Finding and using hotspots, on a Windows laptop, seems to be rather hit-and-miss. You sit in Paddington Station and you have 15 hotspots to choose from. Some seem to be from the same provider, some appear to be free, others you can connect to but can’t actually browse the Internet. Once you’re connected, are you entirely sure that your connection to the hotspot is secure and can you be sure that the connection won’t go down whilst you’re downloading an important file?

JiWire Hotspot Helper is a small tool that resides in your Taskbar that will look for and highlight a number of important wireless hotspots in your area. You can use the tool to find hotspots and, if they are available, connect. Once you’re connected, Hotspot Helper will manage your wireless link to your chosen hotspot, so you can be reassured that your data is sent securely.

Other features take this application even further. It enables you to securely send emails across its own network, without the need to find an online email system. Hotspot Helper is consistently updated with the latest hotspots, across 128 countries across the world, so you can refer to the internal database rather than concentrate on Windows to manage the available hotspots.

Note that this is the free version which is limited to 10 days unlimited trial usage.