FEATURE SET UP A HOME NETWORK ▲

Today’s networking technology is better and faster than ever.It’s also much easier to setup and use – here’s how to get started

Set up a home network

It used to be that the only real reason

to set up a network was if you had

more than one computer and you

wanted to share files, a printer or an

wasn’t. We remember once rebooting a

PC five times to try to get it to see

other hardware on the network. The

fifth time it worked perfectly, even

Internet connection between them.

though we hadn’t changed a single

These days however, all manner of items

setting, or so much as jiggled a cable.

can be connected to a home network,

The introduction of different forms of

not just PCs. You

can link games

consoles, DVD

players, webcams

and phones

together, giving

all sorts of

“You can link games consoles,DVD players,webcams and phones together,giving all sorts of compatible devices access to the Net”

networking,

such as Wi-Fi

and Powerline,

means linking

devices

together is

much tidier

compatible devices access to the Net.

now too – there’s no longer a need for

The modern setup process is certainly

a lot more straightforward than it used

to be. In the early days of home

networking, persuading one piece of

hardware to acknowledge the existence

of another piece of hardware could be a

messy wires trailing from room to room.

If you’ve yet to set up a home

network, this article will show you how

to do it and how to sidestep any

potential problems. For those of you

who already have a network at home

very hit and miss affair. Getting them to

actually talk to one another was even

trickier and troubleshooting problems

was a serious nightmare. It was often

difficult to spot why something that

should have been working perfectly,

we’ll take a look at the new technologies

available which can expand and improve

it. We’ll also show you what you need to

do to make sure your network remains

secure at all times. JJaammeess TTaattee

Wired networks Before you can begin to set up a home

network you firstly need to decide what

type of network you want. The decision

of course should be based on what you

intend to use it for. If you have two

desktop computers within close

proximity of each other, then linking

▲Installing a PCI network adaptor is very straightforward, although most modern PCs will have one built-in anyway

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SET UP A HOME NETWORK ▲

FEATURE

▲To connect a device to your wired router, simply plug it in. Avoid ports labelled Internet, DSL, WAN, or Uplink though

connect to your modem, or have one

built-in. A growing number also come

with an internal wireless access point

and bridge, so your network can be both

wired and wireless. While it all depends

on what you plan to do with your

network, a router with a built-in modem

and Wi-Fi capabilities is easily the best

Ethernet cables terminate in an mini phone-jack style RJ-45 plug ▲

them together with a cable is probably

sufficient. If you have a PC in one room,

and a laptop which you want to use

wherever you happen to be in the house,

then a wireless network is clearly going

to be a better solution. If you have lots

of different devices that you want to

hook up, then again wireless is probably

the way to go.

The choices don’t end there. Do you

want a network that’s simply fine for

now, or which can easily be expanded in

the future? Cost is a factor to consider

too. You can easily save money by

setting up bare bones network, but will

that really suffice or will you quickly

outgrow it?

To set up a wired network you need to

buy a hub, a switch or a router. A hub is

the most basic of the devices and

shares any incoming communication

with all the connected systems, even

those it’s not intended for. A switch will

route this communication directly to its

intended destination, so is obviously

more efficient. The router takes this a

stage further and intelligently directs

the communication traffic as is required,

making it the number one choice for

home users. You can buy routers which

Even if your wired network appears to be operating perfectly, it’s still worth running XP’s Network Setup Wizard just in case ▲

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