WiFi connectivity has several advantages over a wired data connection. When you connect a mobile device to a router, you can move from place to another without losing the network connection. You can easily establish a WiFi connection with a device called router. If you do not own a router, you will have to use the WLAN hardware on your PC to setup a wireless internet connection.
Windows operating system allows you to connect with nearby WiFi hotspots and routers, but it does not allow you to create one. You will have to use a third-party program for sharing the internet with over devices wirelessly.
mHotSpot is the best software for this task. It is a lightweight program, with which you can create a WiFi hotspot within a minute.
mHotSpot program (download link) is one of the fastest ways to setup a virtual router on a Windows computer. The program is free.
How to turn your Windows PC into a WiFi hotspot?
Once you install and run it, mHotspot will start in the background. You must click on its desktop or taskbar icon to access the main interface.
The main Window has the fields to enter the below details:
HotSpot name: In this field, you must enter the desired name for your Wireless connection. The users will identify your virtual router with the name you enter here.
Password: If you do not set a WiFi password, users staying in the same hotel, house, or building might use your internet net connection.
Internet source: The program will analyze available internet connectivity options on your PC. It will display the options in a drop-down list. On my laptop, mHotSpot showed the below internet sources:
- WiFi and VirtualBox host-only network.
Max clients: mHotSpot lets you control the number of devices that can connect to the hotspot at a given time.
Start Hotspot: Click this button to activate the virtual router.
Stop Hotspot: This option will turn off the virtual router.
Settings: Here, you can configure mHotSpot to:
- Run in the background when Windows OS boots.
- Automatically turn on the WiFi Hotspot.
- Minimize the program to system tray when it is inactive.
- Disable or enable always on top behavior.
- Automatically refresh the list of connected devices.
- Enable or disable automatic updates for the program.
mHotSpot allows users to check:
- The list of active clients.
- Bytes sent/received over the internet connection.
- Average download and upload speed in Kbps.
Creating a virtual router is an easy thing to do with the mHotSpot application. The program less than five megabytes of storage memory. You can run it on Windows 10, XP, 8.1, Vista, 8, and 7 OS.
Is mHotspot a router replacement?
mHotSpot is an ideal software for the users who want to share the internet with their portable mobile phones or tablets. It cannot replace routers. Routers have the below features:
- Bandwidth management.
- Encryption support.
- Inbuilt firewall.
- MAC-IP Address binding.
