I have recently bought a mouse from the reputable company Logitech. The model is Logitech Anywhere Mouse M905, which is an optical wireless mouse.

Logitech Anywhere Mouse is a series of computer mice manufactured to take advantage of the DarkField technology. This is a new form of movement-tracking method does not use the traditional optical laser; instead, it detects the micro-grooves along the surface and tracks mouse movement based on changes in the groove pattern. Therefore, Anywhere Mouse generally works well on virtually any surfaces, including shiny and reflective tables.

Measuring at a dimension of 90.5 x 63.0 x 34.5 millimeters, it is a mid-sized mouse designed with portability in mind. Logitech has trimmed down the wireless receiver to be extremely small so that it can be left in the USB port permanently – even when transporting the notebook in a laptop bag. However, if there is a need to detach the wireless receiver, it can be pulled out and be safely stored within a compartment in the mouse.

Buttons wise, the Logitech mouse has the standard left and right buttons, as well as a scroll wheel in between. Uniquely enough, the scroll wheel can be easily switched between “hyper-fast scrolling” and regular scrolling modes. “Hyper –fast scrolling” mode makes it easy to scroll through long documents or zoom in/out quickly of an image, while the latter makes it convenient to scroll through line-by-line of a web page. The modes can be toggled by pressing the scroll wheel.

At this point, you might wonder how the mouse’s middle button can be triggered if it is used to switch between the scrolling modes. Well, Logitech has included another button just 0.5cm away from the scroll wheel, which takes the role of a middle button. Therefore, if you need to launch a URL in a new tab while scrolling through a web page, you actually need to lift up your finger to press the middle button. This is not too annoying once you are used to playing around with this mouse.

Two additional buttons have also been incorporated onto the mouse. These are the “back” and “forward” buttons, which will come in very handy during Internet browsing, or when you are exploring your media library between different artists / bands. Note that these functions require the installation of the bundled Logitech drivers.

Ergonomically speaking, the contour along the sides of the mouse allows the thumb and the little finger to rest comfortably during use. A thin layer of rubber on the sides further makes it possible to firmly grasp and move the mouse without sliding off.

Powered by 2 x AA batteries, Logitech claims that the mouse has a battery life of six months. A set of 2 x AA Duracell batteries have been included in this package. Logitech has also kindly bundled a mouse pouch.

Overall, it is a pleasant experience to use this mouse. Despite being an ardent fan of regular desktop mouse, I find the Logitech mouse a good substitute for the current mouse that I have. At a retail price of $169, it will deter most people from buying it as the cash can be dedicated to upgrading graphics card or buying a good pair of headphones instead. However, if you happened to have spare cash lying around, the Logitech Anywhere Mouse M905 is definitely a worthy investment.

The device communicates with the receiver using standards-based radio frequency, therefore it is unlikely to interfere with the operation of nearby wireless equipment such as wireless routers (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) and cellphones (850 MHz to 1900 MHz), making it ideal in a university setting. It weighs only 58.1g and has a dimension of 11.5cm (Length) x 5.2cm (Width) x 1.6cm (Depth), making it very portable.

A not-so-pretty point about this gadget is that it uses 2 x AAA batteries. Considering this type of battery is more expensive than AA batteries (despite the lesser capacity), it is recommended than the latter batteries should be used instead. Alternatively, this apparatus can be fitted with a lithium battery which can be recharged by placing the item onto a magnetic field, though this may not be economically feasible. Nonetheless, this is a suggestion that Qwizdom should seriously consider if the device is to be fitted with higher battery-draining features.

More information about the device can be found here. Below are a number of photos depicting the device:

Using this scheme, if a message goes “Call now on 1-800-BUYGOLD to buy your very own set of gold bars”, the audience would then key in 1-800-2894653 (without the dashes) on their phone to contact the company to express their interest for gold bars. Catchy phrases are widely used as a marketing tool in a bid to assist the desired audience to remember their phone number.

