If you've ever spoken to someone about slowness or drop-outs on your computer there's a good chance they may have asked you what kind of connection your computer is utilising - Wi-Fi or Ethernet.  The question is though what does that mean and why is that relevant to Genie?

Genie is a network intensive application that requires a stable and fast network connection between the Genie Server and Genie Client machines. Wireless (Wi-Fi) networks by their very nature are prone to fluctuation in connection due to the signal strength and traffic on the network.  An Ethernet connection means that the computer is physically connected by an Ethernet cable to the network and as such eliminates the common network connection issues that can be found when utilising Wi-Fi.  Due to this it is our recommendation that you access Genie via a wired Ethernet connection.

To ensure that your computer utilises the Ethernet connection and to prevent Genie from attempting to connect and use any wireless connections Wi-Fi should be disabled on any computers that Genie is used on (both client and server machines alike).  If you are using an Ethernet connection, to make sure your Wi-Fi is turned off, please see the instructions below relevant to your computer platform.

On a Mac machine

You can check whether your computer is using a Wi-Fi connection by looking at the Wi-Fi icon (pizza shaped icon) at the top right of the window.

To check that Ethernet is connected, click the Wi-Fi icon, then select “Open Network Preferences”.

You will be taken to the Network window where you will see Ethernet to the left of the window. You can see whether it is Connected or Disconnected.

If there are no lines within this icon, then the Wi-Fi is currently disabled, and will not be searching for a Wi-Fi connection (this is our recommended setting).

If there are lines within the icon, then the Wi-Fi is connected, or is searching for a Wi-Fi connection.

To stop your computer from trying to find a Wi-Fi network to connect to, click on the Wi-Fi icon and select the “Turn Wi-Fi Off” option. This will ensure that the computer continues to utilise the Ethernet connection, and is not in a constant loop trying to discover a different Wi-Fi network connection.

On a Windows machine

You can check what network connection your computer is utilising by looking at the Network icon (looks like a monitor with a cable up the left side) in your Taskbar.

If you can see the network icon, this indicates that your Ethernet is running.

If your network icon has a red cross over it, this indicates that your Ethernet is not running, and the Wi-Fi is not connected.

If you can see that there is a Wi-Fi icon rather than a Network icon, then the Wi-Fi is connected, or is searching for a Wi-Fi connection.

If there is a red cross within this Wi-Fi icon, then the Ethernet is not connected, the Wi-Fi is not running, and your computer will not be searching for a Wi-Fi connection.

To then stop your computer from trying to discover and connect to a Wi-Fi network, click on the Wi-Fi Network icon in the Taskbar, then click the Wi-Fi button at the bottom of the resulting window to be sure that it is no longer highlighted. This will ensure that the computer continues to use the Ethernet connection and will prevent it seeking out an alternate Wi-Fi connection.

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