Originally Posted by RobUAIntl
With Windows XP, you don't need a detector -- there's one built in. Simply go to network connections (in control panel) and right click on your wireless icon. Then click on the tab that says "view available wireless networks".
Originally Posted by Efrem
Ditto for Macintosh, except it's even simpler. Look at the Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar. If there's a network around, it will show one to four black (as opposed to light grey) arcs. The number of black arcs indicates signal strength.
Now please explain why I would want to boot up my laptop just to see if a wireless network exists. Suppose the network doesn't exist where I'm sitting. This is the case in many airports. Do I want to walk around with my laptop powered on looking for the presence of a network?
I wanted a simple device that would tell me if 802.11 is present without having to boot up.