Giving your home wireless network a boost
More people are relying on technology to stay connected to the world
As the pandemic continues to disrupt life, people have been turning to the internet to stay connected, work, shop, and study. In many cases this has meant replacing an aged, obsolete computer or tablet with a new device or buying additional computers or tablets to meet increased family demands.
Unfortunately, more devices and increased internet traffic may create two unique problems for many households. One is how to dispose of the old hardware, and another is how to ensure that all of those devices spread out around the residence get wi-fi fast enough for Zoom, gaming, and Netflix. Luckily, either problem has a readily available solution.
If you are replacing a nonfunctioning computer then it is destined for recycling, but make sure the hard drive does not retain sensitive data that could be recovered. If the hard drive is unusable, take it out of the computer and work out some frustrations by hitting it several times with a hammer.
If the hard drive still functions, remove it from the computer and put it in a safe place. If you need to get important data off it that you did not previously back up, you can purchase an inexpensive drive dock and transfer your files to the new computer by following the instructions at
The How to Geek Site (https://tinyurl.com/wcgyedu).
With a working computer you have several choices.
If it’s going to be recycled you can take out and store the hard drive, or wipe the drive clean of data by using a free utility such as Ccleaner (www.ccleaner.com), or you could repurpose an old laptop by connecting it to your home stereo or TV and using it to stream videos or play music. Your old phone or iPod could function as a portable music player.
A good way to recycle a working computer or tablet and do something good for the community
is to donate it to Reboot Peterborough (www.rebootcanada.ca) which will refurbish it and make it available for low-income people, and give you a tax receipt.
If you decide to give the computer to someone or sell it you can't just wipe the drive since you will destroy the Windows operating system and render the computer useless. However, you can use Windows to securely erase all data and programs but retain the operating system. Go into the settings and in Windows 8 click on Update and Recovery and in Win 10 select Update and Security and choose to
remove everything and reinstall Windows.
A mobile device such as a tablet can be wiped clean by going into the settings and restoring the device to its factory settings. There are instructions for an iPad or iPhone at the Apple site (https://support.apple.com/ en-ca/HT201252) and an Android device at the Android Authority (https://tinyurl.com/ y8xsyax9).
A common problem with having a lot of devices or laptops in a house is that the signal from the wireless router is too weak to reach far-flung areas of the house. A problematic solution used to be installing a wi-fi range extender. However, each extender created a new network and you had to constantly disconnect from one network to join another when you moved around the house. The solution is called Mesh technology wherein each extender has the same name and password as the central wireless router so as you roam around the laptop or device will automatically pick up the stronger signal.
Expensive mesh routers with one or more extenders are available but many people have a dedicated wireless router supplied by their internet service provider, such as Bell or Cogeco, which can't easily be replaced since the router also handles phone service. Or your wireless router might have been really expensive or is fairly new. The solution is to buy a mesh range extender which will work with just about any wireless router.
I bought a D-Link mesh range extender for less than $100 and it works perfectly. My phone, tablet, smart television, iPod, and two laptops seamlessly connect anywhere in the house or out on the deck in the summer.