In today’s article, the concept of “reciprocal catchy phrases” will be described. Have you ever wished your phone number contains some catchy phrases so that you could blurt out the phrases rather than the digits when you were asked for contact details next time? This self-coined term “reciprocal catchy phrases” simply means finding the alphabets to suit the phone number that you have got.

Let’s work on an example to illustrate the point. Say, a cellphone number arbitrarily goes like this: 024 367843946. Rather than saying “My cellphone number is 024 367 843 946″, one can go “My cellphone number is 024 FOR THE WIN” (assuming 024 represents the most commonly used mobile phone service in that region). How was the corresponding phrase found? This can be done by using the predictive texting function on a cellphone.

How to activate the predictive texting function?

Go to “text messaging options” –> Dictionary –> T9 (or predictive) dictionary –> Activate. The instruction should be similar for all makes of cellphones

Go to “Compose” and start typing the first few digits of the phone number listed above – 367843946. Let’s work on the first three digits – 367. Upon typing in the set of digits, the dictionary suggests “FOR” as a possible word. If “more words” are pressed, the word “DOS” is also possible. Let’s bear this in mind as a plausible possibility. If a set of four digits are worked with (“3678″), the possibility of “FORT” is obtained. If the first five digits “367843″ are tried, again the faithful dictionary suggests the phrase “FORTIF”. If all of the digits (“367843946″) are used, we are informed of the word “FORTIFYIN”. If you are happy with the end result, the phone number can now be said as 024 FORTIFYIN. The gist is to key in a set of digits – at least two or more – and let the dictionary suggest a word that can be used.

A further approach that can be used is to break the digits into multiple set. Rather than working with the phrase “FORTIF”, we can break it into two equal sections (i.e. the first three digits, coupled with the second set of three digits). In this case, the first three digits corresponds to “FOR”, while the second set corresponds to “THE”. So now the phone number becomes 024 FOR THE 946. What can we have for “946″? Well, the dictionary nicely suggests “WIN”, so we will stick with 024 FOR THE WIN.

Tada! Now you can be proud of your very own phone number that has a nice catchy phrase!

If you have got catchy phrases that you would like to share with us, please post them in the comment box below (please omit the country code / mobile code for privacy purposes).

If you have a Gmail e-mail address and you frequently use it for online membership registrations, try the following trick next time when you type in your e-mail address:

1. In the “Your e-mail” area, type in your Gmail e-mail address normally (I will use mine as an example, jamushomepage@gmail.com)
2. Just before the “@” symbol, type in the symbol “+” (In my case, jamushomepage+@gmail.com)
3. Type in a tracker name (for example, the name of the website) just after the “+” sign (Using the same example, I might type jamushomepage+XYZcompany@gmail.com to track the “XYZcompany” website)
4. Finish the registration and click “Submit”

The trick utilises a protocol called “Plus Addressing”. Using it to our benefit, we add a tracker to the e-mail supplied, in which only this particular website knows; you will still be able to send and receive e-mails from anyone using your untagged e-mail address. However, when new spam messages start to appear, take note of the recipient e-mail. If they are directed to that particular tagged e-mail address, you can be sure that the website concerned has leaked out some of your personal information to the spammers (e.g. if I start to receive spam messages that are directed to jamushomepage+XYZcompany@gmail.com, then there is a good chance that XYZcompany has leaked out my e-mail address). This trick will not prevent spam messages from stuffing up your inbox, but at least you can find out who has been doing the dirty business behind your back.

Keywords: Tracking spammer, Preventing spam, Who is spamming me?, Plus addressing, Tracking Gmail spammer

Of all the ideas described in the article, one of them stands out the most. If it is possible to run an IMAX at home using stacked projectors, then what is stopping the very idea of running a home theatre system using linked speaker devices? In today’s article, I am going to discuss the possibility of piecing up laptops into a 3D grid and turning the whole scheme into a home theatre system.

Proposal: To turn a set of laptops into a home theatre system.

Objective: A number of laptops (minimum three) are obtained and stacked according to an open-ended trapezoid shape.

