Asp

These don't use cans, they're parabolic reflectors, not cylindrical wave guides, so "cantenna" is not really apt. Also, as they put a USB dongle at the focus of the reflector, the cable is digital USB, not a traditional radio antenna lead.

So considering the total lack of consensus, I took the easy option and bought a USB dongle. The signal as feared was rather weak. However, I've just found this amazing page about how to make your own booster for dongles -- from cheap cookware. Poor Man's WiFi So next weekend I'll be using wifi via a Chinese wok.

I have an old (ca 1997) writing/drawing pad that connects by a serial COM port. Acts like a mouse with some extra features. Worked fine in Win95/8, but WinXP can't see it. The company has nothing on their site about it, no updated drivers, Googling finds only a few people like myself asking for new drivers. The install files are is: 14/10/1997 11:07p 1,076 PENMOUSE.INF 06/11/1997 02:06p 13,824 INSTALL.EXE 06/11/1997 02:50p 27,136 MOUSEPEN.EXE 13/11/1997 01:45p 6,880 PENMOUSE.31 06/11/1997 02:44p 2,976 PENMOUSE.DRV 08/03/1997 11:41a 20,120 DMOUSE.COM 05/12/1997 04:50p 8,812 PENMOUSE.VXD 12/03/1998 05:42p 788 readme.txt 23/09/1997 10:34p 19,456 REG.EXE Some of these I think are for use in DOS. I've attached these -- a 38k RAR file. Running "Install" fails. Trying to use Windows Device Manager or Install New Hardware and pointing to the INF file gets a "No suitable files" message. Could perhaps the INF file be hacked to make it acceptable, or is it a lost cause? PENMOUSE.INF ; Extensive PenMouse Driver Setup [Version] Signature="$Windows 95$" Class=Mouse Provider=%MS% [DestinationDirs] DefaultDestDir = 11 ; LDID_SYS driverCopy = 11 [SourceDisksNames] 1=%DrvDisk%,,1 [SourceDisksFiles] penmouse.vxd=1 [Manufacturer] %MS%=PenMouseInstall ; Manufacturer Sections ; ---------------------------------------- [PenMouseInstall] %SerEasy%=Sermou,SERENUM\QMT0001 ; Install sections ; ---------------------------------------- [Sermou] DelReg=DelReg AddReg=CommonReg, SerialReg CopyFiles=driverCopy UpdateInis=driver.Ini [DelReg] HKR,,DevLoader HKR,,MouseDriver HKR,,MouseType HKR,,Cominfo [SerialReg] HKR,,MouseType,,Serial [CommonReg] HKR,,DevLoader,,*vmouse HKR,,MouseDriver,,penmouse.vxd HKR,,NoSetupUI,,1 [driverCopy] penmouse.vxd [driver.Ini] system.ini,386Enh,,"mouse=*vmouse" ; ---------------------------------------- ; User-visible Strings [Strings] DrvDisk="PenMouse Driver Disk" MS="Extensive" Drv.Desc="QMT-2000 Mouse Tablet" SerEasy="QMT-2000 Mouse Tablet" qmt_win98.rar

I want to wifi-enable a friend's desktop PC. I've checked the signal in the room with my laptop, and it works, but is not very strong. So I wonder which would give the better performance: a PCI card or a USB dongle? I know of course that each model and brand will be different, but I wonder if there is a general rule. I expect that a PCI card, just because it's bigger and has a bigger antenna, would have better reception. But that's just a guess. There isn't much cost difference, and it only takes a few minutes to install a card, so performance is the only issue for me here.

It worked!! Thanks. (How or why that setting was changed, will be forever a mystery, I suppose.)

Sorry if this is a incoherent, but if I understood what was happening I wouldn't be asking this... I use Win2kSP4. I had been using ADSL broadband for a few years, using RASPPPoE to make a pseudo Dial-up networking modem connection. It all worked fine, but I need connect a laptop so got a broadband router. That was surprisingly painless, and I connected through that without any problems. Until: a month ago there was an outage with my ISP, so I connected via a 56k modem, using dial-up networking, (the router and laptop were offline). After I got broadband back, it mostly worked fine -- but if there was any delay in connecting, my modem connection would pop up and try to connect. So I deleted that, and so the next time my old RASPPPoE connection came up. More annoying, some software refused to work using the router/LAN Internet connection, and kept trying to make a dial-up networking connection. Things like "Dimension4", a network time utility, which had worked perfectly on the LAN connection before. I do want to keep the dialup networking icons as a backup connection. Why are some applications trying to use them when there is a perfectly good LAN connection? How do I make that the default for everything? Do I have to delete all my Dial-up connection icons to do that?

