A USB adapter with a removable external aerial that's ideal for desktop PCs

Bottomline: A decent adapter, and the removable aerial is handy

Manufacturer: Hawking

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There are dozens of wireless network adapters on the market today, with more and more connecting to a computer’s USB socket.

This is certainly convenient, but if you use a desktop PC tucked under a table it can cause problems as the adapter and its aerial are often hidden behind the PC, obstructing the wireless signal.

Hawking’s HWUG1 adapter has a simple answer: it has an external aerial that can be turned around into the best position or even replaced with a larger one if needed.

The HWUG1 supports the older 802.11g wireless standard rather than the newer, faster 802.11n, but this is reasonable at its price. It works with Windows XP and Vista but like many manufacturers Hawking annoyingly insists on including its own program to manage wireless connections.

We think it’s simpler to just let Windows deal with networks, and in fact on our Windows Vista PC the Hawking program caused problems. After removing it the adapter worked well.

Otherwise the HWUG1 performed excellently. Notebook users may prefer a more compact adapter with a built-in aerial, but for desktop PC users this is a good buy.