Wireless technology is the most practical way to share internet access from a computer or to interconnect a wide variety of devices, such as computers, smartphones, tablets, smart TV's and many other types of devices which uses this kind of technology to create a connection used especially to transmit data to a central device or hub. The most important advantage of wireless technology for personal computers nowadays is that gives the possibility to connect a number of devices with no need to use special adaptors or cables.
Until a few years ago, in order to create a wireless network, also known as WiFi network, a physical router was required. Afterwards, the producers of wireless adapters had embedded the capability to create hosted wifi networks, and this fact lead to a wide connectivity not just between computers, but also between computers and other devices. The adapters that hosts the wifi network could therefore be seen as a virtual router.
Operating systems and software developers took use of this new feature, which is both hardware and software, and as a result there are many third party programs and internal interfaces for manage virtual wifi networks included directly in the operating systems - Windows has one and so does Linux.
Virtual Wifi features
Virtual WIFI is a program for Windows and has the main objective to create wifi hotspots hosted by the wireless adapter board (if the device supports this kind of operation). Using the program you can create two types of wifi networks:
Local wireless networks or ad-hoc hotspots, with the purpose to create a wireless network that connect a series of computers - for transferring files for one computer to another, for sharing a resource of a computer (for example for printer sharing) or to share access to services or programs on a computer (eg. creating and running a local game server with multiple players);
Wifi hotspots with internet access, used to share an existing internet connection with all computers, tablets or smartphones connected to the wireless network, for example it is possible to share a LAN (Local Area Network - accessed through cable) or USB modem internet connection.
How Virtual WiFi will share an internet connection.
The program can create and manage wifi hotspots of both types and show the devices connected, identified by IP and MAC address. Other features are:
Simple, fast and easy to use;
Available in English and Romanian;
The fastest internet connection can be automatically detected;
The resulting hotspot will be visible and accessible for all computers and mobile devices that has wireless capability;
The program can be use as a substitute for the internal GUI interface 'Create an ad hoc network' existing in Windows Vista and 7, but not in the further versions, such as windows 8, 8.1 and 10;
Once the hotspot is created the window of the application can be closed without halting the wifi network, the hotspot can be stopped either by relaunching the program and pressing the stop button or automatically at the system shutdown;
It is possible to auto assign the usage of a manual IP address if the Windows operating system is not configured to do that automatically.
Application usage guide
Bellow it is shown how to create a hotspot using the program Virtual Wifi, with a short introduction to available options.
To create a Wifi network you must first enter a hotspot name and a password, and then select the desired type of hotspot by selecting either the name of the internet connection you want to share or the option 'Without internet connection (ad-hoc)'. If there are multiple connections available then will be shown an option named 'Detect the fastest internet connection'. To start a WiFi network with the specified characteristics press the Start Wi-Fi button.
Platform:
Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 (32 / 64 bit)
Requirements:
- wireless adapter
- system administrator privileges
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