It’s easy to connect to a network drive in OS X on demand, but if there’s a particular network drive or volume that you use frequently, you may want to have it mount automatically every time you boot your Mac or log in to your user account. Here’s how to do it.
How to Disable HomeGroup in Windows 7 and 8
Windows HomeGroup is a feature in Windows 7 and 8 that lets consumers and small businesses easily set up ad hoc networks to share documents and media between computers. But if you don’t want to use HomeGroup, the feature merely takes up space and resources. Here’s how to disable HomeGroup with a quick trip to the Windows Services utility.
How to Configure AJA System Test to Measure Network Bandwidth
There are many advanced tools for checking and measuring network bandwidth, but if you simply want to check the speed of the connection between your Mac and a NAS or networked drive, a quick and easy to use utility called AJA System Test can help.
The BearExtender Turbo Brings 802.11ac Wi-Fi to Older Macs
Apple introduced 802.11ac Wi-Fi to the Mac last year, but you needed to buy a new Mac to enjoy the standard’s improved speed and features. Now any recent Mac can connect to an 802.11ac network with the BearExtender Turbo, an external USB Wi-Fi device. Read on for our full review and benchmarks.
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Intel Announces 10Gb/s Thunderbolt Networking for Macs and PCs
Intel this week unveiled Thunderbolt Networking, an update to the Thunderbolt 2 specification that allows users to directly connect two or more Macs or PCs via Thunderbolt for network speeds of up to 10Gb/s.
How to Edit the Hosts File on Mac OS X
Most Mac users never need to access the hosts file, but this powerful file can let you do some neat things when it comes to mapping website hostnames. Here are two ways to edit your hosts file using TextEdit and the UNIX nano text editor.
How to Change a Network Location in Windows 8
Windows 8, like its predecessor, uses broad “location” categories to help users configure appropriate network settings. When users first connect to a network on their PC, they can choose to categorize the connection as either “Home,” “Work,” or “Public,” with each choice increasing the default security and limiting sharing options. “Home” and “Work” are considered “private” connections while “Public” is, as its name suggests, considered a “public” connection. These categories can be very helpful for quickly configuring PCs on new…
802.11ac Routers Compared: Apple, Belkin, Netgear & Linksys
When Apple released its 2013 updates to the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule Wi-Fi routers in June, the company added support for the latest and fastest wireless standard, 802.11ac. Our first look at the 802.11ac AirPort Extreme showed very promising performance, with speeds nearing 550 megabits per second in some scenarios, a result that was nearly five times faster than the preceding 802.11n standard. But Apple was not the first to the next-gen Wi-Fi game. Although 802.11ac won’t be finalized…
How to Find Your MAC Address in Windows & OS X
After moving the TekRevue office and replacing some equipment this week, we needed to reconfigure our network and our DHCP reservations. There are a few ways to do this, but we wanted to use each computer’s MAC address to create the reservation (note that MAC stands for Media Access Control, a unique identifier for each network interface, and is unrelated to Apple Macintosh computers). Here’s how to quickly find your MAC address in Windows and OS X. Windows There are…
First Look: 2013 802.11ac AirPort Extreme
Apple on Monday announced a major redesign of its AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule routers. Now featuring 802.11ac and a sleek tower design, the new routers promise to offer significantly increased speed, range, and signal robustness for 802.11ac compatible devices. We just received our test unit and we have some “first look” images and impressions to share with you. A more detailed review and testing will be ready next week. UPDATE: Our performance testing of the new AirPort Extreme revealed anomalous…