How do I extend Wi-fi to my shed?
QCan you advise me how my laptop can connect to my Wi-fi when I’m in the shed at the bottom of my garden? Unfortunately, the Wi-fi signal reaches only about threequarters of the way. I have tried Googling for answers but I’ve only become more confused. Any help would be appreciated. Incidentally, there’s no mains electricity in the shed. Diane Pole
AWithout power to your shed your options are a tad limited, at least for Wi-fi – but we’ll come back to that.
First, though, have you considered running an Ethernet cable from your router to the shed? Almost all routers have one or more spare Ethernet ports for creating wired connections to a computer, so take a look at yours to see what’s what. The cable would draw the power it needs from the router, so it really is as simple as popping one end of an Ethernet cable into the router and the other into your laptop. Ethernet has a range of up to 100m (over 300ft) so, unless you’re a member of the landed gentry, a cable should easily reach your shed. You can even buy dedicated ‘outdoor’ cables that are both waterproof and suitable to be buried, like the 50m example we found from Mutecpower (around £23, www.snipca.com/29169). If your laptop doesn’t have an Ethernet port built in then you can buy a USB dongle to add one. Amazon sells its own-brand model for £13, for instance, at www.snipca.com/29170.
If that idea doesn’t appeal or isn’t practical, then you could plump for a Wi-fi extender. These plug into any mains socket and act as a wireless ‘bridge’, picking up the router’s Wi-fi signal and then rebroadcasting it from wherever the gadget itself is plugged in – effectively extending the Wi-fi coverage.
The effectiveness of such a device very much depends on the position of your current router in relation to the shed. For example, if your router is already at or near the back wall of your house then, for your purposes, a Wi-fi extender won’t usefully extend the signal. However, if your router is near the front or middle of your house, then a Wi-fi extender plugged into a socket in a room at the rear should do the job. Inevitably, there’s lots of choice but a reliable cheap option is the Tp-link N300 Universal Range Extender, which is around £15 ( www. snipca.com/29171).
QI’ve read many Computeractive articles relating to editing the Windows registry. However, I cannot recall any explanation as to where the various key and value names come from. For example, where did the Longpathsenabled value come from? Is there a dictionary somewhere of the words or phrases used, or are they just made up to reflect their effects? I have no problem with editing the registry by following these instructions, but I’m just curious about all this stuff. Brian Harding
ADo you really want to go down this rabbit hole? Because that’s a good analogy for the registry: it’s a complex, organic structure in which it’s easy to get lost.
The registry is a hierarchical (layered) database, and any one example might contain tens or even hundreds of thousands of entries. The top-level keys – which were defined by Microsoft during the days of Windows 3.1, back in the early 1990s – are reasonably easy to explain and understand. However, the lower-level entries are much harder to fathom. Some will be reasonably clear (like ‘Longpathsenabled’), others will be randomly generated, and still more created on the whim of a programmer or product manager.
There isn’t a ‘dictionary’ as such but Microsoft does maintain detailed documentation about the registry. If you wish to explore this then visit www.snipca.com/29281. We’d suggest beginning by clicking Registry followed by ‘About the Registry’ and then ‘Structure of the Registry’ (see screenshots). Write back in 20 years to let us know how you got on!