Ask A Geek

Q: I posted a question yesterday regarding being able to boost my wireless signal in order to make it reach my mothers computer which is all the way on the other end of the house, where she is currently unable to even locate the wireless signal at all. You provided me with a link to a previously answered question (WiFi Signal Booster Options, which gave me the options of either relocating my router to a more central location in the house, which for us is not possible. The other options were either getting a WiFi Booster Antenna, WiFi access point, or a WiFi signal booster.

I would like to look into either getting a Wifi Booster Antenna, or a Wifi signal booster, before I attempt to setup an additional access point. However, when I looked them up I was unable to locate one that seems like it will be compatible with my current router. We are leasing a router from Comcast, it is a Linksys WCG200-CC. Am I correct that we will not be able to find any compatible Wifi Booster Antenna, or a Wifi signal booster for this router?

I just wanted to double check before we attempted to go the other route. And, beyond that, if we must attempt the additional access point, is this something we should contact Comcast for, or is it feasible for us to set this up ourselves?? Thank you so much for your help!

Q: If I am using a wifi hotspot is my activity recorded and can it be traced back to me after I’m gone from that spot?

Q: I am ready to purchase a laptop computer and go to a DSL provider with 1.5mbps service. I also would like WiFi capability so I can use it when it is available. What are the laptop PC requirements along with the additional hardware I will need? I will only be connecting one laptop to my DSL service.

Q: I have a Dell Latitude D410 laptop computer that has built in WiFi. The windows program crashed and I downloaded a different windows cd operating system into this laptop and got my windows operating system back up and running. I do not have any WiFi capabilities anymore and am wondering how do I restore the WiFi on my computer? I use this computer for my business and now I am dead in the water. Please help me out. I do not have any restore disks for this computer.

Q: Is there anyway to connect my Blackberry 8830 to my IPod Touch and access the Internet?

A: Some phones have the ability to act as a WiFi hot spot. One example would be the Palm Pre on the Verizon network (I don’t believe it can on the Sprint network though). Unfortunately the Blackberry 8830 is not one of those phones. Down the road I hope we see a lot more phones that have this ability because as we get more and more devices it doesn’t seem right to have to keep paying for an Internet connection with each device.

Q: How do I connect an Acer Aspire one running windows 7 to an encrypted WiFi network?

Q: I have a Dell laptop with wireless built in. The nearest WiFi hot spots are approximately 3 miles away. What type of antenna would work for me to be able to access these WiFi spots?

Q: I just bought an IBM ThinkPad on craigslist and it’s suppose to have WiFi but I think the guy deleted it. How do I recover it? I don’t have any restore discs or any discs for it.

Q: Is there a way to boost my WiFi reception for my devices like my laptop and iPod Touch?

A: There are a few things you can do to boost your WiFi signal. The first is a free option you can try which works without buying a WiFi booster so we suggest you start there. It might be possible for you to move your wireless router to a central location in your house or office. By moving your router to a more central location you should be able to cover more of your home or office, which might allow you get signals in spots you were unable to before. Read the rest of this entry »

Q: How do you get laptop wifi to share with PC?