When the user makes a request to access a website, all requests are first of all passed to the proxy server who makes the request on behalf of the user. The same applies for incoming data. When data is fed back to the requesting computer it is passed via the proxy surf server. There are several reasons as to why somebody would want to or may consider using a one. The first is because they want to remain anonymous. If you browse the websites via a proxy then your personal details are not recorded by the website you are visiting. The only details that are recorded are those of the proxy, thus retaining a good degree of anonymity for the Internet user.

Websites often record several pieces of information about you like your IP address, MAC address, browser type, and much more. What they do with this information and how they use it is out of your control and the amount of information websites are able to pick up these days are greater as than previous years. Using a proxy eliminates this problem and ensures that your personal information is kept safe.

Although proxies have lots of advantages, they also have lots of disadvantages that need to be discussed. The first of credibility. There is no fail safe way of knowing that the site you are using is safe and that the owner does not have malicious intent in mind. If this were the case the proxy could launch a virus attack on you and steal your credit card information etc while you shop online. Another disadvantage is the location. Ideally, you want somewhere that respects data privacy laws. Places like the US and EU countries are not ideal. Panama would be the ideal country. Another disadvantage is functionality. If your Internet traffic is travelling to you via a middle man then there is going to be a slight time delay. Also, there is no guarantee that the proxy will be compatible with certain types of websites that play videos and music etc.

So, to find a reliable proxy surf server you have to do your research and take into consideration factors like, location, compatibility, country it is hosted in, age, and many more factors. The bottom line is that you are never going to be able to find one that is one hundred percent perfect for everybody. You just have to do your homework and find a trusted one that is most compatible for your individual needs. You can easily find a proxy by going to one of the search engines like Google or Yahoo and selecting one of the many thousands available to you online. There will never be a shortage of proxies and you can easily find one. Locating a reliable one that meets your needs is the tough part.

The author resides in England. He owns a proxy that you can use for free anonymous browsing by clicking here .It provides some good reviews of products available on the market that you should find useful.

One of the most important accessories for networking computers together, are RJ45 cables. These cables have been around for many years, with some of these used for telephone sockets and dial-up internet connection (assuming one has a dial-up connection these days!). These are basically connectors which are not only useful for transferring data and information, but are also useful for allowing two or more machines or devices to communicate with each other at a fast rate of speed.

The RJ45 is basically a connector and allows for the network between each other to stay strong. The RJ in RJ45 stands for registered jacks, which put simply is an Ethernet cable that looks pretty similar to a telephone cable. The RJ11 is commonly used for telephone connections with the rJ45 used mainly for networking computers onto the local area network. The registered jack itself comes with a number of different interfaces, as is notable above.

There as mentioned RJ11, RJ14, RJ25 and many more. Each one functions in very different ways but are essentially designed for the same thing which is communication and networking. The rJ45 can be commonly referred to as the 8P8C connector, which stands for eight position eight contacts plug socket. The 8P8C when compared to a standard 6P6C connector, are extremely useful for making clear connections for communication. The 6P6C connector only has six connections and all of them contain conductors similar to the 8P8C connector.

One thing that both of these connectors do have in common is that they are both capable of making a strong connection for communication in the right sockets. Often it can be confusing to figure out what plug to use for which connection, therefore these devices are good to help make the right decision for the connection. They are also less bulky and require low maintenance than older cables that were once used for connection.

With the connector differences in mind the RJ45 has male and female connectors and are also used mainly in the US for telecommunications. It is better known as an Ethernet connection device, however, it can also be used for other connectivity. As the connections increase, the quality of the cable increases, with many of the cables using a low current and voltage rate. Furthermore this registered jack is far more diverse than the RJ11 that only uses two of four wires.

Older styles of connection for communication were not as aesthetically appealing as the cables designed now, as they were larger and bulkier. They were more difficult to maintain and used up far more power than needed. The newer connectors tend to be power efficient and do not need to be maintained.

Anna Stenning is an expert on RJ45 cables, as she has seen them used for networking computers together.

What exactly is a computer network? Well it’s were you are connected to several computers at once. There are several different kinds of computer networks out there, such as Local area network or LAN, Personal area network or PAN, Campus Area Network or CAN, Metropolitan are network or MAN, and a Wide area network or WAN. You can see there are several types of networks that are available in several different areas of the world.

