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USB Wireless Adapter - Desktop Wifi

Updated on April 12, 2012
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How to get Wifi on a Desktop Computer

Wireless connectivity is becoming more and more prevalent in the households of today. Unfortunately, some mediums aren't keeping up and it's frustrating to some. Besides portability, what's one big difference between new laptops and new desktops? Laptops almost always have a wireless card installed while desktops typically don't.

So you have a modem provided by your Internet Service Provider and you even went ahead and bought a wireless router, it works out great for your laptop, but you have a desktop too. If you want to put that desktop somewhere besides right next to the modem then the simplest way to do so would be with a wireless USB adapter.

These devices allow your desktop to pick up wifi signals and connect to the internet wirelessly. There's no need to buy a wireless card and open up your desktop tower, just plug it in, maybe run a CD, and bingo, you're online. Not only does it give desktops the ability to connect via wifi, you can plug them in to laptops to increase signal strength.

Recommendation:

I personally use a wireless adapter by TP-LINK, 150 Mbps High Gain Wireless USB Adapter. I bought it for around $20, popped it in, installed the drivers in a couple of minutes and was connected to the internet. I recommend this cheap solution to anyone who is a casual internet browser. This probably isn't the solution for hardcore gamers (the ones that build their own computers especially, you should just go ahead and install a wireless card). I have been using this USB adapter for some time now and haven't lost connection once.

Tips:

One tip that I can give you is to take a sheet of aluminum foil slightly larger than a standard sheet of paper and make a half dome shape around the antennae in the direction of the wireless signal. Doing this simple trick increases signal strength by one bar, instantly, for me. This also can hide the blinking light for those who don't like them.


Thanks for reading and good luck connecting!

Further Reading

If you're interested in a wireless adapter then you should make sure you have a means to receive that transmission. You're going to need to have access to a router in order to transmit the internet, provided by your Internet Service Provider through a modem to a router so that your desktop with a wireless adapter can readily accept the Wifi.

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