Doesn't have WPA. The AP is vintage 2002. Slow, but still much faster than my Internet service. Anyway, last night I changed the WEP from 64 to 128 bit encryption and put in new codes. But the laptop could still login using the old codes. Is this a consequence of the "lease"? I'm not terribly concerned about being attacked, it's a home network and I can access two neighbours' APs at this moment with no encryption at all.

Yes, it was 255.255.255.0. I tried connecting the PC directly to the WAP, but Windows just said the cable was disconnected. Possibly I needed a crossover cable. Anyway, I connected the PC and WAP up to the router, changed the router's subnet mask to 255.255.0.0; so then I could access the WAP\s default IP through the router and use the config utility to set it to DHCP; and then reset the router's netmask, rebooted everything and now it's working with the WAP on 192.168.1.22. Now I'm messing around with the security settings. Is there a way to check the WEP password -- I found several WEP password crackers, buit most worked on Linux; I just want to test a small number of passwords against my WAP to be sure they've stuck, not throw millions of attacks. It seems that when I change the WEP password, existing sessions just continue without interruption or needing a new password; is that standard behaviour? Seems a little promiscuous.

I'm a newbie at networking, but have a have 4 port router and ADSL modem with dynamic IP working. Now I need to add a Wireless Access Point for my wife's laptop. The laptop is working fine, it's already leeching off some neighbour's open link. But I'd like to have my own setup. I bought an oldish Wireless Access Point. The manual, and all the setup files as on the CDR, can be found: AP111B manual (the original manufacturer's site is long gone). I'm having trouble with the terminology. TFA says(page 23): What is an "ethernet station"? The PC or the router? The "hub" I assume is the router. Anyway: I have a PC, a 4-port router, the WAP, an ADSL modem. What do I plug in where at this point? The final arrangement is obvious enough, plugging the WAP to one of the LAN ports of the router, but in this configuration step it seems to be saying to do something else to set its initial IP. The router gateway is at 192.168.1.1; the PC is assigned 192.168.1.21, netmask 255.255.255.1 Default WAP IP is 192.168.0.1, which looks like it needs to be changed (to what, exactly?) to be compatible. Also, I'm having trouble installing the "SNMP manager" software. Is this generic, or manufacturer specific? If generic, what alternatives are there? Thanks greatly for any hints...

EDIT: SOLVED. See PS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'm trying to install the software for an (old) wireless access point in Win2ksp4. Every time I do, the install aborts with a mesage: "1608: Unable to Create InstallDriver Instance" This led me to this page:InstallShield KB However, after following all the advice and reinstalls, I get no further. I checked COM permissions, MS networking (WTF?) and every other thing. BUT, I can install the software on both Win98 and WinXP machines without a glitch. But I need it on my Win2k machine. Is there a way to manually install? I used "InControl5" when installing it in Win98, it listed hundreds of registry changes, so just copying files won't work. The complete installation files are here ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PS: I forgot the Cardinal Rule: If it first it don't work, reboot. I think it was adding "Microsoft Networking" to my network card protocols that did the trick; insane as it seems. Though immediately trying the install failed, after a reboot it did work. I leave this here just in case anyone else is searching for solutions.

Mystery solved -- a screensaver. The "Channel" screen saver in particular. My daughter has been naggin ne about how boring my plain brown desktop is, seems she tried to customise it. Time to work out separate user accounts I think.

I keep finding my desktop covered by a screen with a flower-like logo in the middle, and a label "Microsoft Active Channels". I have no idea where this came from; I suspect my daughter has clicked on something. Googling tells me it's some kind of obsolete web-push technology. Descriptions are either uselessly vague or uselessly over-technical (for me). I can just close it, but how do I get rid of it permanently? What is it doing, is it possibly dangerous, a vector for turning my pc (Win2k) into a zombie.... I have IE 5 installed, but never use it purposely, I use Opera and Firefox for browsing. I'll try to grab a screenshot and add it later.