They have different capabilities depending on what type of networking system they are. The PAN, which as the name states is a personal network, meaning it’s used by one person. It’s when you have a computer, scanner, fax, phone, etc, hooked up to your computer at home. The range of a PAN is quit small usually ranging in distances of 6 to 8 feet.

A LAN is usually in reference to a network that covers a small location or a house. Most LANs use Ethernet as the connection. A LAN and WAN are close in what they do, but a LAN can be distinguished by the higher level of data transfer rates.

Next is the CAN, Campus area network, as it name applies is a network connection of two or more LANs on a college or other campus, military bases, or other industrial complex. A CAN may actually be considered a MAN, but is most of the time in a much smaller area than a MAN.

A MAN or Metropolitan area network is where two or more LANs or even CANs are connected together. A MAN however will not go beyond the boundaries of the local city or town.

A WAN which remember is a Wide area network, it covers a broader geographic area than a city, and perhaps two or more counties would be connected this way.

Another network that we failed to list earlier is a Global area network or GAN, this is actually something that is being worked on by several different groups at present and has yet to be fully defined. What the basic idea of a GAN is, it will support mobile communication across LANs, such as wireless coverage or even satellite coverage.

Networks are an amazing thing that if you think about it really haven’t been around for a long amount of time. At least not with the tremendous abilities that are now available to people who have computers in the World. It wasn’t long ago when the only way to get on the internet was by dial-up services. Can you remember how slow that was? Wow a friend of mine is still using dial-up and I make sure to tease him every chance I get about it. Someday he’ll finally change it. Granted when cable connections and DSL both came out they were a bit pricy, but now it’s really cheaper to pay a bit of money and get a fast connection. It’s a lot less frustrating now that LANs and all these other networks are around!

Discover more about computers and xp registry cleaners from his website. He shares some of his things he learned in 10 years experience. Visit: http://www.registryheal.com/

Proxy is actually a server which performs as a middleman among a client, internet and you. We send our request to a proxy server, then the server forwards it to the web and then proxy reverts back to you.

There are five types of proxies:
1. Web proxy.
2. Forced proxy.
3. Anonymous proxy.
4. Open proxy.
5. Caching proxy.

The basic purpose of any proxy as discussed above is that, it will help you maintain your privacy like your IP address but it also helps in accessing certain areas on the network that might be blocked to you, example in work place, libraries, schools etc.

But the web based proxies are undoubtedly the best; they have an edge on the other ones. Web proxies are the most commonly used proxies these days. First of all, web proxies provide a fast track way in efficiently distributing network traffic in real time. They certainly help the users in making their browsing lightening fast and safe too, so it obviously becomes their first choice.

The next best thing about these web proxies is that they are developed as such that they can easily avoid censors. Some internet service providers might not allow some users, but with use of web based proxy servers it’s no longer a problem.

One of the best things about these proxies is that they have an in built feature that makes them act as a firewall. It is always recommended to surf the web with the support of these proxy servers. They ensure you that you’re IP, your ID and more importantly you are safe from the hackers.

As a kind advice for people who are blocked in attempting to surf some web pages, we might tell them that they should try to search such proxies that can’t be traced by the censors. We further recommend that you should rather find your own common proxy port numbers as well as proxy, this will enable you hassle free, fast and safe web access.

This is a hard fact about the public proxies that their numbers are not laudable, but in contrast to the public proxies there are ample of private proxy servers, that are available to you in the form of concentrators, gateways for managing outside traffic.

So never ever be afraid of hackers when you are surfing through a web based proxy server. Your peace of mind and connectivity quality is 100% guaranteed with these web based servers; you can now rely on these servers for your peace of mind and better performance too.

Martin runs his own technology blog at Ghacks Technology News where he publishes Web Proxy lists and other privacy, security and Internet related topics.

In the late 1960’s as large college universities and several research labs gained an ever increasing amount of computers, the need for interconnections that worked at high-speed was great, and the pressure was on. It was not until the mid 1970’s that an answer to the demand was created, they called it LAN.

LAN stands for Local-Area Network, with the ability to cover small areas, such as a home or office or group of buildings (schools, warehouse, etc.), LANs have higher data-transfer rates, smaller range and do not require licensed telecommunication lines as opposed to WAN (Wide-Area Network). ARCNET and Token Ring were two LANs that were widely used in the past. Ethernet and Wi-Fi are two of today’s most common LANs.

