Well what a Trip;

We are back and have hit the ground running.

Over my longer than expected trip I managed to clock up over 12,000km; consumed 3.5GB of Data from the Road and visiting 9 clients in most states around Australia.

Thank you to everyone who support me whilst I was away; and a special thanks to the Schools that we look after for the nightly updates so that we could get their MYOB Retail Manager Student lists ready for the 2010 school year.

They guys at the shop have done a wonderfully job of keeping the place together and we are now back ready to dive into 2010 with a lot of new ideas and some new opportunities.



As I'm in the midst of travelling around Australia; I wanted to share a secret that I have been using to keep my families connected lifestyle intact. We naturally have one of the Terrorbyte wireless internet USB modems that have worked fantastically all over the country where we have needed it;

The issue that we do have however is that with 3 laptops with us; the USB modem will only work with one computer at a time; and this is not an acceptable solution (and nor is using 3 modems with 3 bills to pay)

So the tool that I have been using is a program called connectify.me and it has just come out of beta testing into version 1.0 (I have used both). What this program does is enable you to share your internet connection by essentially setting your computer up as a wireless access point (similar to your home router)

Once running any device that can connect wirelessly can then connect through the computers wireless access point.

So in my case it has worked flawlessly for the past 3 weeks enabling the other 2 laptops and my phone connect through my USB Wireless modem and out onto the internet.

You can download it from http://www.connectify.me

Now this program only runs under Windows 7; and there are some issues with some wireless network cards; and I just hit one of them.

We have just arrived in a rather remote outback town that doesn't have coverage for the USB Wireless Modem; but not to worry the motel has wireless internet for us to use. However at $45 for the 3 computers for internet access for two hours we quickly realise how "remote" the place is.

No worries; connectify to the rescue again; however I quickly find out that I'm unable to use my wireless card for both sharing and connecting to the other access point at the same time. A quick check shows that my network card is meant to be able to do this as long as it's running the latest Intel 13.0.0.107 drivers which it was.

Exploring around a bit further found that the Connectify team were having issues in the final build with my Network card; and suggested trying the 64 bit drivers; which again I did but to no avail.

So then I discovered the manual way to do this in Windows 7 without using connectify. I only recommend this approach if you are indeed stuck like I am. Connectify is a good free program; and hopefully shortly they will fix the issue with my Intel Wireless Networking card.

So first off you need to open a command prompt with administrative privileges.

Then type in:

netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=Hotspot key=password

and

netsh wlan start hostednetwork

You can substitute the Hotspot name and Password to something more unique and harder to guess.

Then if you look in your Network Control panel you will find 2 wireless connections. One is your main one and the second is the virtual one you have just created.

On the one you use to connect to the wireless internet right click on it; select sharing and enable it on the second wireless connection.

That's it!, from your other machines you can then connect to your virtual wireless access point as normal and share that expensive hotel internet that you have just purchased.



Well I'm still on the road sitting in a hotel reflecting on the year in general (we have hit Rockhampton for the night after 12 hours driving); and its amazing how much you manage to fit into the 365 days :)

So wishing everyone a Happy New Year; and looking forward to the future in 2010.

For me another hour for the year to tick over and its bed :) gotta be on the road again at 6am

Although most of the IT industry closes over the Christmas Period; our team will be there to help you as needed.

We will have our Normal Trading Hours of 9:00am - 5:00pm Mon - Fri (and 10:00-1:00 on Sat) on all days except the following.

Friday 25 December - Christmas Day

Saturday 26 December - Boxing Day

Monday 28th December - Boxing Day Public Holiday

Friday 1st January - New Years Day

Saturday 2nd January - Another Recovery Day :)

All other Days, Peter and the rest of the Staff will be able to help you with your computer queries. We do have a fair bit of stock, computer systems and laptops that should see us through to the new year.

Hi Everyone; Today is my last day till some point in January. I will be on the road for the next 6 weeks traveling around our great country side with my family; fitting in some time with loved ones and some work visits to clients interstate.

I will be pretty much un-reachable by phone for most of it; so if you need me please send me an email. For speedier support however please have a chat with Peter and the Crew who will be manning the office over the Christmas Period.