Method: 12 laptops are obtained and arranged in a three-sided trapezoid manner. Each side consists of four laptops, which are linked to a central unit via LAN cables; the central unit can be any of the laptops. When a movie is played on the central unit laptop, the audio algorithm is used to optimize the 3D effect by transmitting the sound and varying the volume on each of the laptops.

Discussion: Firstly, the home theatre system requires some form of calibration. This is essential to allow the algorithm to pinpoint the exact locations of the laptops, and therefore conferring the 3D effect. The optimization is done by using the in-built microphones on the laptops, which is a common item in modern notebooks. The sequence involves the emission of an audio sample from one of the laptops. When this happens, the laptops that are in the pathway of the sound waves would pick up the transmission and notify the central unit laptop of the associated amplitude, the time it takes for the waves to travel across the space and any possible interference. The process is repeated again with the adjacent laptops until the central unit laptop has a fairly good idea of the position of the laptops in the space. Utilizing this knowledge, the algorithm can then adjust the volume of each laptop when a movie is played in order to yield the 3D audio effect.

Secondly, the design consists of a gap in the center. It is envisaged that if this idea is coupled with Chang et al.’s Pluribus concept, then it is possible to create an IMAX home theatre system. Otherwise, the central gap can be omitted from the system or replaced with another two laptops.

Thirdly, the screen of the laptops can be employed to display ambience that corresponds to the movie scene. This is a similar concept used by Phillips in the production of Philips 42PF9976 Plasma TV Display. It has been proven by research that “watching television with Philips unique Ambilight results in a noticeably better picture”. Accordingly, by reducing the brightness contrast between the surrounding and the movie, which therefore relaxes the eyes of the viewer, the Ambilight technology “allows the perception of more detail, more brightness, more contrast and truer colours”. Likewise with the home theatre concept, the ambience radiated from the laptops can serve as a contrast buffer in order to enhance the viewing experience.

Fourthly, the laptops can be optionally connected to the central computer via Wi-Fi instead of wired LAN. However, the LAN option appeals better because it reduces the possibility of signal interference between the laptops. On top of that, wired LAN clearly outweighs Wi-Fi when it comes to the speed of data tranmission. This point becomes important when high load of high-definition audio are carried every second between laptops. Lastly, the laptops are at lesser security risks of being intruded from elsewhere when they are running.

Fifthly, despite the fact that laptop speakers tend to be less powerful, if the setup is made in a closed environment, this weakness may not be as blatantly obvious. Othewise, desktop speakers can be hooked up to the laptops to overcome the limitation.

Finally, the system setup does not require any special rack to position the laptops. Instead, ordinary furniture like book racks or wine racks can be used for the laptop placement. This is because with the calibration step described in the first point, the laptops can “discover each other” in the spatial environment, and therefore allowing varying levels of volume from each laptop to simulate a home theatre system regardless of the position.

Summary: Knowing that Chang et al. have had success with simulating IMAX atmosphere using readily available projectors, it is reasonable to believe the application of such concept onto the audio aspect is possible. Given that laptops are becoming more and more common in households, one can throw a laptop party on one of the nights and form an ad-hoc home theatre system.

Selling points

1. There is no need to purchase special electronic equipment to make a home theatre system. Instead, ordinary modern laptops are sufficient to take over the role
2. Specialised home theatre racks are not crucial to the running of the home theatre system. Rather, book racks are adequate to fulfil the needs
3. The screen projection from the laptops can serve as an ambience radiator
4. The concept is very cost effective as the laptops that form the home theatre system can be used on their own as an electronic device when they are not in a grid
5. The utilization of the microphone feature of the laptops for calibration allows fine-tuning and optimization of 3D sound in the space

This article has been cited as a news on JB Online (English Translation) and Yahoo! (English Translation).

Keywords: HP, Nelson Chang, Pluribus, Niranjan Damera-Venkata, IMAX at Home, Five Ideas That Will Reinvent Modern Computing, PCWorld, Laptop Home Theatre, Ambience laptops.

