SolveYourProblem
eLearning Series
Wireless Networking
Do
You Already Have A Wireless Device
and Not Realize It?
by Jeff Cohen
More and more
laptops and desktop computers are coming pre-equipped with
wireless networking devices -- it's so cheap that they might
as well put it in, to have another thing to list in the system
specifications.
If you're anything
like me, though, you probably don't even know how much memory
your computers have, never mind whether any of them came
wireless-enabled. When you don't know what wireless networking
is, it's easy to ignore it in a computer's specifications,
and never take the time to set it up and get it working.
Here are some things to look for if you want to check your
computer's wireless capabilities.
Intel
Centrino
If your laptop
came with something called 'Intel Centrino mobile technology',
then it's good news for you! Computer manufacturers seem
a little bad at explaining what this technology is or does,
but it basically means that your laptop has wireless networking
built right in, without you needing to do a thing. It is
a marketing name for a combination of the Intel Pentium M
processor and Intel's Pro/Wireless card.
Your computer
should have a 'Centrino' sticker on it somewhere if it is
Centrino enabled. If you think you might have taken the sticker
off, you can check the name of your processor by right clicking
the My Computer icon on your desktop (or in the Start Menu)
and choosing Properties from the menu that appears. Take
a look at what it says after the word 'Computer' on this
screen.
If you're interested,
Centrino technology also increases battery life and allows
computers to be smaller. Don't worry, though, if you didn't
buy a Centrino laptop -- as long as your laptop has a free
card slot, installing wireless on it will be no trouble.
Desktop
Computers
If you're not
sure whether your desktop computer has a wireless connection,
the easiest thing to do is to turn it around and look at
it. If a wireless connection is present, you should usually
be able to see a small aerial sticking out of the back of
the computer, towards the bottom.
If there's nothing
there, then it's still possible that you have a wireless
device in the computer, especially if you bought it recently
and you think you do. It's not a good idea to try to open
up your computer just to check something, though, so you
should probably try and figure it out using Windows.
Checking
in Windows
Instead of fiddling
around with your computer hardware to see what you've got,
you can check easily enough using Windows' Device Manager.
To use it, right click My Computer, and choose Manage from
that menu. Now click Device Manager.
You should see
a list of all the different kinds of things you can install
on your computer. Take a look under 'Network adapters'. Ignore
anything that says '10/100' or 'Ethernet' - they're normal
network connections, but not wireless ones. If there's anything
else there, it could be a wireless device.
If you think you
have a wireless device, but it has a yellow warning sign
next to its name in the Device Manager, you should take a
look at it to see what's wrong by double clicking its name.
Windows should tell you why the device is not working at
the moment, and may suggest that you go through its troubleshooter
program. Do that before you do anything else.
If it turns out
to be a driver problem, you should insert the drivers CD
that came with your computer. Of course, as is always the
way, you probably won't be able to find that CD - but don't
worry, you should be able to find drivers online. First,
you should look on the website of the computer's manufacturer,
and then you should try searching for the name that the wireless
device had in Device Manager.
Of course, you
might find after all this that you don't have a wireless
device after all. Hard luck. It's better to figure that out
now than to buy wireless equipment and then realise you had
some already, though, isn't it? Of course, even if you did
find a wireless device in one of your computers, you probably
still need more. Don't worry either way - they're getting
cheaper all the time!
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SolveYourProblem.com : 2007
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