You're walking around with your PocketPC PDA, wondering if there's a wireless network in the area. Ya can't just walk up to Joe Blow and ask him. Well, you could, but you might wind up getting smacked.

The better way is to use a generic ESSID (extended service set identifier). An ESSID tells your networking device which wireless network it is associated with. In your settings, for ESSID, enter the word "ANY" (use all capital letters). Your device should automatically go out and find the strongest Wi-Fi signal. If that doesn't work, try "any" or leave the ESSID blank.

It may not work in all cases, but it's worth trying if you don't know any other way to get to the wireless network (if, indeed, there's one there in the first place).

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