1. Navigate to the folder where the program is installed
2. Right-click on the program, click “Properties” ?
3. Click the “Compatibility” tab
4. Under “Compatibility mode”, place a tick in the box “Run this program in compatibility mode for:” ?
5. Click to select one of the older Windows in which your desired program had previously worked (select Windows XP SP2 if you are not sure)
6. Click “Ok” to save

On top of this, it is advisable to run the program under an administrator account. In order to do so, right-click the program, point to “Run As…” and select “Administrator” to proceed.

Citing an example, these two tricks can be deployed to overcome an error message encountered while participating in Warcraft III LAN session. The symptoms are that a Windows Vista Warcraft III player, as he or she attempts to join a game, is stopped by the message “Map Not Found”. In order to get around this problem, the player has to specify to run the game in XP SP2 environment first (and run the game under Administrator account as a supplement) in order to join a Warcraft III LAN game session.

The game need not be installed under XP SP2 environment.

Keywords: Compatibility program, Warcraft III, Warcraft 3, LAN error message, Map Not Found, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Reign of Chaos, Frozen Throne, Ethernet, Gigabit, Join Game, Create Game, Run as Administrator

There are countless scripts suggested for preloading the images in order to execute a smooth rollover animation, but most fail to work on the client side (i.e. the user). Some common reasons are: Windows’s Security Center has blocked the script; user’s browser does not support the language of the script; or the user has inadvertently set a tight security settings in such a way that the script is not recognized as legitimate. The end result of these events often lead to a time delay in the appearance of the new image, or in the extreme case, dysfunction of a component of the web page, causing confusion among the users.

In today’s entry, I have come up with an alternative that utilizes only HTML – a universal language guaranteed to work with all web browsers. This is how it goes:

The above line specifies a substitution of the displayed image (i.e. a substitution of svbefore.png with svafter.png when hovered). The would-be substituted image is preloaded as below:

The new and old images are “displayed” when the web page is loaded. However, the new image has been set to use a width and height of 0px so that it is not visible on the web page; in effect, the new image has been “pre-cached”, but not displayed. In the line above, I have also added the attributes “padding=’0′” and “border=’0′” as an inline precaution to prevent unexpected pushing of the parent <div> frame. Finally, I would put this line of image-preload at the end of the web page (e.g. before </body> ends) as an additional safety measure.

If you wish to make the above line W3C valid, you can employ the modification below:

Should a user have multiple images that he or she wishes to preload, one can simplify the attributes and save them as a CSS style.

Followed by the respective specification in the web page:

Keywords: Preloading images, Pre loading, Pre-loading, Pre-caching, Pre caching, Caching Images, HTML, CSS, Javascript, rollover, scrolling effect, animation

An assumption is made that you have already installed the wireless adapters or cards on the computers and they are working well. For the sake of simplicity, the two computers will be called DAD and MOM respectively.

ON “DAD“
1. Right-click “My Computer”, click “Properties”
2. Click “Computer Name” Tab
3. Click “Change”
4. A window should pop-up. Specify a name for the computer.
5. Click “Workgroup” and specify a name. (We will call the computer DAD and the workgroup HOME)
6. Click OK
7. Click OK in the computer properties windows.
(You may have to restart the computer. If you are prompted to, do so)

Configuring Wireless Adaptor
1. Go to Start > Control Panel > Network Connections > Network Connections Right-click on your wireless adaptor, click “Properties”
2. Click “Configurations”
3. The options available in the configurations will widely vary between wireless adaptors, but the main things that that you want to make sure are:

• The type of connection is set to Adhoc and not Infrastructure
• The security settings are off (It may be called “B/G Protection”, nevertheless, set this to “none” or “off”
• On some occasions, you may come across something that says “SSID” with a textbox corresponding to it. In this entry, you can specify a name for your network. Let’s just call it “Home” for now

4. After altering the configuration settings, click “OK” to save the changes, and click “OK” again in the wireless adaptor window to exit
5. Right-click again on your wireless adaptor, click “Properties”
6. Click the tab “Wireless Network”

