Tag: networking

Windows 7 Networking

July 13, 2009 by Jason

The process of installing Windows 7 involves a stage in which end users need to Set a Network Location. The SNL dialog window can be revisited after deployment, and the settings altered. In this context, location is key. In order to simplify the network configuration, Windows 7, just as Windows Vista before it, allows users to set up a network connection in accordance to location. The SNL dialog offers three different network locations: Public, Work and Home. What it does is that when the computer detects a network connection, options are provided for the user to help define and apply appropriate network settings automatically.

User interaction is only necessary when choosing among Home, Work or Public locations, as Windows 7 does all the heavy lifting. But you can’t even tell there’s any heavy lifting involved as the configuration process is extremely fast, and I for example, have yet to see it fail even once, after countless installs of the platform in pre-Beta, Beta, RC and pre-RTM stages.

In all fairness, the Windows 7 client comes with an additional option for network location, namely Domain. However, Domain is reserved for enterprise environments and is out of the reach of end users. The option is controlled entirely by a network administrator, users cannot opt to take advantage of Domain by themselves or alter the configuration. Read More»

Are You Suffering From Internet Addiction?

November 24, 2008 by Jason

Do you spend your entire day surfing the internet and have withdrawl symptoms when offline? Chinese doctors took the first step to give a diagnostic definition of Internet addiction to address medical concerns over psychological problems from Internet overuse.

Symptoms of addiction included yearning to get back online, mental or physical distress, irritation and difficulty concentrating or sleeping. The definition, based on a study of more than 1,300 problematic computer users, classifies as addicts those who spend at least six hours online a day and have shown at least one symptom in the past three months.

They say such persons can seek medical help and counselling and now psychiatrists can easily treat such cases. I am sure a large population is surfing the web over 6 hours daily and showing one of those symptoms. I am sure many of my bloggers friends show these signs of addiction too. Maybe I am also getting addicted to the web, sitting and writing this post on a Sunday evening, though I still try to avoid my blogging time wasting habits. Read More»

Mixed Vista/XP network to work properly

August 13, 2008 by Jason

When you combine Windows XP and Windows Vista PCs on the same peer-to-peer network, such as you might have at home or a small office, you may run into all kinds of problems. It may be difficult for your Windows Vista PCs to find your Windows XP PCs, and vice versa.

And the Windows Vista Network Map which may be the best networking feature Microsoft has ever introduced into Windows won’t work properly with XP PCs. They won’t show up properly on the network map, if they even show up at all.

Fixing workgroup woes

The first problem is that the default name for your workgroup on the network has been changed from Windows XP to Windows Vista. In Windows XP, the default name for the network is Mshome; in Windows Vista, it is Workgroup.

The fix for this problem is easy; you can change the name of the workgroup on Windows XP to match the name of your Windows Vista network. On Windows XP, right-click My Computer, click the Computer Name tab, then click Change. Read More»

Free Download Windows Vista – Sysinternals Suite

March 01, 2008 by Jason

Even though Microsoft has promised to drop the prices associated with some of the retail standalone versions of Windows Vista (specifically the Home Premium and Ultimate editions), the fact of the matter is that the SKUs of the latest Windows client will still be far from cheap. In this context, you have to take advantage as best you can of the ecosystem of software solutions built around the operating system. And there are plenty of free offerings that are worth a whole lot more than what you didn’t pay for them. The Sysinternals brand dates back to 1996, and was associated with the Windows operating system from the get-go. The brainchild of developers Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell Sysinternals has become synonymous with a collection of advanced system utilities. Read More»

How to Add a Computer to a Wireless Network Without the Network Key

February 24, 2008 by Jason

Adding a computer to your wireless network without using a network key is easy. However, you must know that doing so will allow anyone in your neighborhood to access your WiFi, which can make you vulnerable to hackers.

Step 1:
Log in to your hub computer as the administrator.

Step 2:
Open your Wireless Advisor. This is the program that you downloaded when you connected your hub computer to the wireless router.

Step 3:
In the Wireless Advisor window click on the “Actions” tab. Read More»

Speed Up Windows Vista Network Performance with TCP Windows Tuning

February 23, 2008 by Jason

Microsoft KB article 929868 describes a problem which will cause you to experience very slow browsing on certain websites when using Internet Explorer 7 on Windows Vista, and eventually the website might even drop the data completely. The cause is that by default, Windows Vista Enterprise fully supports RFC 1323 and supports a Windows Scaling factor of 8. This issue occurs when a Web site does not fully support RFC 1323 or when a Web site does not support the default scaling factor.

THE QUICK FIX

To work around the slow browsing issue change the Windows Scaling to a factor of 2. First open and Administrator command line prompt. Click Start –> All Programs –> Accessories, right click Command Prompt, then left click Run as administrator. As an alternative you can click Start then type into the Start Search box, or the Run box, cmd, then use the shortcut keys Ctrl-Shift-Enter. (NOTE: After you set a new autotuninglevel you will need to reboot in order for the changes to take effect.) Read More»

Speed up wireless WAN connections

September 12, 2007 by Jason

In Windows Vista the networking components were designed to be much more intelligent and automatically adjust the network settings to optimize the connection speed. This is a great new feature. Your network components basically tweak themselves for optimal performance. In most situations, these components automatically adjust perfectly for best performance. However, with wireless WAN cards the detection of network conditions is flawed and can result in slower network performance.

To fix this problem, Microsoft has released a hotfix for users affected by this issue. If you have a Wireless WAN device, I suggest you give this hotfix a try. Read More»

How to Switch Internet Service Providers

January 27, 2007 by Jason

As a computer consultant to nonprofit organizations, I frequently encounter clients who pay more for their Internet service than they need to. They may have listened to a salesperson instead of a trusted advisor when selecting service, or never renegotiated their rate over the years as prices dropped. The result is that nonprofits sometimes end up paying hundreds of dollars a year for a level of Internet service they don’t need.

I’ve worked with organizations that have paid $24 per month for dial-up Internet service when less-expensive Internet Service Providers ( ISPs) abound, others that have paid $200 a month for SDSL when ADSL is adequate and costs less, and some that have paid high rates for slow ISDN when speedy ADSL is available for less. Read More»