I had read about people boosting their wifi signal using kitchen utensils to food containers such as Pringles. This was an easy way to boost your signal and to increase your transfer speed. I thought this was all well and good, but what if you did not want to sacrifice you only food dish strainer? Or what if you did not eat Pringles (I don’t)? I set myself on a misson to find a object that most households would have or could easily obtain. It struck my mind that most people had spindle packets of CD-R’s, which previsouly I wrote about how to fix that side hole on your PC Case with a CD protector.After a about half an hour of planning and construction, I came up with the following:
I know, masterpiece isn’t it?
Yep, doesn’t look professional but this CD-R spindle pack combined with a silver foil is the bomb. So how do you go about making one I hear you say? I’m glad you asked. You’ll need the following resources:
1x Empty 50 CD/DVD spindle pack
1x 13cmx13cm silver foil
1x X-acto knife or similar
1x Cutting board
1x Marker
The main point is to get the silver foil cut and fitted to size. For that, you’ll need to place your empty CD spindle pack on the tin foil and trace around it with a marker. NOTE: Try to keep the silver foil as flat as possible because crinkling the foil can lessen the wifi signal boost.
Note the smaller circle in the middle; you’ll need to cut this out too.
Place the silver foil on the cutting board, and using the X-acto knife, slowly cut out the two circles. Once they’re cut out, place the silver foil over the empty CD spindle pack and you’re just about done. All you have to do now is place your new wifi signal booster over your router’s aerial like so:
Yes, I’m in search of alien activity
The signal increase is questionable as I don’t not have any fancy testing equipment, but Network Stumbler showed an increase of signal:
Every bit counts
Even though the increase is minimal, I still had fun making this project. If you give this a go , please leave a comment on how it went .
Just recently, I had a client request to have Windows Vista removed from his PC as he felt it was sluggish, giving him problems and wanted Windows XP installed. I had no trouble with this, however I had previously attached a Windows Vista Certificate of Authenticity Sticker to the PC as required by the OEM system builder guidelines. So I had the task of removing the Windows Vista Certificate of Authenticity, which was a success. Here is what I did:
I used the following tools to remove the sticker:
1x Metal Scrapper
1x Hair Dryer
Using the hair dryer on low, hold it over the sticker for about a minute to heat up the surface. You can then try to use the metal scrapper to remove it by slowly sliding it underneath the sticker. If it’s not working, use the blow dryer again for another minute and repeat.
Once you’ve gotten half way, you may wish to start from the other side. At least that’s what I did. After about 15 minutes I ended up with this:
So there you go, it’s not that hard to remove a sticker .
Chances are you’ve got a nice collection of DVD’s in your house that you wouldn’t want damaged. A smart idea would be to back them up, but with all these copy protections, how do you backup DVD’s easily? A nice little program called RipItForMe, automates a few programs to bypass DVD protections and allows you to back them up. The program’s home page no longer exists, however it’s still avalible on the net. Just have a look in google. It’s very easy to use and even has a one click backup feature. Oh, and did I mention its free? Check it out.
If you’ve ever browsed folders on a network, you’ll know how slow it can be. With a simple registry hack, you can increase your network browsing speed. Here’s how to do it:
Click Start>Run and enter ‘regedit’.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace
Locate the key named {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}. This key tells Windows to search for scheduled tasks, of which there are none. Right click on it and delete it.
If you have no use for viewing remote shared printers and is only interested in shared files, consider deleting the printers key as follows: {2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}. This will further improve network browsing speed.
Your networking browsing speed should be now considerably faster, as it will have no delay.
A lot of people today face the ever increasing power bill cost. Computers tend to add a considerable amount to the bill. But recently, computer hardware manufactures are coming around to the fact that more and more people are becoming environmental conscious. So this is a win/win situation for the end user; the power bill is reduced and in turn, less pollution is made for the environment. If you’re building a new PC and want to reduce your power bill, consider the following points:
Buy a power supply unit that is 80 plus certified. This means maximum efficiency is obtained when your pc is running with minimum power wastage. PSU manufacture Seasonic produces such excellent power supplies.
Consider purchasing a case that has excellent natural airflow. The more freely air can be moved, the less need for more case fans. Antec have advanced chassis that are aimed for low airflow situations.
Think about buying an energy efficient motherboard. Gigabyte have a lot to offer with their motherboards consisting of dynamic energy saving technologies, your PC will run much cooler and be more reliable.
The processor you purchase will make a big difference on power usage. Both Intel and AMD have technologies to keep power down to a minimum but Intel has a better performance to price ratio and when you start moving up the line, AMD processors currently run hotter than Intel. You should also decide whether to buy either a dual core or a quad core. See Dual Or Quad? Which is Better?
Consider buy a Western Digital hard disk, as Western Digital has produced a “Green Drive” which is a technology that reduces hard disk power consumption.
If you’re not planning on building a PC anytime soon and would like to reduce power consumption, try these ideas:
If you’re running an AMD processor, enable Cool “n” Quiet in the BIOS as this will throttle the CPU.
If you’re running an Intel processor, enable Intel SpeedStep Technology in the BIOS as this will throttle the CPU.
Lower your monitor’s brightness setting.
Shut off your monitor in between breaks.
Don’t leave your computer on overnight.
By following the above points, you will see a reduction in power usage from your PC. What this means is the air will be cleaner and you’ll save money from your power bill. Nice.
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