The most recent articles from Personal Computer World

Review: Solwise NET-PL-200AV-Push powerline networking

Will Stapley — 2008-01-11T00:00:00.000Z

Will Stapley, Personal Computer World, Friday 11 January 2008 at 00:00:00

High-speed mains networking with hassle-free security

If your wireless network is a little too flaky and you don't fancy trailing Ethernet cables around your house, powerline networking is a good alternative.

Using your existing mains wiring it provides fast, hassle-free networking.

In order to network a device using powerline you’ll need two powerline adapters (these plug directly into a three-pin plug). One hooks up to the device to be networked, with the other connecting to your router.

Solwise has a range of powerline kit and its NET-PL-200AV-Push aims to make securing your powerline network both quick and easy. Security isn’t usually a problem with powerline networking since most houses have mains rings that are separate to neighbouring properties.

However, if you live in a flat or share a house with other people, it’s worth encrypting data between powerline devices. Almost all powerline devices come with encryption options, but you’ll usually have to set this up using some rather counter-intuitive software; this can also be a problem if you’re using a Mac or Linux PC for which there is no software. To encrypt data on Solwise’s new kit you simply push the button on one and, within two minutes, push the button on the second device. The devices will then share a randomly generated 128-bit AES key.

Based on the Homeplug AV specification, it provides up to 200Mbits/sec, though in reality you’ll be lucky to get more than 30Mbits/sec. Panasonic’s BL-PA100KT uses a similar push-button encryption method, but it won’t communicate with other Homplug kit since it uses proprietary technology.

Back in our powerline group test (PCW, October 2007), Solwise picked up the Editor’s Choice with the NET-PL-200AV due to its price and performance. This new version performs just as well and, with extra features, a more attractive design and lower price, it comes highly recommended.

Review: Killernic M1 network card

Emil Larsen — 2007-09-20T00:00:00.000Z

Emil Larsen, Personal Computer World, Thursday 20 September 2007 at 00:00:00

A network card like no other

The Killernic M1 network adapter promises to lower latencies and increase frame rates in online games to give players an advantage over competitors.

It does this by offloading networking processes onto a PCI card with a 400MHz Arm processor, with 64MB of Ram running embedded Linux.

It interfaces directly with Winsock and bypasses other layers of Windows network stacks, which cuts latency but also frees up CPU power so frame rates can improve. The Killernic M1 is solely optimised for low latencies, whereas the Windows network stacks often trade low latency for high-data throughput.

The manufacturer boasts a ping improvement of between two and 30ms and frame rate increases of 10-30fps. However, over several hours of testing on a quad-core PC, pings dropped just 1ms from 75ms to 74ms in Counterstrike:source and there was no frame rate increase.

This isn't much of a boost, but slower PCs should see greater benefits. Cheaper setups would also see gains with a faster processor or internet connection.

A host of Linux utilities make it exciting in other respects. You can bring up a Linux terminal from within Windows and there's a hardware firewall and Bit Torrent client built in. Torrents can be downloaded directly to external hard drives using the USB port on the Killernic M1's backplate.

The firewall and Bit Torrent client aren't detailed applications but they reduce CPU usage compared with Windows applications. And combined with its extensive quality of service (QoS) functions, you can get good pings in games while your PC downloads big files.

The M1's big magnesium alloy heatsink and flashing red lights make it ideal for heavily modded cases, but upgrading other parts of your system may be cheaper.

Review: Trendnet 621 PC Card

Emil Larsen — 2007-01-17T00:00:00.000Z

Emil Larsen, Personal Computer World, Wednesday 17 January 2007 at 00:00:00

Boost your notebook's wireless range and speed

The Trendnet 621 PC Card is a rather ordinary looking wireless PC card that supports the draft-N spec. Although the final 802.11n standard isn't set to be ratified until later this year - this draft-N card should be compatible, but there's no guarantee.

The 300Mbits/sec speed figure plastered over the box should be taken with a pinch of salt. When we tested it in a relatively noise free home environment, and at close proximity to a draft-N router, we achieved average TCP transfer speeds of 28.5Mbits/sec. In comparison our one-year-old, tried and tested 802.11g laptop card managed 21.1Mbits/sec.

