Networking



	What is a network? A network is connection between two or more devices. The devices can include PC's, laptops, and even printers. The internet itself is even a network! A home network could be a connection between your multiple computers, printer, and other devices. Why would you want a Home Network? There are many reasons why you may want to have a home network. The reasons could include sharing a single internet connection, sharing files or folders, sharing a single printer between multiple computers, and playing games with each other on the network. What a home network allows you to do is: Save money on having to pay for seperate Internet subscription (ther are some ISP's that charge extra for each extra computer connected to the internet) Play multiplayer games across the internet or home network Share resources such as files, folders, and printers Broadband Internet Broadband has become increasingly cheaper. It has become affordable for nearly everyone which is a good thing. The term broadband is quite broad. Included in this term is anything with access faster than dial-up. One of the more widely available forms of broadband is Cable. ISP's may sometimes cap your upload speeds to 128 Kbps. It also makes running a web or FTP server off your cable connection virtualy impossible. Many ISPs specifally ask that you do not run any type of server off of their service in order to provide a better connection for everyone since cable is a shared line. If this is a problem for you, another choice you have is to consider DSL. DSL does not offer always offer download speeds as high as cable, but you also do not get forced onto the same shared line as other users which you do with cable. The entire line is just for you. An important point to note is that even though the download speed may sometimes be slower, the ping times are usually faster. Due to this, the latency, which is the time it takes for data to move from your PC to the net, is subsequently lower. Broadband connections differ from dial-up. In a dialup connection you would dial-in, do whatever you want, then disconnect when you are finished. Broadband connections are always connected to the internet. Due to this, unless you have tuned off your PC, it may become a target for hackers, port scanners, etc. The significance of this is something that should be treated with utmost care. Firewalls and antivirus software become very important. Most routers now come with built in firewalls to protect you. Another very important thing you can do is keep your operating system up to date. Ppeople are finding new security holes in Windows everyday, many which can be exploited by an experienced hackers. The best way to stop this is to keep up with the latest patches to Windows. Use Windows Update and reguarly to download and install the latest patches for your operating sysetem! What is required to build a Home Network? Some things you need to build a home network are: Networking software (see note) Hubs or switches Network cabling, Network interface cards, also known as NIC An internet sharing/access device Note: Running an old operating system could mean trouble if you are networking. If the version predates Windows 95 or MacOS version 8.5.