These days ‘Wireless network’s are being deployed in many places. These wireless networks eliminates the need for laying wires. All the problems mentioned in the above paragraph are solved by use of wireless network instead of a wired network. You can place the computer or the laptop anywhere easily without any trouble anytime.

There are times when the wireless network’s signal is not strong enough and cannot be reached by some computers in the office or a home. A big wall in between may block the signals significantly. The signals emitted by cordless phones may interfere with the wireless lan’s signals. Use of microwave oven may also interfere with the Wi-Fi signals. Radio may also affect the Wi-Fi signals. These problems can be solved by increasing the signal strength of the wireless lan network.

These are some of the tips to increase the signal strength and the performance of your wireless network (wi-fi, 802.11x)

Place the AP (Access Point) in the center of the hall.
Access point is an important component in a wireless network. If this AP is placed in the center then all the computers will receive signals with equal strength. AP has an omnidirectional antenna. Therefore by placing it in the center, the signals will be transmitted in all directions equally. If the AP is placed near the wall then the signal will be transmitted even beyond the wall which enables hackers to enter your wireless network and harm your network.

Increase the signal strength.
Only of the signal strength is strong, the computers in the network can effectively connect to each other. there are two ways you can increase the signal strength.

1. You can use the Signal boosting antennas
2. You can use Wi-Fi repeaters. These repeaters increase the signal strength. But the use of wi-fi repeaters will slow down the speed because between each packet that is transmitted over the repeaters there has to be authentication and security issues that slow down the speed of transfer. So you can use repeaters only if there are few computers in the network.

Make signals ‘directional’
You can transmit signals in a specific direction using these directional antennas. For example in a corridor you can use these directional antennas instead of omnidirectional. Similarly between two repeaters you can use directional antennas.

New wi-fi products
Keep updating your wi-fi network with new available technologies and products to make it faster, secure and robust.

Palm, Compaq, HP, IBM, Dell, O2, Dopod are some of the PDA manufacturers. Those who want a computer smaller than the laptop can buy a PDA. Since PDA and Desktop computer can be connected using serial or USB cables, you can transfer and synchronize data between these two.

Before you buy a PDA determine your objective. Do you want to just store your personal information? Do want to access email using PDA? Do you want to do networking using your PDA? Do you want a colour screen?

Keep all these questions in mind and read the following buying tips for PDAs

1. Size of PDAs

   PDAs come in many sizes. Size of a credit card, your palm size, cheque book size and other sizes are available. The smaller the PDA, the more difficult it is to type and read from the screen. The bigger the PDA size, the easier it is to type and read but it is difficult to carry a bigger PDA as it won’t fit in your pocket easily.

2. PDA Operating Systems

   Initially, it was Palm OS which was very popular. Later, Microsoft introduced Windows CE and then Pocket PC and more recently ‘Windows Mobile’ operating systems for PDAs and it the most popular now.

3. PDA Applications

   PDAs running on windows based Operating Systems such as Pocket PC and Windows Mobile have many applications. But since Palm OS was introduced earlier, there are more applications for Palm OS based PDAs.

4. Basic PDA applications

   Address book, Mail, Todo list, Memo pad, Appointment and Calendar are some basic PDA applications. So check whether the PDA comes with these basic applications.

5. Monitor / Screen

   Both colour and monochrome PDAs are available. It is better to choose the colour screen for your PDA. If you have to buy a monochrome then atleast get a 320×240 screen. If you buy the color PDA then choose the one ‘Active-Matrix’ display rather than the one with ‘Passive-Matrix’ display.

6. PDA Memory

   PDAs with 32MB to 512MB memory are available. Some PDAs come with the memory expansion slots. You can use the Compact Flash or PCMCIA card memory to increase your PDA’s memory.

7. PDA Ports

   Only if you connect your PDA to your desktop computer you can transfer data between the two. There are PDAs with serial port or USB or Infrared transreceiver or Bluetooth facilities. If you buy the PDA with bluetooth and Infrared then it is a bit expensive but it is worth the money since you can connect wirelessly to other devices.

8. Battery

   Some PDAs use AAA size alkaline batteries. Some PDAs use Nickel Cadmium (ni-cad), Nickel Metal Hybrid (nimh) or lithium ion batteries.

9. Keypad

   Bigger PDAs have bigger keypads. Some smaller PDAs comes with the optional kepad accessory that can be attached as and when necessary. Some PDAs have handwriting recognition capability.

10. Internet Software

    Your PDA should have internet connectivity capability so that you can check your emails wirelessly from your PDA. Some PDAs come with Wi-Fiinbuilt, so that you can connect to wireless lan APs and access the internet.

Can we use notebooks? Compared to desktop pcs, notebooks can be carried around easily. But notebooks needs a lot battery and therefore it can used only for a few hours.

If there is a device smaller than the notebook then it will be easy to carry it anywhere we go. We can also check and send emails anywhere and anytime. PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), Smart Phone and cell phones can be used to send and receive emails wirelessly. But not all PDAs, Smartphones and cell phones support emails. But most of the new ones support Internet and emails wirelessly.

PDA and Pocket PC

For those who want to send and receive emails wirelessly, PDAs are the best choice. In the early days of PDAs, the Palm pilot 1000 was called Mobile email device. Only later, PDAs were referred as organizers. Therefore whichever model of PDA you buy, it will have email facility. Therefore you just have to confirm whether the PDA you buy supports Internet access.

If your PDA does not support Internet connectivity but supports Bluetooth then you also need to buy a bluetooth cell phone. Then you can use the cellphone to connect to Internet and then use your PDA to connect to the cellphone using bluetooth. Then you can use the email feature in PDA to use your emails.

WiFi equipped PDAs can be used to check emails using your wireless network. You can use many PDA email software such as Webis Mail 2.0, Izymail online, Versa mail 2.5, snapper mail standard, Basejet, Rite Mail 2.0 etc. Even when you travel you can use the WiFi hotspots and connect to internet wirelessly and check your emails.

Smart Phone

In SmartPhones such as Sony Ericsson P900 the email software is already installed. You can also install other email software for smart phones such as Outlook, Notes or I’m in touch.

Using Smart Phones you can use the same device to make phone calls as well as use emails and Internet. This is the advantage of smart phones.

If you have POP3 emails then you can configure your smart phone to check emails at frequent intervals and see if you have new emails. For this you should have subscribed to GPRS service from your phone operator.

Some email providers alert the user of new emails through SMS. But for this they charge a premium.

The only problem is in replying to emails. Using the small keys in the smart phone it will take a long time for you to type a long reply and it is very difficult.

Even reading mails in SmartPhones is a bit difficult due to the screen size.

But definitely it is a major advantage to get your important emails anytime anywhere.

These viruses only target the higher end hand phones. 3G phones, WiFi enabled phones and phones with Internet access are the targeted phones. In developed countries mobile commerce is quite common and therefore when these phones are affected millions of dollars are lost.

Business emails, stock indices and other m-commerce activities carried out using mobile phones and therefore they are more virus prone. The good news is that there are many anti virus software available for mobile phones.