Installing a Small Wi-Fi Network: Overview

Notes on Platforms

This book is about Windows, because that's where my expertise lies. Both the Macintosh and Linux platforms deserve their own complete books on wireless networking, and I don't believe in trying to cover platforms as radically different as Windows, Mac, and Linux in a single volume.

There are several versions of Windows, and providing detailed instructions on all of them would be difficult. I'm going to emphasize just three: Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows 98. Windows XP is the best version of Windows for wireless networking, with Windows 2000 close behind. XP and 2000 are built on the same operating system 'chassis,' but XP is two years newer, and has additional code to deal with Wi-Fi hardware. Windows 98 is at best so-so in terms of networking support, but a lot of people still use it, so I'll do my best. You're more likely to have problems with Windows 98 than with the others, and if it's possible to upgrade your computer to Windows XP or 2000, that would increase your chances of having a trouble-free network installation.

Windows 95 was created before networking was a commonplace for home offices, and for that reason is mostly hopeless for networking. Windows ME is close enough to Windows 98 so that you should be able to follow my instructions. Keep in mind, however, that Windows ME has terrible reliability problems and I do not recommend using it at all, network or no network. A computer that will run Windows ME will probably run Windows 2000 or XP, and I recommend upgrading to Windows 2000 or XP if you possibly can.