At these speeds the 621 PC Card could do HD streaming, however, as soon as several walls were put in the way speeds plummeted. When the router and card we separated by two floors in a house with thick walls, our 802.11g card repeatedly lost its connection.

The Trendnet card maintained a reliable connection throughout and, although speeds dropped as low as 3Mbits/sec during file transfers, it remained usable for surfing and downloading.

Finally, the range was slightly better than the 802.11g card when used with an 802.11g router too, suggesting it is generally a well-designed card.

It's not a perfect design though. It sticks out a couple of inches beyond your laptop, exposing it to damage. There are also two yellow LEDs on the top of it continually flash which can be distracting if you're watching a film or trying to work.

To get the card working you must use the bundled Trendnet software, which disables the inbuilt Windows wireless connection software.

The Trendnet software doesn't automatically remember the security keys of the different routers you might have connected to during your travels. Instead you must create a profile and manually enter the service set identifier (SSID – the name of the router) and security key, something we haven't had to do in years.

The performance of this card is among the best we've seen in a laptop, but you can buy 802.11g cards for £15, which makes the price premium Trendnet is charging over the top. If, however, you've already got a draft-N wireless router then it's definitely worth considering.

The Trendnet 621 PC Card can be bought online from Scan.

Also consider:

Group test: Draft-N wireless routers

We road test the latest draft-N routers

Buffalo Nfiniti Draft-N router

Wireless kit that takes advantage of the draft 802.11n specification

Hawking HWU8DD

Boost your wireless speeds with this nifty device

All wireless technology reviews

Troy PocketPro USB

Alan Stevens — 2004-10-25T15:16:44.000Z

Alan Stevens, Personal Computer World, Monday 25 October 2004 at 15:16:44

A cable-free way to print your documents

The PocketPro USB stands out from other network print servers for two reasons. First, it will work with most USB-equipped printers and, second, it can connect to the network wirelessly. Despite being pocket sized, it can be used to share a printer on mixed Windows, Unix/Linux and Novell networks and is compatible with a wide range of industry-standard Lan management tools.

The software needed to install and configure the PocketPro USB comes on CD-Rom with a thick manual to help with the process. This is relatively straightforward, although we did have a few problems when entering Wep encryption keys via the custom setup utility. These were fixed using the alternative web-based interface, which we used to configure the PocketPro USB to attach first to an 802.11b access point then a single wireless notebook in peer-to-peer (ad hoc) mode.

Both setups worked well and we were also able to print wirelessly to a number of different printers. No changes are required on the PocketPro to do this, but you have to use the correct client driver. The printer needs to support either PCL or Postscript emulation, ruling out some of the cheaper inkjets.

If you attach a multifunction device, you won't be able to use the scanner/fax facilities. A fixed 10/100 Ethernet port is also built into the device so you can use the PocketPro on conventional wired networks. However, the fixed and wireless interfaces can't be used together.

The 802.11b wireless interface is relatively slow (11Mbps), which could be a concern when printing large or complex documents, but in our tests with 'typical' office documents the PocketPro USB performed well.

Contact:

Troy 01427 753 653

www.troygroup.com

Specifications:

Multiprotocol print server
USB 1.1 interface for printer attachment
10/100 Ethernet port & 802.11b wireless Ethernet interface
64/128bit Wep encryption
802.1x authentication support

Array Networks Array SP

Alan Stevens — 2003-05-12T14:42:39.000Z

Alan Stevens, Personal Computer World, Monday 12 May 2003 at 14:42:39

Comprehensive and scalable proxy server for large companies looking to protect web applications.

The SP in Array SP stands for Secure Proxy, which goes a long way to describing what this appliance is all about.

That said, it's a lot more than just a proxy server; it provides a common interface for the secure delivery of web applications to both local and remote users over secure socket layer (SSL) encrypted connections.

The SSL processing is all offloaded to the appliance, and the Array SP handles user authentication and access policies. It can transparently redirect URL requests to deliver a unified view of web services, whether being accessed locally on the corporate network or by external users.

