The problem with this however, is that although you can quickly and easily configure a new router with basic settings, the start-up wizards usually don’t mention anything about wireless encryption. To be fair some of the top commercial models do, but the basic routers you can pick up for home usage simply ignore encryption because it can be confusing to people with little computer knowledge, and they want to make it as easy as possible. This can be dangerous, as leaving your Wi-Fi connection open and unencrypted could leave you open to all kinds of attacks.

Lets take a situation where someone has bought a new router, plugged it into their Internet connection and started surfing the web using the wireless connection, without setting up any encryption. If this computer user lives in a block of apartments or perhaps in a built up area, the coverage of the router’s wireless transmitter will easily penetrate outside the confines of the home. It’s even possible that houses across a fairly wide street could pick up the signals. Certainly those people living in the immediate vicinity, or in a parked car outside, would be able to simply log on and use the Internet. (You can try it out yourself with a free software like TekWifi)

The computer user may be blissfully unaware that others are using his Internet connection. Or, he might be aware and simply not care. The truth is, this is a dangerous practice. Wi-Fi hijackers may not just be able to use the Internet, with a little networking knowledge; someone could hack into the user’s computer and steal information or vandalize information. If the user keeps passwords or bank details on his laptop, these could be compromised and used to steal money or commit fraud. Personal files, family photographs and emails could all be lifted directly from an unsuspecting computer user with an open Wi-Fi connection, all without them knowing about it. You wouldn’t let strangers walk into your home and start looking about, so why let them into your computer network?

Not only that, but if someone else has access to your Internet connection, they could commit crimes such as fraud, or download illegal content. Technically you could be held liable for this, as an ISP might track illegal activities to your connection. Even though you are not responsible for the crimes, you could end up being asked some serious questions by the authorities. Be safe and set up encryption on your Wi-Fi today!

Check out our guide Find Out Who Is Surfing On Your Wireless Network to check if someone else is using your wi-fi network.

Sometimes though things do not go as planned. Maybe you cannot establish a connection successfully, or you notice connection drops or other issues that you need to resolve.

A software like TekWifi can aid you in that process. The program is a wireless connection and diagnostic tool for Windows PCs. All you need to do is to run it after unpacking it on the system. The program will automatically display all available WLAN connections that were picked up by the computer’s wireless module. You see the Wlan’s name, type, authentication, cipher and signal in a table like structure.

You can select a wireless network from the list by double-clicking it. This opens the Diagnostic tab where you can enter the key for the wireless network. A click on Connect will establish a connection to the network. If that fails, you can click on Diagnose to get diagnostic information right in the same window.

The diagnostic test checks for DNS and Hotspot server accessibility, the default gateway, ISP home page and Internet connectivity.

The program runs basic tests only that can aid you in diagnosing connection issues.

TekWiFi is compatible with all 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system. It even runs under Windows 8. Please note that it requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.51 to be installed on the system.

Interested users can download it from the developer’s website. (via)

What exactly is Wi-Fi? We’ve heard the term so often, but very few know what it actually means. It is a means of accessing the internet through signals that travel through air, or wireless signals, which are transmitted to the device that supports Wi-Fi connectivity from a Wi-Fi router, which in turn is physically connected to the internet using a wire. Thus the router transmits, or “routes” signals all around it, usually limited to a particular radius, which depends on the brand of the router. Any device with Wi-Fi capability can access the internet by receiving and transmitting these signals. Thus Wi-Fi is a very user-friendly option, and has been implemented successfully at places all around the world, like airports, coffee lounges, restaurants, schools, colleges, universities, railway stations and hotels. These places, usually called “hotspots”, are covered by routers that provide internet access.

via http://xkcd.com/416/

In general, because the internet does not come free to anyone, Wi-Fi routers are password-protected, and access to internet is restricted to authorized people. Restricted access is also in force to prevent illegal activities from taking place, and to prevent abuse of the internet. Thus airports, train terminals, and all other places that provide Wi-Fi give out the username and password that enables the user to log on to the Wi-Fi network, for a price. Thus you buy internet, but unlike in cyber cafes, you get to sit wherever you like, and you need your own device that has Wi-Fi capability. So don’t be surprised if you go to a place that has “This place is a hotspot” or “Wi-Fi provided here” signs written, and when you turn on your device’s Wi-Fi and open up a browser, you see a page asking for a username and a password, or just the password, in some cases. You either need to purchase it for a fixed time, or ask for permission, as many places provide free Wi-Fi for employees, their families, and such. Now while using Wi-Fi at a place that you frequent is an easy process, the real hassle begins when you travel, and need to be connected to the internet constantly. Do not worry because free Wi-Fi is here!

