Snip,

Following on from Opt's advice on wire you might like to look at these.

http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/default_ShopGroup.asp?ShopGroupID=61

They are easy to use and they enable you to have your 'network' straddled round your home.

TP

Snip / TP

I'm sure that they work but they are expensive.

The other way is to find a tame BT engineer or alarm fitter and get them to run the cables round your house. The only thing to watch out for is that network cables must not be bent as tightly as telephone cables.

Be careful with the mains power outlet networks. They are just as vunerable as wireless. You still need the best security and passwords. When we had young children, we used baby alarms which worked through the ring main with the sending unit in the kids bedroon and the receiver in the lounge (these units were not radio alarms). We found that the sounds of crying coming from the receiver were in fact from our neighbours who had a similar system. This means that your ring main is not necessarily isolated from other properties.

Haystack,

"This means that your ring main is not necessarily isolated from other properties. "

Not the only problem associated with these devices.

We had some friends from Suffolk to stay at Christmas and recommended these to get a broadband feed from the socket near the kitchen door to a newly created study in the loft.

They told us this weekend that it took about a month of 'expert' friends to track down a failure to connect. The reason is that it is an old farm house with two ring mains. Not an obvious one to put in the FAQ.

But, yes you are right to mention security. Both I, and our Suffolk friends, also have WiFi in the equation. On the other hand the Devolo does have a bit of software that you need to activate to identify which plugs can be seen by the others - so I'd doubt if a neighbour would be able to break in to the loop.

TP

Thank you all for your help. I`m just back from the shops now so will read and digest

A good point Haystack

It is possible to put a filter on your mains input that would stop the signal going beyond your house, but I understand that these are expensive and not really practical. Also bear in mind that because of the way many streets are wired, the neighbours with the best signal from your network will most likely be three doors away.

I had a quick look at some of those devices, and although they seem to support encryption of the data, I'm not sure how easy it will be to setup or how secure it will be.

I'm not going to offer any comments about the security of these home plug devices, but I do challenge that they are expensive.

It depends on how you value your own time. The beauty of these things (security apart) is that you can set them up in less than ten minutes (as long as your house does not have two ring mains!!).

I run a business from Monday to Friday so my evenings and weekend are precious. I cringe when I look back on the hours I spent a couple of weekend ago trying to get the recalcitant software to work when I was transferring some of my wife's old 45's to CD. I am just not smart enough to diagnose the problems, so anything that reduces them is money well spent to me. Plus it stops my wife getting ratty about me 'playing with my computer all the time'.

Home networking for many of the guys around here is probably something you can do in your sleep. For the rest of us something that plugs in and works first time for under a hundred quid is cheap. Just my opinion, of course!!!!!
TP

TP

I understand exactly what you mean and plead guilty to spending far too much time on my computer.

However, the reason that I recommend a fully wired network is in order to save that time. Once the network wiring is in place then a small network is (almost) bomb proof and the setup is easier than with the other alternatives.

I also use WiFi which has obvious advantages because of it's portability but in my experience it never provides the same reliability or browsing experience.

"and plead guilty to spending far too much time on my computer"

And in that vein. I asked my wife what I could get her for her birthday and she suggested a computer so that she could 'send e:mails and look things up'. I'm happy to buy her one but the snag is that she has never switched one on in her life. The closest she will have come was when we were copying these 45's and I left her to click pause on the computer and change the records on the USB linked deck.

Even then she was confused by the movement of the mouse.

I'd willingly buy her something - but trying to teach her how to use it would be a quick route to divorce. I wonder if anyone round here has had the experience of getting a spouse, in her sixties, confident enough with a computer to realise that if her e:mail will not print out it could be because the printer is not switched on.

TP

Buy her an Applemac machine virtually crash proof, forget what a Blue screen looks like.
Cheers.

But Macs are SO slow for compared to a PC and the same software is available for PCs even the graphics and publishing stuff. And now Macs are subject to the same sorts of viruses as PCs. Macs are a curiosity that I expect to disappear one day.

TP

I can easily identify with your problem.

The solution is easy. Make sure the computer has Win XP Pro, leave it switched on all the time and every few days use Remote Desktop to check your wifes email ;)

Porky,

Only a few message earlier I spoke of the advantages of having something the same as your friend uses. If she finds a good one-to-one tutor, as I hope she will, I really don't want to be trying to work out why a Mac cannot see the WiFi that my PC sees perfectly well on a Sunday afternoon when we ought to be in the garden.

And, not wanting to tempt fate, my experience of Win XP is that it recovers from the most unfortunate close downs. I was removing the external DVD writer from my laptop and must have inadvertantly pushed so hard on the keyboard panel that it shut down. OK I was subjected to a fairly slow segment check, which did worry me somewhat, but the system came back up again as if nothing had happened.

My experience of Win 2000 has been that if you pull out the plug of a PC without a controlled close down you can end up in a real pickle - seemingly not with XP.

TP

It's more to do with the NTFS file system TP rather than the old FAT system which Windows used up to the 98/ME versions. When 2000 came along people still tended to install on a FAT disk, although NTFS was an option, whereas with XP I think NTFS has taken over.

Just a thought - if you're doing photography then a wired network would be better as the files can be quite large.

K,

"It's more to do with the NTFS file system TP rather than the old FAT system "

Thanks, I had not understood that.

My main grumble now would be the time it takes my laptop to boot up after a year of adding new software and MS adding its upgrades. I avidly read anything anyone finds about cleaning up all the memory resident software it presumably has got committed to.

When I get home from the office the solution is to turn the laptop on before I take my overcoat off. It's about ready to do what I want, rather than what Mr Gates wants, by the time I've poured a decent g&t !!

TP

TP

Perhaps you can clean it up and also speed it up a bit with 'CCleaner'?

Obtainable from http://www.filehippo.com -CCleaner

CCleaner (Crap Cleaner) is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused and temporary files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster, more efficiently and giving you more hard disk space. The best part is that it's fast! (normally taking less than a second to run) and Free.

Obviously, it has to be used with care and it cleans the following:

* Internet Explorer Cache, History, Cookies, Index.dat.

* Recycle Bin, Temporary files and Log files.

* Recently opened URLs and files.

* Third-party application temp files and recent file lists (MRUs).

Including: Firefox, Opera, Media Player, eMule, Kazaa, Google Toolbar, Netscape, Office XP, Nero, Adobe Acrobat, WinRAR, WinAce, WinZip and more...

* Advanced Registry scanner and cleaner to remove unused and old entries.

Including File Extensions, ActiveX Controls, ClassIDs, ProgIDs, Uninstallers, Shared DLLs, Fonts, Help Files, Application Paths, Icons, Invalid Shortcuts and more... Backup for registry clean.

* Windows Startup tool.

Screenshots:

I have now added more memory to my computer and this has done the trick.

After the advice from Seymour & Haystacks I was told about this site , it scans your computer and tells you the maximum you can have and what is compatible. I ordered from them early afternoon and it was delivered next morning.

Crucial for memory and graphics upgrades

Sput,

Crucial are the guys I use for CF cards for my cameras and they provide an excellent service at prices I find hard to beat.

Endorsement number two.

TP

Doc,

Thanks for that suggestion. I have something called System Security Suite
http://www.igorshpak.net/

I am not sure that it achieves anything so your pointer is much appreciated.

TP