How To Solve Wireless (Wi-Fi) Connection Problems

Wi-Fi is awfully convenient, but it's also awfully buggy for many users, particularly those in areas crowded by competing wireless signals. If you're dealing with a loss of signal, try the following to troubleshoot your wireless setup.

1. Your PC might just need a little massaging. The best way to quickly disconnect and reconnect to your router is to right-click the wireless icon in the system tray and click Repair. If this doesn't solve the problem and you suspect it's still a PC issue, open a command prompt and type ipconfig /renew. This performs nearly the same operation as Repair but bypasses Windows, which could be causing the problem. If all else fails, reboot your PC.

2. If you're still having trouble, power-cycle your router by unplugging it, waiting 10 seconds, and plugging it back in. Your PC will need to reconnect after the router has booted up. Most routers lock up occasionally, and power cycling is the most reliable way to fix them. (Unless you can't physically reach your router, don't restart it through its management utility; that approach takes just as long, and the utility may not respond anyway.)

3. If you're still encountering frequent problems, you may be experiencing channel conflict, where multiple Wi-Fi routers are operating in the same narrow band of frequency. Download and run the evaluation version of WirelessMon; you can do all you need to with the demo. Look at the 'Channel Use' chart: Red and orange bars indicate channels under heavy use, while blue or no bars indicate relatively free channels. If your router is on a crowded channel, switch to a less busy one. You may see better performance and fewer dropouts.

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How To Surf Anonymously

Not too long ago hiding your tracks on the Web usually meant finding an open proxy server to surf through or paying for proxy software like Anonymizer, which redirects traffic through its own proxy servers.

Today there's a better solution, and it's free: the Torpark browser. Torpark is a Firefox-based browser designed to access the Tor network of encrypted proxies. When you use the Torpark browser, your Web session bounces through multiple secure proxies, encrypted all the way, until your request reaches its destination. Torpark is a quick download and doesn't require a formal install on your PC; just launch the executable when you need it and make sure the Tor Network icon is active when the browser starts.

Secure browsing is considerably slower than regular browsing, though, so skip it If you don't need the extra security---and most people don't most of the time.

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How To Diagnose Computer Problems Using Event IDs

Anytime your system crashes or an application freezes up, Event Viewer dutifully logs the error--but sorting through Event Viewer logs can be just as frustrating as dealing with the Blue Screen of Death. Here's a cheat sheet.

1. Start by familiarizing yourself with Event Viewer before you have a problem. It's under Start, Settings, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Event Viewer. The utility's System node logs Windows issues (particularly networking ones), while the Application node logs issues with other software. You should not see much activity in the Security node since it is disabled by default and is used only if you have auditing turned on (which requires extra Microsoft software and ultimately doesn't help most folks anyway). Third-party apps might create more nodes, as well.

2. Events are fairly self-explanatory: The date and time of each event are logged along with its source, plus miscellaneous data about the issue. Most events will be noted as 'Information' and are generally safe to ignore. The 'Error' and 'Warning' entries are what you should concern yourself with. You can access the guts of the information by double-clicking the event to open its Event Properties page.

3. In the Event Properties window, you'll find detailed information about the error in question and a link to the Microsoft support Web site. Clicking the link will open a detail page within the Windows Help application (not your browser) for the error you're investigating. But often the information you get will tell you little about the problem, either saying no more data is available or declaring there's nothing you can do.

4. For more detail on the error types and what they mean, turn to the Web. Plug the event ID into EventID.net, or search for key phrases in the error message, and try looking for clues to your problem by using the 'Source' field in the Event Viewer log as a search term.

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How To Safeguard Your Wireless (Wi-Fi) Network

Out of the box, most Wi-Fi routers are totally insecure. Fixing that takes only a few minutes, but you can easily get lost in the confusing menus of your router's management tool. Here's what to do.

1. If possible, plug in via ethernet to set up your router at the start--it'll save considerable time down the line. Don't bother installing the special software that comes with your router. Most routers can be controlled via a Web browser, which lets you manage your router from any networked PC.

2. To manage the router, type its IP address into your Web browser's address bar. If you don't know the IP address, go to Start, Run and type ipconfig /all in the field. The address will be shown as 'Default Gateway'. You'll also need the user name and password available in the manual or via an online search of the model number.

3. Once you can manage your router, change the administrator password you just looked up. This is typically under System Settings or a similar option.

4. Next, turn on encryption. WPA (or WPA-PSK) is about as secure as Wi-Fi gets today. Set a WPA key, and configure your clients to use the new key. (If one of the devices on your network does not support the WPA version you want to use, though, you'll have to go with a less secure method.) Look for 'Encryption' or 'Security' in the wireless management portion of the page (where you'll also find the following steps' settings).

5. It's a good idea to change the SSID from the default, which is usually 'linksys', 'belkin', or the like. Choose an SSID that doesn't invite inquiry from passersby (like 'broken' instead of 'janes-wifi' or '123mainstreet'). For extreme security, turn off SSID broadcasting.

6. Optional: Enable MAC address control, which limits access to computers you specify by their unique MAC address. This can enhance security, but MAC addresses are easily spoofed, and using this feature means you'll have to access your router's admin page to add new PCs to your network. To find a PC's MAC address, use the ipconfig command in step 2; look for the 'Physical Address'. Add that address to the allowed list in the appropriate router settings page.

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Tweaking With PowerToys

Microsoft offers a sizable collection of useful yet unofficial and unsupported utilities called PowerToys. Following are the essential PowerToys for any serious computer user; all are downloadable from Microsoft's PowerToys for Windows XP page.

* ClearType Tuner: Dramatically improves font legibility on some LCD screens.
* Image Resizer: Adds a new menu when you right-click a photo on your PC. Just click Resize Pictures to change an image's dimensions without opening an editor.
* Tweak UI: If you don't already have Tweak UI, get it. This essential OS tweaking tool offers more granular control over your privacy settings and operations, and even over the way you log in to your PC (plus much more). It should be one of the first things you install on any new computer.
* Alt-Tab Replacement: Adds previews of each page when you switch between open applications using -.
* SyncToy: Improves the task of synchronizing files among multiple machines, especially compared with Windows Briefcase.

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How To Restore the Run Command in Vista

If you use the default Start menu in Windows Vista (as opposed to the Classic Start menu), the Run command doesn't appear in it. To change that, right-click the Start button and choose Properties. With the Start Menu tab active, click the Customize button in the upper right. Scroll through the list of options and check Run command. Click OK twice. The command will now appear in the lower-right corner of the Start menu.

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How To Troubleshoot Standby or Hibernate Problem

What if Windows doesn't awaken from its standby or hibernate modes?

Many standby and hibernate problems can be traced to graphics boards and sound cards. A simple driver update might get hibernation working again.

Some applications can cause sleep/wake-up difficulties as well. As a test, put your PC into standby or hibernation when particular programs are running, and when they aren't. If everything works when you're not running a certain program, look for a free update, replace the app if no such update is available, or close the program before you take a break.

A BIOS update could also resolve the matter. Check your system vendor's Web site to see if one is available.

If something doesn't work immediately after your system wakes up, wait a bit and try again. Your computer could take a while to come back. If all else fails, enter the name of the hardware or software you installed most recently along with the words 'standby' or 'hibernate' in a search engine to find Web pages and Usenet discussions on potential problems.

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