(The “Wireless Network” tab is not visible on my computer!?)
It simply means that your wireless adaptor is currently being controlled by a third party software, and as such Windows is unable to take control of it. Here are some resolutions:

• Do the equivalent changes in the third-party software. Although the interface will be slightly different, the fundamental is still the same OR
• Disable third-party software, and let Windows regain control. Right-click on the icon of your wireless adaptor in the system tray (where your computer digital clock is located), click “Use Windows Zero Configuration”. In addition, just to make sure that Windows has really activated its control, go to Start > Run > type in “services.msc” (without quotation marks) and press “Enter” In the new Window, scroll down until you can see the entry “Windows Zero Configuration”. Double-click on it and make sure “Startup type” is set to “Automatic”.

7. Click “Add” under “Preferred Network”
8. In the new window, type in the same SSID key that you may have specified in step 3. Otherwise, let’s call it “Home” for now. Under “Network Authentication”, select the option “Open” in the dropdown menu. Having done that, select “Disabled” under “Data encryption”. Lastly, place a tick for the option “This is a computer-to-computer (ad hoc) network, wireless access points are not used”. The end result should look something like this. Click “OK” to save.
9. Click “OK” to exit the wireless adaptor window

Configuring IP
1. Go to Start > Control Panel > Network Connections > Network Connections
2. Right-click on your wireless adaptor and click “Properties”
3. Under the heading “This connection uses the following items”, click “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
4. Click “Properties”
5. A new window should pop up, click “Alternate Configuration”
6. Click “User configured” radio button
7. Here, you can specify the address. For computer DAD, specify the IP as 192.168.0.2, subnet mask as 255.255.255.0, Default gateway as 192.168.0.1. Under “Preferred DNS Server”, enter the value “208.67.222.222″. As for “Alternate DNS Server”, enter the value “208.67.220.220″. These values are sourced from OpenDNS, which will enable the computer to understand the numerical address details of a website
8. Click “OK”
9. Click “OK” under the LAN connection properties.
10. You are done for computer DAD

ON “MOM“
1. Right-click “My Computer”, click “Properties”
2. Click “Computer Name” Tab
3. Click “Change”
4. A window should pop-up. Specify a name for the computer.
5. Click “Workgroup” and specify a name. (We will call the computer MOM and the workgroup HOME)
6. Click OK
7. Click OK in the computer properties windows.
(You may have to restart the computer. If you are prompted to, do so)

Configuring Wireless Adaptor
1. Go to Start > Control Panel > Network Connections > Network Connections Right-click on your wireless adaptor, click “Properties”
2. Click “Configurations”
3. The options available in the configurations will widely vary between wireless adaptors, but the main things that that you want to make sure are:

• The type of connection is set to Adhoc and not Infrastructure
• The security settings are off (It may be called “B/G Protection”, nevertheless, set this to “none” or “off”
• On some occasions, you may come across something that says “SSID” with a textbox corresponding to it. In this entry, you can specify a name for your network. Let’s just call it “Home” for now

4. After altering the configuration settings, click “OK” to save the changes, and click “OK” again in the wireless adaptor window to exit
5. Right-click again on your wireless adaptor, click “Properties”
6. Click the tab “Wireless Network”

(The “Wireless Network” tab is not visible on my computer!?)
It simply means that your wireless adaptor is currently being controlled by a third party software, and as such Windows is unable to take control of it. Here are some resolutions:

• Do the equivalent changes in the third-party software. Although the interface will be slightly different, the fundamental is still the same OR
• Disable third-party software, and let Windows regain control. Right-click on the icon of your wireless adaptor in the system tray (where your computer digital clock is located), click “Use Windows Zero Configuration”. In addition, just to make sure that Windows has really activated its control, go to Start > Run > type in “services.msc” (without quotation marks) and press “Enter” In the new Window, scroll down until you can see the entry “Windows Zero Configuration”. Double-click on it and make sure “Startup type” is set to “Automatic”.

