home network

[Tazuk]

I have a very simple home network the desktop is wired to the router and the laptop is wireless but they have both started to run very slow and jittery affecting all programmes. All the necessary clean ups and checks have been done and come up clean, does anyone have an idea on the cause and remedy?

TAZ

[WelshPixels]

Any new items in your house? Microwave, TV signal sender, cordless phone etc

They can operate on the same frequency as your wireless network and slow it down to a slow grind. Because your wireless network works up to 100 meters, it could be one of your neighbours interfering by using their microwaves etc. (modern microwaves are not normally a problem, its normally an old microwave that’s on its last legs that will cause problems even when its turned off)

I personally can not use a wireless because I live in a good old fashioned house with 2' thick stone walls :cry:

[Greig]

Hi Taz
I had exactly the same problem as you with the same setup.
I changed the channel of the router and problem solved.

Greig

[Greig]

Hi Taz
I had exactly the same problem as you with the same setup.
I changed the channel of the router and problem solved.

Greig

[Tazuk]

how do you change the channel?

[Ravenfire]

Which router do you use?

[easyasit]

you router should have an admin page.
From thereyou should be able to change thechannel.

There is also a poss someone else in the area also uses the same router and is using the same channel, so another good reason to change yours

Al

[Tazuk]

is the admin page online? and i have a netgear DG834G.

I have also noticed that it is not secure so someone could have done something, how can i secure it?

Cheers

TAZ

[cjd]

If I remember rightly, that router ships with an old version of its firmware.

Before doing more complicated things, check the Netgear site for upgrades and reboot it.

[easyasit]

indeed,
I will warn you now that some wireless networks are tempermental.
But you coul add as a first tier of the router allows mac address filtering, then WEP encryption.

But as the man says, check to see if there is an update on the firmware before trying any of this :-)

Al

[Tazuk]

ok everything updated the desktop is running ok but outlook still a problem on there. but laptop having problems, i have noticed my hardrive light is constantly flickering this could indicate an issue there but i have checked and it says that it is running ok.

[cjd]

If you haven't already done it, I'd get a free copy of crap cleaner from www.ccleaner.com and run it (use defaults, but untick cookies and history boxes unless you don't mind losing them) then do a disk defrag.

If that doesn't clear it, it may be worth getting the harddrive tools from the manufacturers site for a check-up - you don't want to lose your drive.

ps back up important data straight away

[creative-keyrings]

I had a small glitch with the same router but you have to make sure your WEP keys are set to 128 bit so the pass phrase is something like 28 charcters.

That should sort it!

[confused]

ok.
If the desktop owhich is hard wired is giving problems, that is of course not a wireless issue! I suggest running an anti spyware program such as adaware or microsofts anti spyware initially (on both). The fact that your hard disk light is on a lot indicates a lot of disk activity - not a failing drive - indicating something running in the background. Disabling unwanted startup programs will/should sort this.
With regards to the wireless, you dont ever mention intermittent connectivity problems which would indicate there is no problem with the wireless setup !
That said, I would ensure you have security on there, WPA over wep. MAC address filtering isnt a great deal of use but wont do any harm. WEP is ok ish but is easy to get past. having security on or off should make no difference at all as to the performance of the wireless network.

CALV