Cirond PocketWinC

PRODUCT CLAIMS:

"What it does: With PocketWinC, you can see your entire wireless network at a glance. PocketWinC shows you all the available access points, their SSID's, BSSIDs, signal strength, status and Internet availability. It also provides you with a "Preferred Networks" list that allows you to specify access points to which you would prefer to connect to automatically. You can tell PocketWinC how often you want to search for available networks, specify how you would like access point signal strength to be displayed ( % or dBm) - and how you would like to manage the display of unavailable networks, saved lists of networks and notification of new network availability.

Use PocketWinC to specify WEP keys for a given access point. PocketWinC can work with either manually-entered WEP keys or as part of the Cirond AirPatrol Enterprise wireless network management and security system, which automatically, securely and regularly "rotates" WEP keys, or can be used to strengthen WPA.

Get connected fast: Cirond PocketWinC is a very convenient tool for quickly finding WiFi networks using a Pocket PC, and also enables web access or email retrieval with a single touch of the stylus. It also includes an Internet detection feature that enables users to instantly determine whether an identified WiFi network provides Internet access.

Act as a wireless "scout" on your wireless network: Because Pocket PCs have an intrinsic "instant-on" capability, PocketWinC is often used simply as an 802.11 wireless network "detector", so users can instantly find out if a wireless network is available without having to get out their laptop and wait for Windows to start up.

Analyze your wireless network: PocketWinC also provides extensive wireless network information and is thus a valuable network administration tool for wireless network examination, testing, diagnosis and fine tuning."

REVIEWER'S FINDINGS:

I found this program to be exceedingly useful. After having initially reviewed this program more than a year ago, I have not only bought a license myself, but I purchased a combo pack that included two laptop licenses and one handheld license. In fact, I love this utility so much that I negotiated a Member Discount for the product so that fellow members could get their hands on this incredible program. More information will be made available on this Member-only discount later in the article. In the following sections are just some of the reasons I am using this program. Also, because PocketWinc is such a short and concise package, I felt that I would also present this Review with an included walkthrough, with screenshots and an item-by-item descriptor for each screenshot option.

HOTSPOTTING ON THE iPAQ:

The small footprint of the iPAQ (or PPC handhelds in general) does not leave much room to pack a lot of information in, but the folks at Cirond have done a marvelous job of including all the basics in just one screen.

On the top half you get the most important info:
· Name (SSID) of WLAN,
· Whether or not WEP/WPA is enabled,
· Whether or not Internet Access is enabled,
· The Signal Strength (RSSI),
· The Channel upon which the WLAN is working on,
· The Mode (A, B, or G) that the Router is transmitting at,
· And the BSSID (Basic Service Set Identifier), a numerical MAC (Media Access Control) address for the Router or AP (Access Point).

Upon the bottom half resides the "Preferred Networks" view. This view reflects those Wireless Networks that your iPAQ has attempted to connect to at some point in the past, as well as the last known status of that Network: whether or not WEP/WPA was enabled (locked or unlocked).