posted by admin on Jan 3
Setting up a home network doesn’t have to be difficult. It also depends on what time of home network you want to install. Maybe you want to install a wired network or maybe you want to install a wireless network. It depends on the capabilities of the computers within your home as to what route you’re going to take.
The wireless network
The wireless network is probably your easiest network to install. That’s because you don’t have to hide a cord all the way around your home. As a matter of fact, you just need to have a computer that is wireless capable and a router. Seems easy enough, right? Well, it can still be a bit tricky because you have to program that router so that all of your computers can talk to it.
So let’s say that your computer is not wireless capable. What do you do now? Well, you need to get a wireless adapter to plug into the computer or you need to plug it directly into the router with an Ethernet cable. In homes with multiple computers, there is sometimes that one computer that is not wireless capable. If the others are, they can simply talk to the router from wherever they are. If they are not wireless, then Ethernet cables need to be run from those computers to the router. The router is the hub for your network.
Furthermore, you have to set up your Domain Name System so that the router knows what’s going on. You also have to set IPs and your Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. If you don’t do these things, then your computers are not going to be talking to each other the way you want them to. They have to know who and what they are talking to in order to ensure that permission is granted. You don’t want someone to sit outside of your home on a laptop and pull off of your network. They could gain access to very personal and very sensitive information if you don’t set everything up the way that it needs to be set up. If you’re not sure how to do this, then it is time to seek professional help.
The wired network
This can be a bit more difficult than the wireless network for the simple fact that you have wires you have to hide everywhere. Everything else as far as DNS, IPs, and DHCP applies because someone on the outside could still compromise your network. Again, you don’t want that to happen. What if you have financial information on your computer? Someone could very easily get a hold of credit card and bank account numbers. So again, if you have difficulty with setting up your network, it is a good idea to look into having a professional take care of the job for you.
Once you have your network set up, you’ll be able to share files with the other computers in your home. You can share video files, music files, and so much more. It is a lot of fun to be able to share all of that information. It is almost like having external hard drives all over your home. You’re able to access information beyond your own hard drive and beyond the Internet. Those are the reasons why more and more homes are installing home networks. When something is stored into the “shared” folder on the computer, other computers are able to access it. Permissions can also be set to allow other folders to be accessed from another computer in the home. This is a good way to keep an eye on the kids and see what it is they’re downloading while on the Internet.
posted by admin on Dec 26
When I first started in computers, one of the most confusing things that I ran across was how to set up a home network. The differences between hubs, routers, Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) and cabling were a mystery to me. But after much trial and error and built-up experience I managed to figure things out and some of that information I will share with you now.
There are two basic types of networks that I’m going to talk about in this article first being the infamous ICS or Internet Connection Sharing. ICS is usually implemented by connecting multiple computers through the hub to a single computer. Let’s say we have three computers, Computer A, Computer B and Computer C. Computer A has enjoyed a high speed Internet connection and after a while, Computer B and C want to get in on the action! In order to implement ICS, we would have to connect Computers B and C to a hub.
A hub is basically a switch that allows any computer hooked up to it to communicate with any other computer hooked up to the hub. So with all three computers hooked up to it, we would set the network up on the computers to use ICS. Computers B and C would be told that they’re going to connect to the Internet through another computer that has a high-speed Internet connection. While Computer A would be configured to enjoy its high-speed connection as it did before.
Like this, Computers B and C would enjoy a relatively fast connection to the Internet as would Computer A. The problem here starts when all three computers are accessing the Internet at the same time. Computers B and C would enjoy a relatively fast connection to the Internet while Computer A would suffer some moderate slowdowns because it not only has to handle its own traffic but the traffic of the other two computers as well. The user on Computer A is going to get quite upset if Computers B and C decide to download files at the same time. Because downloading a file is such a data intensive process, demanding large amounts of data be transferred from the Internet as fast as possible, Computers A may suffer some severe speed problems because of the demand being put on it from the other two computers.
Unfortunately because of the fact that the hub does not have built-in firewall or any other such software that can protect the computers behind the hub Computers A must also be running Windows firewall in the background which provides an additional performance hit.
So although the ICS is the cheapest way to go, it is definitely not the speediest way to go. In fact, to be honest, I would only follow this route if the users of Computers B and C had something against the user of Computer A and want to get even!
The second type of setup that I’m going to talk about it is the router based set up. Nice thing about the router is that most routers are very intelligent. They have built-in firewalls, parental controls, can block sites or even allow users to have access to your network from the outside if they know the proper passwords and/or ports to connect through. No additional software is required that might add a performance hit and all three computers get configured the same way.
To hook up or router you simply plug a cable from your Internet connection into the router then plug the three computers into the router as well. When you set up your computers you tell networking software that all three will computers have direct access to the Internet. There is some setup involved with router as is usual with any complicated piece of hardware but usually it is very painless and if you follow the instructions, quite easy!
The nice thing about router set up is that once it is set, up all three computers enjoy the same speed advantages of being on a high-speed Internet. No one computer is impacted by the fact that someone else is downloading a file. In fact, all three can download a file at the same time and still enjoy impressive speed while doing so! Face it guys this is the network that you want to set up if your wife is on Computer A!
Routers tend to be a little more expensive than hubs but the advantages of having them a part your network far outweigh any price difference. So if you must go with ICS, then do so with pride! But personally, I would recommend spending the extra money to go the “router route”!
posted by admin on Dec 8
Home networking is nothing but connecting systems with each other to interact or share information with each other. BT Networking is also the same. Here internet access will be shared with the support of BT broadband service provider. BT is one of the most popular broadband service providers in UK which has been survived in UK market with the support of millions of subscribers.
Advantages of BT Networking
BT Network allows connecting up to 10 computers with each other to share information’s with each other.
It is easy to set up BT network.
It is easy to get this network as you can make orders through on-line.
There is no need to wait for opening web pages while you surf on the internet.
You can make use of your ADSL broadband connection for setting network.
No need of rewiring for getting home network in BT networking.
A modem, a router and BT hub is enough for setting a network.
You can get high speed home network. For which you can use ADSL access.
Technique used behind this BT Network
BT service providers will combine a router, an ADSL modem and BT Hub inside a little box. You may not need to buy separate standard ADSL modem for each computer. This is called as set top box which permits you to extend the network up to 10 computers simultaneously. It is impossible to set BT Network with the cable internet.
What are all the system requirements to get BT Network?
? Any one of the Operating Systems of Windows 98 SE, ME, 2000 or XP or Mac OS 8.6 and above
? CD-ROM drive
? 32Mb memory or 64Mb memory (is recommended)
? 5Mb of hard disk space
? BT Wireless Network 1250 software
What are all the hardware requirements?
? USB Cable
? An ADSL Modem
? A Router
? An Ethernet Card
? Cords
? BT home network PC Adapter
What are the various kinds of BT adapters?
Three distinct adapters are offered by BT namely:
? BT Wireless Network PC Adapter
? BT Home Network PC Adapter
? BT Voyager 1020 Laptop adapter