Hi Tony,

I read your article about 10 tips for improving your wireless connection and I have a question for you.

I have an apple mac book pro computer and my husband has an ibm thinkpad. We moved into a new house in July and ever since we moved into our new house my wireless connection has not been working well at all – it is extremely slow but my husbands computer works great and has a very strong wireless connection. The strange thing is it worked fine at our last home with the same set up except that instead of using our apple airport we are now using a linksys router that is connected to our dsl modem. If I take my computer outside of the house and get on another wireless network the internet works fine. The other thing we have tested is actually hardwiring my computer into the router directly and it still didn’t work quickly at all so I am wondering if there is a problem with my computer (being an apple) with a linkys router?

Any ideas? I have been working on this issue off and on for a while now. We have even had our tech guy come out and take a look and he can’t seem to figure it out.

Thanks for you any ideas you may have.

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Tony, your Microsoft article was awesome and beneficial. Didn’t quite understand the below though. We have AT&T Elite speed and wish we didn’t have to pay too much for a moderate speed. Does this apply to AT&T tech? What questions should we be asking? Thanks for information and we will keep your home page a favorite. Good luck!

802.11b is the most common type of wireless network, but 802.11g is about five times faster. 802.11g is backward-compatible with 802.11b, so you can still use any 802.11b equipment that you have. If you’re using 802.11b and you’re unhappy with the performance, consider replacing your router and network adapters with 802.11g-compatible equipment. If you’re buying new equipment, definitely choose 802.11g.

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The video above and the article below compare two free virtual machine applications designed for home users: Microsoft Virtual PC and Sun VirtualBox.

What is a Virtual Machine (VM)?

A virtual machine (VM) is a computer that runs inside a window on your host computer. VMs are also great for testing–you can test different operating systems, applications, and configurations without messing up your computer. For example, you could run Windows in a VM on a Linux or Macintosh computer, allowing you to run Windows-only applications. Or, you could test out Linux in a VM on your Windows box without committing to it.

In fact, even if you install spyware, adware, or rootkits in a VM, they won’t infect your host computer. Just shut down the VM, and your computer is as clean as ever. VMs are also a great tool for learning networking, allowing you to connect several different computers when you only have one computer available.

After the jump, my recommendations for home users who want to use VMs:

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Question:

Hello Tony:

Well, here’s one for you…

I purchased Windows Vista and a brand spankin’ new computer a month ago.  Needless to say, it’s bee harried at best!

Well, anywho, here’s the problem now:

Periodically (often, but not always), when I try to get online via email or internet (I have DSL), a window pops up and says “unknown error” and won’t let me get connect.

THEN a window comes up and asks me if I want to let the computer try to diagnose the problem.  I say yes. Then it says that I have more than one network connected or something like that and that I need to unplug one of them for 10 seconds….

Well, I don’t have more than one connection. So, I go into the place where you “repair network settings…” It doesn’t work, but I see my network listed, then another one called “unidentified network” listed! This isn’t all the time.

Well, after much on/off trying to get onto the internet, eventually, a window comes up and asks me if I want the computer to try to “reset” or repair or something like that, my network settings. I say yes, and it repairs. Then I can go online. Any answers?

D

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Question:

Sometimes when I am opening web pages in Internet Explorer, it says I’m
offline.  When I click Try Again, it takes me to the page with no problem.
I constantly get error messages with AOL IN2TV.  In Quicken 2005 when I run
update, I get a constant popup saying I’m offline.  Itunes thinks I’m not
connected to the internet.

I have a Linksys WRT54GS.  I’ve heard there are networking issues with it,
but no specifics.  I have done constant Google searches.   I have tried
countless suggestions.  Disable auto-tuning, turn off SPI in the router,
etc.  Some problems go away temporarily, but I still get the offline message
a lot when surfing the internet.  I connected directly to the cable modem,
and Quicken and IN2TV worked, but I still got the occasional offline message
in Internet Explorer.

Any suggestions, or should I just go back to XP where I didn’t have any of
these problems on the same computer with the same hardware?  If I go back to
XP, I will probably wait until after the consumer release to go back to
Vista.  Hopefully by then, there will be some updates that address these
issues, and better drivers available.

• Athlon XP 2500+
• 1GB Memory
• Nvidia GeForce 5700 Ultra 128 MB
• Nforce 2 Chipset
• Nvidia Nforce Networking Controller 6.2.0.126

Answer:

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