Modems and Routers need air too

I talk and write a lot about making sure that your computer has plenty of ventilation around it so it won’t over heat. Computers suffer greatly when exposed to too much heat. That same principle, however, also applies to high speed cable and DSL modems and routers we use to share those high speed connections. If you examine one of these units, you will notice that they contain many vents on their cases. You will also...

Set up a home network – Part I

Home computer networks used to be just for geeks, there was no practical reason to setup a network at home because most people only had one system and the Internet was only accessible through a dial-up connection that couldn?t be shared. Today that has all changed. Computer networks are not only practical but they are also easy to setup and in many cases they are absolutely necessary. Over the next few weeks, we will...

Set up a home network – Part IV

This is our final installment of our networking tips. In this tip, you will learn how to share files and printers between computers on your network. One of the greatest advantages of a network for home users is the ability to use a single printer to service all the computers. Windows XP offers a networking wizard that works quite well for most people to setup a home or small business network. You can find it by: ...

Set up a home network – Part III

This is Part III of our ongoing series regarding home and small-business networks. You can read the first two installments here:  Part I and Part II. In Part II, we discussed how to use a ‘wired’ system with Ethernet cabling to connect your computers and broadband connection. We suggested that you purchase a Wireless Cable/DSL Router with 4 port switch to connect your computers. The reason we suggested a wireless...

Set up a home network – Part II

Last week we introduced you to some networking terms and technologies. This week, we will show you how to start building your network. In these instructions we discuss how to setup a network for sharing the Internet, but if you only want to setup a network for sharing files and printers without broadband, simply leave out the broadband modem and these instructions will still apply. One term we did not define last week was...