Networking and Internet Tips

91. Access Your PC From any System Over the Internet (XP Professional)

As you may know, Windows XP Professional comes with a built-in remote desktop utility that allows you to remotely access your system, desktop and files from another computer over the Internet. PCstats has a guide detailing this feature step by step here. The way this feature works normally, you must download a client software package to any computer that you wish to use to connect to your desktop remotely.

Microsoft has made a downloadable addition to remote desktop available. This add-on allows remote connection to your desktop though any Windows system with Internet Explorer 4.0 or better. Your remote desktop is hosted on a website on your system, and remote computers simply connect with the correct credentials. This makes using remote desktop considerably less of a hassle. Check it out here.

92. Speed up Network Browsing in Windows XP

By default, when you attempt to browse another machine's shared folders over a network, Windows XP attempts to check for any relevant scheduled tasks on the remote machine before providing a list of shared folders. This can add a significant delay to your browsing time. Using the registry, you can disable this somewhat pointless behaviour.

To do this open Regedit and navigate to 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Remote Computer\Namespace.

Delete the key '{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}' Close Regedit and restart.

93. Get the Most out of Your Wireless Network

Got a wireless network? Not happy with the performance? Remember that WiFi is a radio technology with a limited range and can be considerably affected by obstacles like walls or ceilings. Get the most out of your wireless with these positioning tips.

Locate your wireless AP centrally: Don't put your AP next to an outside wall. Put it as close to the middle of your home or office as you can. In this way, you get more of the signal and others get less…

Keep your antenna up: Generally speaking, the higher the antenna is on your wireless AP and adaptors, the better the reception will be.

Keep wireless out of the kitchen: Other 2.4 GHz devices can really mess up wireless signals, especially microwave ovens. Cordless phones can also have an impact. Keep this in mind when placing your devices.

Obstacles to your signal: Metal objects or surfaces provide the biggest obstacle to WiFi performance. Keep your AP and wireless adaptors away from such things as much as possible.