7. Click “Add” under “Preferred Network”
8. In the new window, type in the same SSID key that you may have specified in step 3. Otherwise, let’s call it “Home” for now. Under “Network Authentication”, select the option “Open” in the dropdown menu. Having done that, select “Disabled” under “Data encryption”. Lastly, place a tick for the option “This is a computer-to-computer (ad hoc) network, wireless access points are not used”. The end result should look something like this. Click “OK” to save.
9. Click “OK” to exit the wireless adaptor window

Configuring IP
1. Go to Start > Control Panel > Network Connections > Network Connections
2. Right-click on your wireless adaptor and click “Properties”
3. Under the heading “This connection uses the following items”, click “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
4. Click “Properties”
5. A new window should pop up, click “Alternate Configuration”
6. Click “User configured” radio button
7. Here, you can specify the address. For computer MOM, specify the IP as 192.168.0.1, subnet mask as 255.255.255.0, Default gateway as 192.168.0.2. Under “Preferred DNS Server”, enter the value “208.67.222.222″. As for “Alternate DNS Server”, enter the value “208.67.220.220″. These values are sourced from OpenDNS, which will enable the computer to understand the numerical address details of a website
8. Click “OK”
9. Click “OK” under the LAN connection properties.
10. You are done for computer MOM

Connecting the computers together
1. On either DAD or MOM, right-click the wireless adaptor icon displayed in the system tray (circled blue)
2. Click “View Available Wireless Network”
3. Double-click on the wireless computer-to-computer network “HOME” in the screen displayed
4. After both computers have acquired an IP address, you are done!

Internet Connection Sharing

1. Go to Start > Control Panel > Network Connections > Network Connections
2. Right-click on your LAN connection and click “Properties”
3. A new window should pop up, click the “Sharing” tab
4. Tick the checkbox that lies next to the statement “Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection”
5. Select the crossover network in the network selections (this option may or may not appear on your computer)
6. Click “OK”

Checking IP configuration
1. Go to Start > Control Panel > Network Connections > Network Connections
2. Right-click on your wireless adaptor and click “Properties”
3. Under the heading “This connection uses the following items”, click “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
4. Click “Properties”
5. A new window should pop up, click the radio button ” Obtain an IP address automatically”
6. Click “OK” to save

Printer Sharing

1. Go to Start > Printers and Faxes
2. Right-click on the desired printer, click “Sharing…”
3. Click the radio button “Share this printer” and specify a name in the textbox
4. Click “OK” to save

Keywords: Adhoc, Ad Hoc, Wireless Networking, Windows XP, Crossover Ethernet, Computer-to-computer networking, Direct networking, Easy networking, Mobile Ad-hoc connection, Wireless networking, WiFi networking, Mum and Dad networking, Home networking, Cheap networking.

In this tutorial, I will show you, step-by-step, how to establish a crossover networking from the perspective of two computers running Windows XP. The fundamental steps would apply to computers running Windows Vista and Windows 7, so this tutorial should work out fine (though you should try the wizard in Windows 7 first before resorting to this tutorial to form a crossover network). If you stumble across any complications while following this tutorial to setup a connection, please do not hesitate to post your queries at the bottom of this page.

(I have jestingly called this tutorial a “poor-man’s” networking as it only requires a cable to link up two computers. Please do not interpret it as a form of inferiority)

Crossover networking utilises the RJ-45 ports on both computers in order to facilitate the communication. In case you haven’t come across the RJ-45 port, it looks like this. Note that it is slightly larger that the conventional telephone port (aka RJ-11 port).

What you will need for crossover networking

1. A crossover cable
There are two types of Ethernet cables. The first one is the conventional ethernet cable, which has this type of wire end-point configuration (golden pin facing you, reading from left to right as per “1″ to “8″).

The second type is the crossover cable, which is what we need for this tutorial. The end-points are slightly different compared to the above, in that four of the wires have been crisscrossed on one end.

If you do not have a crossover cable handry, you can always make one on your own using the conventional ethernet cable. Label one of the ends as “XOVER”, while the other end as “STRGHTTHRU”. Using the same crossover wire diagram posted earlier, you can easily fiddle around with the wires yourself and create a crossover cable for yourself in no time (my first and only crossover cable was created using this method). Otherwise, if you want to purchase a crossover cable from a store instead, make sure the salesperson understands completely which type you need.

