Very true, of course, with the massive system requirements Windows 7 is sure to have, the perofrmance hit probably wouldn't be noticeable
This isn't something automatic that would happen whenever you open your laptop, this sort of thing is something you'd have to set up. So yes, if DEF shuts down, the rest of the networks are gone, but it's unlikely you would set this up in an environment where laptops are coming and going, it's more for stationary desktops that don't move. But you're not just going to open your laptop at Starbucks and suddenly be a repeater on their network.
As with any wireless network, secure it.
Yes, that would be correct.
Pretty much. The commercials will contain more fail than the laptop hunter ads combined.
The only situation where I can see the need for wireless repeaters is a large, enterprise environment such as a business or college campus. It's not a bad idea for home users, but most people live in a small enough house where one wireless router will cover the entire house, and then some. And in an enterprise environment, I can pretty much guarantee you that they wouldn't even be using repeaters like this. They'll have individual access points each plugged into the wired network so there isn't a single point of failure, effectively creating one huge network all under the same SSID so you can move freely around the building/campus without changing wireless networks...the device will automatically hop onto the new base station when one with a stronger signal comes into range, the same way cell phone networks work.
Maybe one useful situation for that at home is if you have a guest over, and don't want to give them the password to your main wireless network so you create one in Windows 7 with a different password. But if I'm trusting someone enough to stay in my home, I can trust them with my WiFi network key. So I'm really thinking this feature is a gimmick so MS can claim Windows can do something that Mac's dont (other than BSOD and get infected with garbage
) .