A LAN is an important component to gamers. By setting up a LAN, gamers can link together their computers and play with or against their friends. Games, such as “Diablo II” and “S.O.C.O.M.”, allows gamers to cooperate together in a team while either on line or while their computers are connected by LAN.Games, such as “Unreal Tournament” and “Starcraft”, allow gamers connected by the internet or a LAN to work as a team or to compete against each other.Computers are usually linked by what is known as a Cat-5 cable to a HUB; and the HUB acts like a mediator. The Cat-5 cable connects to the back of the computer through the Ethernet port on the Network card, network adapter, LAN adapter or NIC (Network Interface Card). A network card operates on both the physical layer and the data link layer; it allows a low-level addressing system, using Mac Addresses, also known as an IP address, and physical access to the networking medium (the HUB). Not all LANs are the same; some use cables while others are wireless.

While other network technology exists, since the mid 1990’s, the Ethernet network card has been leading the crowd, due to low cost and easy integration and use. A unique 48-bit serial number is on every Ethernet network card, stored in the ROM; the serial number is your computers Mac address. The Mac address for every computer must be unique; otherwise only one computer with a given Mac address could be on line and connected to the LAN at a time. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is responsible for each unique Mac address getting assigned to vendors of interface controllers; this is so no two network cards share the same Mac address.

At one point network cards were expansion cards that had to be plugged into the motherboard. Most new computers have the network card built into the motherboard; some may even have two ports built in so the computer can be connected to multiple networks. Some companies have started using optical fiber instead of Cat-5 cables or USB cords, because optical fiber is immune to electromagnetic interference. Optical fibers are made of glass or plastic, instead of metal, and carry light along their full length. The electrical signals sent along the optical fiber degrade less during transfer than signals sent along metal wires (Cat-5 cables and USB cords).

Victor Epand is an expert consultant for computer memory, PC supplies, and computer games. When shopping, we recommend the best online stores for PC supplies, LAN, computer memory, RAM, and used computer games.

Wireless networks have been one of the most significant innovations in information technology infrastructure this millennium. The ability to take the internet with you, wherever you go, has made an enormous difference to how we do business and research for our own information, and has multiplied the effectiveness of the internet by hundreds of times. Wireless technology has its limits, though, just like anything else, and in this article we look at the fine minds of this century that are pushing the boundaries of wireless.

In 2005 alone, shipments of wireless LAN chipsets surpassed the 100-million mark worldwide, with as joint effort by private consumers and business helping reach the milestone. From being an untrustworthy novelty several years ago, it has quickly evolved into a necessity as businesses see its value. However, new uses of wireless technology like personal gaming, internet telephony and music streaming, as well as this enormous number of wireless users are putting strain on new wireless networks. We need better information technology infrastructure, and the new wireless standard, 802.11n is coming to the rescue.

IT consultants hail the new standard as promising ” both higher data rates and increased reliability”. For comparison, the first wireless standard that hardware had to conform to as seen by network performance monitors was the 802.11b, which allowed data transfer at raw rates of up to 11 mbps, using a modulation technique named Complementary Code Keying.

After this, the 802.11g standard was developed, hailed by IT consultants as the solution to speed and reliability issues with existing wireless networks. It allowed raw data transfer at 54 mbps, and the speed was so anticipated that hardware was selling like hotcakes a year before the new standard for network performance management was finalized.

Now 802.11n is here, with innovations that allow for a variety of optional configurations and modes that dictate individual maximum raw data rates. This gives better baseline network performance management for 802.11n devices and allows manufacturers to tweak capabilities for different price points.

Another of the more exciting wireless technology developments has come this year, with relatively little fanfare. It is now possible, thanks to an Asian company named Datacraft, to have wireless technology in places that were previously very difficult logistically. The information technology consulting firm has developed technology that allows passengers in the Singapore Flyer, the world’s tallest observation wheel, to enjoy audio and video entertainment during the ride.

Hidetaka Kai, the IT consulting company’s general manager, says that “This is the first time any vendor has implemented a wireless solution for such a high-rise, massive, spinning and continuously moving structure”.

These new developments and standards for wireless technology should continue to help clear up the spaghetti-bowls under desks around the world, at rates never before imagined!

Datacraft is the leading independent IT services and solutions company in Asia Pacific. Datacraft combines an expertise in networking, security, Microsoft solutions, storage and contact centre technologies, with advanced skills in consulting, integration and managed services, to craft IT solutions for businesses.