Yes, you heard it right! Free Wi-Fi! How? You ask. Well not everyone sells internet, many provide it for free within a limited distance! There are many airports around the world that offer free Wi-Fi. Many restaurant chains like McDonalds and Starbucks offer free Wi-Fi access at multiple store locations across the world. All you need to do is ask, or check out the website of the particular store that is located in the place you are going to travel. Not just these, many bus companies, hotels, and restaurants offer free Wi-Fi as well. The best way to search for free Wi-Fi would be to search for it. Just turn on the Wi-Fi of your phone or laptop, and in most cases it begins to do an automatic search for Wi-Fi networks in the vicinity. Most likely you will see a list of three or four Wi-Fi networks that have been detected by your device. Now just try out each of them. Most times you can make out the provider by looking at the name of the network. For instance if you are sitting in a McDonalds restaurant, and if your network scan displays a result called “McD”, then you can be pretty sure it belongs to the store.

In addition, if you are using a laptop, you can even check for the signal strength of the available Wi-Fi networks in the area and thus choose the strongest one. Laptops are the easiest way to find free Wi-Fi, as they are made for connectivity and the hardware used is very effective in searching for Wi-Fi networks. If you are using a cell phone, then your work may be made easier because many phones now come with pre-installed applications, or apps that search for Wi-Fi networks and even in the absence of Wi-Fi signals can display the locations of free Wi-Fi hotspots in the location that you are present in. Another way you can look for free Wi-Fi is by going to different places like coffee shops, airports, hotels, and restaurants. Many places offer free Wi-Fi so that customers do not miss important assignments, and in a way, also make sure that they will come back, because the service is good. Thus you can find free Wi-Fi in many ways.

However, if you are too lazy to do all the scanning and all the traveling, do not worry. There are just the right tools that will do it for you. Websites, such as wififreespot.com offer a detailed and comprehensive listing of free Wi-Fi hotspots all over the world. They even list by state and by region. Another great option is Wefi, a free application for Windows that uses data given by users and creates databases of free Wi-Fi hotspots, and gives you all the details of the available Wi-Fi networks once downloaded and activated. Similar applications exist for smart phones, and with a little searching in your phone’s app store, you can find something very useful. So happy Wi-Fiing!

KDE 4.3 is out now and the KNetwork Manager has matured quite a bit. Now this KDE tool has reached a point where it not only works consistently, it’s also quite easy to use – almost surpassing the GNOME Network Manager in user-friendliness.

But for those who have grown to depend on other means of connecting to the net (in KDE 4.x) by other means, the KNetwork Manager might seem a bit unfamiliar. In this tutorial you will see just how easy it has become to connect to a network (specifically a wireless network) with the help of KNetwork Manager.

Installation

You will be glad to know that there is no installation necessary for KNetwork Manager. But you will want to make sure you have the latest KDE updates. But you will want to make sure you are using the most recent version of KDE (As of this writing, KDE 4.3.2). To find out what version you are using open up the Dolphin file manager, go to the Help menu, and click “About KDE”. If you are using a version prior to 4.3.2 you will want to go to your update manager and check to see if there are any updates for KDE.

Accessing KNetwork Manager

Figure 1

If you look in the notification area you will find the KNetwork Manager icon (see the icon in the black square in Figure 1). If you click this icon (either right or left click) a menu will pop up that:

• Shows you if you are connected to a network.
• Allows you to stop an active network connection.
• Connect to a new network.
• Enable/disable wireless.
• Open the connection manager.

Figure 2

To create a new wireless connection either select “Connect to Other Network” or open the Connection Manager. Let’s start from the Connection Manager. Select that entry to open up the Connection Manager (see Figure 2).  As you can see there are already two network connections available. Let’s create a third.

Figure 3

In order to create a new network click the Add button, which will open up the New Network tool (see Figure 3). In this tool you can either add all of the information manually or you can click the Scan button to find the network you want to add. The scan tool is one of my favorite aspects of the new KNetwork Manager.

The Access Point Scanner (see Figure 4) gives you a graphical representation of all available wireless networks and their relative signal strength.

Figure 4

Obviously the network that appears closest to the PC icon in the window will have the strongest strength. And since that is the network I want to connect to I will select it and click OK. Unfortunately, by selecting a particular access point, the only configuration this adds to your connection is the SSID. You will have to go through the rest of the configuration and set the connection up. Make sure you  click on the Wireless Security tab (see Figure 5), select the proper security type, and enter the correct password for the security.

Figure 5

Once you have configured the connection you can OK this window to apply the changes and dismiss the connection wizard. All you then need to do is click the KNetwork Manager icon and select your new network connection to connect.

Final thoughts

I am very pleased with how the KNetwork Manager tool has matured. Prior to 4.3.2, the network tool was nothing I would ever recommend. Now, however, I can safely recommend this network manager to anyone.

