To most people, a router is a mysterious box that makes the internet work. In reality, the routers you buy are just low powered PCs with a built-in switch and some fancy antennas. The routing stuff is actually all in the software, and it’s entirely possible to quite easily turn a regular PC into a router. You can use your current PC as a router and wireless access point very easily now, and if you’re feeling hardcore you could even turn an old PC into an extremely powerful dedicated router with enterprise-class features.

Let’s walk through how you can achieve both of these aims.

Just a wireless hotspot

Let’s just say you want to share your PC’s internet connection with other devices around the home or