September 2004
GL
BAL
NEWS
Why should you have a Home or Small Office
Computer Network?
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Many of us have used a computer network in a corporate office. In this situation we do not think twice about sharing our files, being permanently on the internet or sharing a printer. The ‘techies’ deal with our backups and we are left to get on with our work.
So what has this got to do with the home or small office environment?
A common home scenario:
Dad has his computer in his home office, Mum has one of her own now so she can e-mail friends and bring work home. They have two teenage kids with a computer each. The son shouts out “Dad, can you get off the internet so I can log in to do my home work research”, Dad logs out, but Mum then picks up the phone, so the son can’t get in using his dial up modem. The daughter wants to print her homework but the only printer is in Dad’s office. The files are too big to fit on a floppy disk, so they unplug the printer and install it on the daughters PC. All this activity becomes the norm for weekdays in the household. Many households or small offices may also install additional phone lines just so the separate PCs can use their modem to get on the internet. The solution – put in a network! It is far less expensive than most people imagine and the costs are coming down all the time, also the options for the type of network are increasing.
Just about all modern computers are network ready. If yours are not there are many options from installing a network card (easy and cheap) to a USB network connection or a wireless module. If you are renovating or building, have your house pre cabled for networking, even if you are not going to use it. This could be a real selling point in the future.
With your network in place and a broadband internet connection you have all of your PCs independently and permanently connected to the internet. You can choose your own security to reduce access, but all of the PCs are able to share data with each other, this is great for automating backs ups from one PC to the other. You can share printers so that the printer can stay connected to one PC, but can be used by all of the others on the network. No more worrying about using the phone line, you may even be able to save money by removing a phone line as it is no longer needed for the internet.
There are many myths around about networks, generally started by untrained inexperienced people who have trouble getting them to work. You may hear that you cannot mix PCs on a network, I currently have a 5 PC network at my home they are WinXP Pro, WinXP home, Win 2000, Win 98, Win Me. They all happily network together using basic software and the minimum of technology – they are just set up correctly.
Contact your local computer professional for advice on the best network method for you and how to connect all of your computers to a broadband internet connection. Plus how to ensure you are protected from all the “nasties” out there on the internet. Once you have your network installed you will kick yourself for not having it done before!
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