Virtual Router is another application released a few days ago as beta that makes use of the virtual Wifi options in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Unlike Connectify though it has been released at Codeplex which suggests that the program will remain free even after it has been released in a final version.

The program’s interface contains only a few options. The Start Virtual Router button being the most important. This button is only active if the computer uses a supported wireless adapter. Other options include changing the network name, password (recommended as the default password is always the same). Virtual Router uses WPA2 Encryption to provide a solid protection for the wireless network.

Virtual Router can be downloaded from the program’s Codeplex page. It is only compatible with Microsoft Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 and requires a compatible wireless adapter.

To do that open a Windows command prompt with the shortcut [Windows R] [cmd] [enter] and type in the command ping -t www.google.com. This will ping Google and display the time it takes. If you see spikes like in the screenshot below you are experiencing wireless lags.

The easiest way to fix wireless lags is by downloading and running Wireless Zero Shutdown when running Windows XP or Vista Anti Lag when running Windows Vista.

Running either of the software programs will stop the Windows service from scanning for new wireless networks regularly as soon as a wireless connection has been established.

The wifi-wiz interface is easy to use and can save your networks so that reconnecting is simple. This is a boon for anyone who has had issues getting wifi working on a Debian-based laptop.

Getting and Installing

Installing wifi-wiz is simple. Download the compressed .deb file from the creators’ site. Once the file is on your machine open up a terminal window, change into the directory where the file was saved, issue the command:

tar xvf wifi-wiz.tar

and then issue the command (as root):

dpkg -i wifi-wiz.deb

which will install the package.

Running wifi-wiz

Once Wifi-wiz is installed you wan start the application with the command wifi-wiz. NOTE: You will have to have root privileges in order run the software.

Wifi-wiz Main Window

When wifi-wiz starts you will see a very simple, easy to navigate window where all of the action takes place.

The first thing you should do is click on the Scan button which will scan the area for wireless networks. When the scan is finished all you have to do is select the network you want to connect to, configure that network (with which protocol you will connect, what wireless security type, the security key for the network, and if you want to set the DNS servers. Once you have the settings for your network done all you have to do is click Connect and your laptop will quickly connect to the configured access point.

Saved Networks

Once you have a network saved in Wifi-wiz you can click on the manage tab to change any configurations necessary. From this tab you can also delete a network and disconnect from a network.

Settings

From the settings tab there is an important setting you can take care of. If you want to run the wifi-wiz daemon at boot you can set this option here. You can also set the interval between connection checks for the daemon. Once you make any changes to your connection properties make sure you click the Save Network button.

Final Thoughts

I have used many wireless device managers on Linux. I have also tried a number of wireless device managers on this particular laptop. The one manager for debian systems that works with the most consistency is Wifi-wiz. It’s simple to use, reliable, and (in some cases – such as Elive) is the only option that works.

If you are looking for a good wireless manager for Debian download Wifi-wiz and give it a go. And, if you’re up to the task, create an rpm from the deb so this application can be used on more distributions.

WiFi SiStr (Wi-Fi Signal Strength) displays and logs the signal strength of the wireless connection. This can be helpful if you want to find out why the wireless connection drops frequently or if you want to make sure that the signal strength is sufficient all the time.

The signal strength is displayed in real time and the statistics can be used to analyze a connection over time.

The application is compatible to Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 but incompatible to Windows Vista currently. The .net framework 1.1 is required to run the software.

The commands to backup and restore wireless network profiles on the command prompt are netsh wlan export profile name=”name” folder=”folder” and netsh wlan add profile filename=”name” just in case you are asking. Regular users however will never discover this possibility and that’s where Wireless Migrator comes into play. Actually it’s of course also helpful for tech savvy users who want to speed up the process.

The software comes as an executable named BackupWireless.exe that automatically creates the backup RestoreWireless.wnb of all wireless network profiles upon execution. Executing RestoreWireless.wnb will restore the wireless network profile on the computer.

The tool wants to register the wnb file extension at first start. To remove those Registry settings use the switch BackupWireless.exe /remove. To restore a wireless network profile without registered file extension use the command BackupWireless.exe RestoreWireless.wnb. A tool cannot be easier than this one, great work.

It displays a radar like image with different colors dots. Green dots mark free wireless connections while red and yellow ones mark inaccessible ones. Once a green spot has been discovered by the software it automatically tries to connect to that Wireless access point to access the Internet.

It’s opening the default browser and loading a test website. A message stating the success will be shown if the connection was successful. It is really amazing how easy it is to find open wireless access points in towns. Should be harder if you are living in a rural area though.

I would not advise to check the mail from such a spot though unless encryption is being used. It’s not likely but possible that someone is using the open access point to snoop on the data of everyone who is connecting to it. Easy WiFi radar is available for Windows and Pocket PCs.