Alvin's Educational Technology Blog

Last year I finally installed a wireless access point at home.  The reason was the only one that makes sense when it comes to using wireless; I had a location that I couldn’t run a wire to.  We added a kid playhouse in the back yard and I didn’t want to dig a trench all the way out there for a wire.  So I picked up a wireless access point.

There are three attributes of wireless that I preach to my students.  Wireless is…

1 – slow
2 – unreliable
3 – insecure

I use WPA to keep my neighbors out of my network.  From my kitchen my laptop can “see” eight access points.  WPA with a 63 character password keeps me secure.  Six of my neighboring access points are wide open.

WPA won’t help speed things up.  In fact, WPA will make a slow wireless connection a little slower.  And there is nothing you can do about the reliability.  Wireless networks just don’t work some times.  The closer you are to the access point, the better, but you can count on your wireless not working once in a while.  It is the nature of wireless.  Reboot your access point, move your computer closer to the access point… hold your mouth just right.  You will get connected again.

I have upgraded my home switch to gigabit.  That’s 1000 megabit.  My wireless is 54 megabit.  1000 miles an hour is A LOT FASTER than 54 miles an hour.  It may seem like a nuisance to run wires, but if it is at all possible, run wire.  Wired networks rarely fail to work, they are fast and secure (as long as you have a firewall between you and the Internet).

Wireless can be convenient.  Wired wins all other categories.

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For some reason a fresh install of Windows only includes one icon on the desktop – the Trash Can.

I don’t use the desktop for many things. Usually I can’t see it because programs are running all the time and they cover the desktop. When I do use items on the desktop, I want the most important icons there. Those are the My Computer and Network icons. You can turn these on by right-clicking anywhere on an empty desktop and selecting Properties. In the Display Properties select the Desktop tab and then click the Customize Desktop button. This will bring up the window shown above. Check the boxes for everything you want on the desktop. In the future, you have a quick way to get to My Computer or the Network.

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Microsoft has a nice tool that permits you to synchronize files on two different drives.  It is called Briefcase and it is handy for all sorts of things.

I carry a USB Flash drive with me all the time.  I keep a copy of my latest project files on the Flash drive.  Let’s say I have a PowerPoint that I am going to use in class.  Right before using it, I make a couple of changes.  That’s great for my class, but the original back at home needs to be updated too.  Because I use the Briefcase on my Flash drive, when I get home I “update” the Briefcase.  Windows checks the original and my Flash drive.  It notifies me that my USB drive has a version of the file that is newer than the one on my home computer.  It asks if I want to update the home computer.

If you use files on multiple computers, check out the Briefcase. 

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Any time you need to know more information about a file, you can check the “properties” of the file.  A right-click of the file followed by selecting Properties from the list will open information about the file size, create date, security settings and more.

 To save time you can press the Alt-Enter key combination to open the file properties.

If you use file permissions on your files, you can select a list of files and press Alt-Enter.  Once the Properties box opens you can change the security settings for all the files.

It is important to keep your computer’s operating up to date. Go to the Control Panel and double-click the Automatic Updates icon. There are several options to select from.

1 – Configure your computer to automatically check for updates. If there are updates, your computer will automatically download and install them. If you have never thought about updates before reading this post, this is the option for you.

2 – Automatically download new updates but let me select the time to install them. This is the one I use. Because my computer does work for me while I sleep, I don’t want an update automatically rebooting my computer and killing a scheduled process. My computer alerts me when new updates are available and I install them when I am ready.

3 – Just tell me when an update is ready, but don’t download anything else. If you have limited bandwidth (dial-up) this one may work best for you. Microsoft will tell you an update is ready. At that point, you can go to your neighbor’s house and ask him to download the big files on his high-speed connection. Save the files to a CDR and take them back to your house and install them.

4 – Turn off Automatic Updates. I can only think of two reasons for going with the last option. First – your computer isn’t connected to the Internet. Second – someone else may be installing all the updates for you in a way that is transparent to you.

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