Home Networking: A Refresher Course

If you're reading this story, chances are very good that you already have a home network. As all we all know, the times they are a-changin' constantly in the tech world, and with so many new product and services being offered, some of you may want to rebuild your home network to accommodate all that you want to do with it.

You may also have a home network but have always wondered about it's mechanics, like what goes on in the brain of that little router of yours, or how the rourter's wireless radio actually works.

Beyond the basics of letting you share high-speed Internet access with computers and devices in the house, home network allow you to control what the kids are doing on the Web, share data and multimedia files, automate backups for all of your PCs, and even use webcams to see what that new puppy is doin in the living room while you're at work. The bedroom computer upstairs can print to the color printer in the downstairs study, and the media PC in the living room can show a movie on the PC-connected TV in the basement rec room.

Adding on network oriented products and peripherals makes the setup even more useful. Network attached storage (NAS) lets you create shared folders for each family member; these folders can be accessed both from the home network or from the Internet if you're away from home. NAS devices also make effivient places to store all those backup files.