When shopping for a wireless router, the first detail that you’ll most likely look for is its signal strength. Indeed, you wouldn’t want any dead spot ruining your 50-gigabyte download. The good news is many of today’s routers can easily blanket your house with Wi-Fi. They’re already so powerful and efficient that your next door neighbor could effortlessly pick up signals from your overzealous Wi-Fi distributor.

Unless your neighbors are as trustworthy as your dog, sharing wireless Internet with them may not be exactly a wise move. For one thing, having too many computers sipping through your router may slowdown your surfing speed. Some ISPs are also setting limits on monthly bandwidths, so you might end up hitting your quota in just a week if you continue to be a good Samaritan to them.

But the strongest argument against sharing Wi-Fi with neighbors is the possibility of data theft. The fact that they could access your router or wireless Internet means that they could also very possibly access your computer, too.

This doesn’t mean that you should buy routers that have weak signals. If you want to rival Starbuck’s Wi-Fi strength, then by all means buy the best router that your budget allows. Just make sure that you limit the number of persons who could have access to your personal network. You could easily do this by setting up a password for your router. Another method by which you could restrict or regulate access is by pre-defining the hardware which could access your network.

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Some of my friends at the office got intrigued by the entry that I posted on my blog yesterday. Apparently, they have little or no idea about remote computing. That’s quite surprising considering that we’re at an age where almost anything is done through the Internet.

I explained to them that even ordinary users like us can access PCs remotely from virtually anywhere. No special equipment is required. All that is usually needed is an Internet access and third-party software that allows a person to tap or get in to a willing unit.

Many of them are now excited to try it. I can’t fully understand their child-like interest in it though. I mean remote computing has been around for quite some time now, and that the “in” thing today is mobile computing.

There’s one problem in accessing your desktop at home from the office. Most of the time, the computers at home are already old. This is true in my case. My home PC is just a Pentium III, while the one that I’m using at the office has a Core 2 Duo processor. The speed of my office unit will be inconsequential if the computer that I’m accessing has a slow CPU.

I advised them to make sure that their home PCs are functioning well. I also clarified that they don’t need to buy a new one just to be able to enjoy remote computing. As long as their home units are optimized and in good condition, they can expect a satisfactory experience.

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