The Array SP is built on a custom hardware platform delivered in a rugged and secure rackmount case. However, the appliance is sized not on normal hardware factors but by network bandwidth and the ability of the built-in SSL processors to handle multiple user sessions.

To this end the top-of-the-range 3U Array SP (reviewed here) can be configured with up to four Gigabit Ethernet interfaces (copper or fibre) and SSL acceleration hardware to support up to 32,000 concurrent user sessions.

It can also be clustered up to 32-way for both redundancy and performance scalability on large enterprise networks, with a smaller 1U version available for companies with more modest requirements or for departmental use.

Both models run the same custom security-hardened software, ArrayOS, based on the Array Networks Application Networking Architecture.

A major feature of the OS is its Speedstack technology, whereby network packets traverse the IP stack just once, regardless of the security measures applied, for maximum throughput.

The SSL acceleration hardware and clustering facilities also enhance performance, and optional compression software is available as a £4,300 ex VAT upgrade, to reduce the physical amount of data transmitted.

Some initial configuration using a local console is required to get the appliance up and running. This includes assigning suitable interface and gateway addresses and so on, after which all further work is done from the graphical Array Pilot browser-based management console.

Using this it's possible to both monitor activity (from the Flight Deck display) and configure the ArrayOS software. The first step is to define a virtual host for each URL to be serviced by the Array SP and the type of user authentication technology associated with each one.

A built-in database can handle up to 10,000 users, with unlimited directory support using Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service and Active Directory.

There's support too for SecurID and Public Key Infrastructure systems with the Array SP able to pass client-side certificates to back-end servers and enforce its own certificate revocation lists.

Comprehensive and very granular access controls can be set by user, user group or IP address from the Array Pilot console, but the web resource mapping, which redirects client URL requests, works more or less automatically.

Similarly, it's easy to configure what Array calls one-time URLs with built-in timeouts to handle security issues associated with cached content, stolen cookies and other misappropriated tokens.

The security in ArrayOS is built around SSL so there's no need for special client software other than a standard web browser. From the client end very little changes, other than using the Array SP as a portal to access the protected web applications and services.

Users can also be allowed access to Unix and Windows file shares, with support too for Outlook Web Access for web-based email. The lack of any integration with legacy (non-web) applications could be an issue for some organisations.

On the plus side, full logging of all transactions is standard and you get a system and administration toolkit with support for realtime alerting, remote user management, password recovery and so on.

A basic stateful inspection firewall is built into the software to protect against common Internet threats and virus scanning can be added via Internet Content Adaptation Protocol.

Contact: Array Networks +32 3 295 0955 (Belgium)

www.arraynetworks.net

Linksys WET11

PCW Staff — 2003-02-25T12:04:39.000Z

PCW Staff, Personal Computer World, Tuesday 25 February 2003 at 12:04:39

This allows you to connect any Ethernet device to a wireless Lan.

Wireless networking eliminates most cabling concerns but few desktop PCs come with wireless capabilities and you still need a fixed local area network (Lan) to share devices such as printers.

Not, though, if you use this Instant Wireless Ethernet Bridge (WET11), which enables any fixed network device to communicate wirelessly.

The WET11 plugs into the Ethernet port of the device concerned using a short UTP cable. A built-in 802.11b interface provides the wireless interface, with transparent bridging between the two Lans.

It bridges rather than routes traffic, so the WET11 can be used with any network running any protocol and no special drivers are needed. However, you have to configure wireless settings.

A simple set-up program locates the Linksys bridge and assigns which Service Set Identifier of the wireless Lan to use; the channel (except if communicating via an access point); and security parameters, with support for both 64bit and 128bit Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) encryption.

Any further changes are done by pointing a browser at the manual IP or Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol address also assigned to the device.

We tested the WET11 on a PC with a built-in fixed Ethernet interface, avoiding the hassle of installing an internal wireless adaptor. We then attached it to an Ethernet hub, connecting a remote workgroup to the wireless Lan.

Finally we shared a network printer on a wireless Lan, a task that would otherwise require a dedicated wireless print server. We had to upgrade the firmware, and the lack of support for Fast Ethernet could be an issue when connecting a whole workgroup.

