![]() ![]() WeFi also helps you manage how to connect to hot spots. Click the Wi-Fi Maps tab and enter an address a map of that location will appear on Google Maps and you'll be provided with various details about nearby hot spots, such as type (municipal, hotel, café and so on), distance from the location and whether there's an access fee. (Note, however, that in practice I found it was not always accurate.)īut you can also type in a different location to see hot spots near that location. You can click on a link to see a particular hot spot on a map, along with its address. Like other Wi-Fi sniffing tools, WeFi uses your Wi-Fi card to find your current location and show you nearby hot spots. But if you want to find hot spots in other locations - a part of town that you'll be in later in the day, for example, or a city you'll be visiting next week - you'll want to give WeFi a try. Tools like InSSIDer and Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector are great for finding hot spots that are currently in range of your laptop. Note that I had problems connecting my Mac to a Windows 7 machine running a Connectify-created hot spot, but I was able to make the connection with other PCs and devices. ![]() You can use this for sharing files in a workgroup or setting up a network for multiplayer games. Run it as a hot spot, and nearby devices can connect to each other in a network, even though there's no Internet access. You can even use Connectify to set up a local network without an external Internet connection. Since your hot spot is password-protected, only people who know the password can use it the signal is secured with WPA2-PSK encryption. It also should support devices that use earlier protocols - for example, an 802.11n signal should allow 802.11b/g/n devices to connect.) (Your PC card will broadcast in whatever Wi-Fi protocol it was built for. Your computer's Wi-Fi card will begin broadcasting a Wi-Fi signal that other devices can connect to, in the same way they can connect to any other hot spot. Setting up a hot spot is simple: Once you have a connection, run Connectify on your PC and give your hot spot a name and password. The computer doesn't necessarily need a wired connection to the Internet (although it won't hurt to have one) its Wi-Fi card can perform double-duty as Wi-Fi signal receiver and transmitter. ![]() The PC on which you install it will, of course, need to be connected to the Internet itself and have Wi-Fi capability so it can provide access to other devices. This very nifty piece of free software lets you turn a Windows 7 PC (it only works with Windows 7) into a Wi-Fi hot spot that can be used by nearby devices - your smartphone, for example, or devices that your co-workers are using in the same location. However, if you want more detailed information, including the relative signal strengths of all nearby wireless networks, InSSIDer is a better bet.Ĭompatible with: Windows XP SP2+, Vista and 7 And there's no denying the overall coolness factor of a radar-like display. It also shows the relative physical distance between you and each hot spot on its display. Why use Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector rather than MetaGeek's InSSIDer? Wi-Fi Inspector's simpler, cleaner layout makes it easier to see information about all of the hot spots at a glance. In a pane next to the radar, Wi-Fi Inspector shows you even more detailed information about the network to which you're currently connected, including your internal IP address, external IP address, DNS and gateway information, and so on. A separate pane offers detailed information about every hot spot it finds, including signal strength, the kind of network (802.11n, for example), the router vendor, the channel on which the network transmits and whether it's an access point or an ad hoc network. Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector shows any nearby hot spots on a radar-like display. ![]() This is another excellent program that sniffs out Wi-Fi networks and shares pertinent information about them, such as how close or far away they are. Whether you need to troubleshoot a network or find Wi-Fi hot spots to which you want to connect - or you're just plain curious - this is one app you'll want to download and try.Ĭompatible with: Windows XP, Vista and 7 (32- and 64-bit) You can either avoid using a computer in those spots or else try repositioning the wireless router to see if it helps with coverage. Walk around your home or office with InSSIDer installed on your laptop to see where signal strength drops. You can also use the software to detect "dead zones" that don't get a strong Wi-Fi connection. ![]()
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