NTBackup vs. Norton Ghost; Long-range Wi-Fi

* Dr. Internet columnist Steve Blass offers advice on using NTBackup instead of Norton Ghost * Help Desk columnist Ron Nutter offers advice on getting long-range Wi-Fi

* NTBackup vs. Norton Ghost

By Steve Blass

Q: Can we deploy system images to Windows PCs with the built-in NTBackup program instead of using Symantec’s Norton Ghost?

A: You can create a complete backup on one system and restore it to another machine with the same hardware configuration with NTBackup.

To read Steve’s response in its entirety, please click here.

* Long-range Wi-Fi

By Ron Nutter

Q: My area does not have broadband except for cable. The cable company structures its price to get you to buy their TV and broadband package, which is fairly expensive. I already have DSS Satellite and don’t desire to give it up since I take my satellite when I travel which is fairly often, once a month. My wife would kill me if I didn’t take the Sat. According to SBC, they do not plan to give us coverage since no new homes are being built around me. My telephone lines are probably 40+ years old. My granddaughter lives a mile and a half from me, and I can see her place, since I am on a hill. She has Wi-Fi. Is there a legal way to receive a signal from her using an ant24-1800 D-Link antenna? I am willing to pay for the subscription.

A: You can try to get the connection to work using what you have but I don’t expect the signal to be reliable, if you can get it to work at all. Two questions that we need to look at here – what is the power level of the transmitter in the Wi-Fi access point your granddaughter has and how close is her access point to a window that has a direct line of site to you? Most of the consumer level access points run less than 20 milliwatts of power. That won’t really help for a link over a mile away. The small rubber antennas that most access points ship with won’t really help the signal get your way.

To read Ron’s response in its entirety, please click here.