How To: Decide what components you need in a home network

by John Gillooly  |  Friday 8 April 2011
How To: Decide what components you need in a home network

In the first of our six part series on Home Networking we look at the basic technologies and components that you'll need.

Welcome to the first of PC & Tech Authority’s How To series on home networking, brought to you in association with Seagate. Over the next three months we’ll be diving into some of the ins and outs of getting a home network up and running, from streaming media to properly managing backups and data. 

But first the basics. In this video we explain the various bits and pieces that make up a home network, as well as explain the major technologies and where they are best used. This video focuses on
  • Ethernet, Powerline and Wireless technology
  • Network storage options
  • Media playback options
This video brought to you in association with Seagate.
 

 
 
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See more about:  how2homenetworking  |  seagate  |  ethernet  |  powerline  |  wireless  |  homenetworking
 
 

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Comments: 2
petergaskin
8 April 2011
 Setting up a home network is a moving target. the most important - and not menitoned is that the router must be connected by ethernet to your pc. Every isp I have used, have pushed the mantra that you use a usb connector to connect the modem to the pc. This a fairly major change.
Also, if you have problems with broadband the first thing that the support staff will ask you is to plug the modem directly into the pc.
A word of warning if you ahve a wireless router - ensure you have encryption enabled and setup a rather difficult password to prevent your broadband being stolen.
If you are using windows 7, then it will be far easier to setup your home network. After giving my daughter's new laptop access to the router, I started getting prompts on my Vista pc asking if I wanted to share files with the windows 7 laptop.


Comment made about the PC & Tech Authority article:
How To: Decide what components you need in a home network?
In the first of our six part series on Home Networking we look at the basic technologies and components that you'll need.

What do you think? Join the discussion.
rubaiyat
8 April 2011
 You do not need to attach your router to your PC, you can if you want but it is not essential.

Years ago I used to use my Mac to act as a firewall for the vulnerable PC.

I've used an Airport Extreme wireless router for years and rarely ever get out the ethernet cables, although they are always handy to isolate problems as the ISP suggests. In my case it is to prove they have stuffed it up at their end, usually by some nong changing the log-in without telling you.

All my computers have always just 'discovered' the router, whether running OSX, XP or Windows 7. The older PC was a pain. I could never get the PC's router card to work. Eventually I moved it into my Mac which just asked to update the driver and it was off and running.

Use WPA2 and you should be right for security. If you have any doubts change your password at intervals.
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