WiFi

If you use a notebook or netbook (and even some smartphones) to browse the web, there's a good chance you use a wifi connection to avoid being tethered by network cables. The problem with this is that you're not alone, there's a good chance your neighbours are doing exactly the same thing, meaning the wifi spectrum can easily become over crowded. (The family next door to me set up a wifi router just so they could give their Playstation3 access to the internet!)

"inSSIDer" is a small free download from metageek that allows you to look at wifi use close to you by channel, signal strength and SSID name.  If you're having trouble maintaining your wifi connection, checking the graphs on inSSIDer could point to too much activity on your channel, or maybe that brick wall between your study and bedroom means your neighbour's wifi signal is stronger than yours.

The above shows my wifi signal (as the red line in the left graph and the red wave on the right) as I walked around the house with our laptop.  There are a few other users on the same channel as me, but wherever I went our signal strength was much higher and therefore not worth changing my set up.  If I was having trouble, I would probably move to channel 6 where there is only one other user.

Metageek supply a range of hardware and software to network administrators and IT professionals, but you can download their free programme "inSSIDer" to check out the wifi spectrum in your house.
Check it out... http://metageek.net/products/inssider