2. Two computers running Windows 98 and above

3. 20 minutes
If all goes well, the establishment of a crossover network should not take more than 20 minutes.

For the sake of simplicity, the two computers will be called DAD and MOM respectively. Let’s get going!

ON “DAD”
1. Right-click “My Computer”, click “Properties”
2. Click “Computer Name” Tab
3. Click “Change”
4. A window should pop-up. Specify a name for the computer.
5. Click “Workgroup” and specify a name. (We will call the computer DAD and the workgroup HOME)
6. Click OK
7. Click OK in the computer properties windows. Restart the computer if prompted.

Configuring IP
1. Go to Start > Control Panel > Network Connections > Network Connections
2. Right-click on your LAN connection and click “Properties”
3. Under the heading “This connection uses the following items”, click “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
4. Click “Properties”
5. A new window should pop up, click “Alternate Configuration”
6. Click “User configured” radio button
7. Here, you can specify the address. For computer DAD , specify the IP as 192.168.0.2, subnet mask as 255.255.255.0, Default gateway as 192.168.0.1. Under “Preferred DNS Server”, enter the value “208.67.222.222″. As for “Alternate DNS Server”, enter the value “208.67.220.220″. These values are sourced from OpenDNS, which will enable the computer to understand the numerical address details of a website
8. Click “OK”
9. Click “OK” under the LAN connection properties.
You are done for computer DAD

ON “MOM“
1. Right-click “My Computer”, click “Properties”
2. Click “Computer Name” Tab
3. Click “Change”
4. A window should pop-up. Specify a name for the computer.
5. Click “Workgroup” and specify a name. (We will call the computer MOM and the workgroup HOME)
6. Click OK
7. Click OK in the computer properties windows.
(You may have to restart the computer. If you are prompted to, do so)

Configuring IP
1. Go to Start > Control Panel > Network Connections > Network Connections
2. Right-click on your LAN connection and click “Properties”
3. Under the heading “This connection uses the following items”, click “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
4. Click “Properties”
5. A new window should pop up, click “Alternate Configuration”
6. Click “User configured” radio button
7. Here, you can specify the address. For computer MOM, specify the IP as 192.168.0.1, subnet mask as 255.255.255.0, Default gateway as 192.168.0.2. Under “Preferred DNS Server”, enter the value “208.67.222.222″. As for “Alternate DNS Server”, enter the value “208.67.220.220″. These values are sourced from OpenDNS, which will enable the computer to understand the numerical address details of a website
8. Click “OK”
9. Click “OK” under the LAN connection properties.
You are done for computer MOM

When the steps above are done correctly, the computers will automatically discover and connect to each other.

Internet Connection Sharing

1. Go to Start > Control Panel > Network Connections > Network Connections
2. Right-click on your LAN connection and click “Properties”
3. A new window should pop up, click the “Sharing” tab
4. Tick the checkbox that lies next to the statement “Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection”
5. Select the crossover network in the network selections (this option may or may not appear on your computer)
6. Click “OK”

Checking IP configuration
1. Go to Start > Control Panel > Network Connections > Network Connections
2. Right-click on your wireless adaptor and click “Properties”
3. Under the heading “This connection uses the following items”, click “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
4. Click “Properties”
5. A new window should pop up, click the radio button ” Obtain an IP address automatically”
6. Click “OK” to save

Printer Sharing

1. Go to Start > Printers and Faxes
2. Right-click on the desired printer, click “Sharing…”
3. Click the radio button “Share this printer” and specify a name in the textbox
4. Click “OK” to save

Keywords: Crossover LAN, Cat5e, Windows XP, Crossover Ethernet, Computer-to-computer networking, Direct networking, Easy networking, Mobile Ad-hoc connection, Wireless networking, WiFi networking, Mum and Dad networking, Home networking, Cheap networking, Cross over, Poor-man’s, Poor man’s, Poor man