Obtaining wireless facilities on your laptop

wireless is suitable for laptops as it is literally mobile. This article shows you how to easily get wireless capabilities on your laptop.

• Firstly determine if your laptop has wireless. Go to control panel  and open network connections. If there is a listing as wireless connection then you have wireless capabilities. If there isn’t , its maybe because you don’t have one or it may be hidden.

• Go to My Computer and enter properties. Click on the hardware tab and select Device Manager. Inside Network Adapters category and click on the plus sign. If it lists just one adapter, it may be wired.  If it lists two, then it is possibly the ethernet and the dial up adapter as well as the wireless one.  The name should specify which one. If the list displays a wireless adapter but it is absent in the network connections, consult the owners manual or contact support online, however there’s a switch or button on the side of the laptop that completely disables the wireless and you might want to check that.

• If you find you do not have wireless, consider wireless add-ons. PCMCIA cards afford the most connectivity options(PCMCIA used to be the only standard but it has split into express card and PC card). Consult online or your computers manual to discover what type of slot your has. Its likely yours has both (or just) a PC Card/PCMCIA slot . Usually  PCMCIA cards work in PC slots too (reverse compatibility). Buy a card compatible with your slot(online buys are often cheaper, eBay offers good buys, plus you can always go for secondhand cards in good shape which will be cheaper),for the best performance, get the latest wireless G capable card. City Circuit sells relatively new cards in great shape (also newegg.com or tigerdirect.com offer cheap relatively new cards, recommended brands include Linksys and D-link) avoid other brands like Creative.

• The installation is simple, however do not use the CD to install any software. Windows can handle wireless connections on its own so do not create problems by installing bad software that causes a host of problems (believe us, we know)

• Use an Ethernet cord to connect to the internet (make sure its fully connected) insert the card in the slot and let it search on the internet for a driver. It should automatically download and install the basic driver without you having to use the inefficient software on the CD. Now restart your computer and log in. You should see a notification icon saying ‘wireless connection is available’,  double click on it and it should bring up a list of wireless connections available, connect to one. (you can set one as your default connection to always auto-connect to). A password might be required, provide it.

• Try to get the best deal  for your equipment by getting a combo plan with your existing cell carrier. If you have for example a cell phone with AT&T, go to an AT&T provider store and say you want to add a laptop card and data plan to your existing plan and they'll give you a huge discount because you're already a customer.