Otherwise the WET11 does exactly what it claims, which is to bridge fixed and wireless Lans with the minimum of fuss.

DETAILS

Price: £88.12 (£75 ex VAT)

Contact: Linksys 01493 748 904

www.linksys.com

SPECS

Single fixed 10Base-T port; bridged 802.11b wireless Ethernet interface
External antenna
Up to 11Mbps wireless bandwidth
Auto-switching to lower rate in low-signal conditions
Indoor range of 50m
Support for64bit and 128bit WEP security
94 x 125.5 x 31mm (w x d x h)
200g

Actiontec Gateway

Clive Akass — 2002-06-26T10:07:42.000Z

Clive Akass, Personal Computer World, Wednesday 26 June 2002 at 10:07:42

Simple home networking at a very attractive price.

This is one of a new breed of products aimed at an anticipated boom in home networking. The idea is that, as broadband prices fall, data delivery will become ubiquitous, always available and so useful as to require spreading about.

To succeed vendors will have to bring plug-and-play simplicity to complex networking products. Actiontec has made a fair stab with this gateway, designed to allow several machines to share a cable or DSL connection.

It has four auto-sensing 10/100 switched ports and two Type I PC Card slots, one of which takes a 10Mbits/sec 802.11b (Wi-Fi) card to transform the gateway into a wireless access point; the other slot can be used for Bluetooth or HomePNA cards.

The slots will also take 11a cards - five times faster than 11b - when they become available. You may think 11a is overkill for distributing 512K broadband, but this box also allows home machines to exchange data.

Set up is a vast improvement on that of early wireless products, which were generally pitched at experts. But it isn't straightforward: the install program couldn't find a file on our system and there were a couple of mistakes in the documentation.

Actiontec says these are being fixed. You can use your browser to configure the gateway, which offers a firewall, 128bit wireless encryption and a content filter. It also clones Mac addresses, so cable users don't need to register new hardware.

Once you have one machine online, linking in others involves little more than plugging in cables, Ethernet cards or wireless adaptors. Actiontec's prices are the lowest we have seen for this class of equipment. The equivalent of this gateway and two wireless cards could have cost you well over £1,000 only a few months ago.

Price: Gateway £99.99 (inc. VAT); PC Card, USB dongle or PCI-based Wi-Fi client £74.99 (inc. VAT).

Contact: Actiontec 01189 026 890

www.actiontec.com

SMC Network Starter Kit

David Ludlow — 2001-03-20T24:00:00.000Z

David Ludlow, Personal Computer World, Tuesday 20 March 2001 at 00:00:00

A handy kit that lets you connect up to five home PCs in a small network.

Connecting multiple PCs at home isn't that much hassle thanks to networking kits such as the SMC Network Starter Kit. The kit provides everything that's needed to get two machines networked - two PCI 100Mbits/sec network cards, two five-metre cables, and a 10/100Mbits/sec hub.

For future expansion the hub has four ports for computers and a fifth port for connecting to a second hub. A crossover network cable wired in reverse to a standard cable can be used on any standard port to do the same job, though. Likewise, a crossover cable can be used on the fifth hub port to connect a fifth machine.

In the meantime, getting two machines up and networked is a simple task. The network cards need to be installed into free PCI slots and connected using the provided cables into the hub. After powering on the PCs, the connections can be verified via status lights on both the network cards and the hub.

Assuming this is all right, it's time to install the correct drivers inside Windows. Now comes the slightly trickier part: getting the PCs to talk to each other.

This requires setting up the network protocols, which tell the computers how they should talk to each other. The manual recommends removing TCP/IP - the same protocol the internet uses - and installing NetBEUI instead, which makes file and print sharing a doddle.

Unfortunately, this is all you can do. And while the box proudly says you can use this kit to share an internet connection, no software is provided to do this. Windows 98 has this built in, but it's a nightmare to set up and requires TCP/IP to be installed.

It's a shame that such an important area isn't covered in what is otherwise a solid piece of kit.

Contact

SMC 0800 0188 733; www.smc-europe.com