Microsoft Vista Home Networking Setup and Options
The most daunting part of upgrading to Windows Vista may be trying to figure out where in the layers of menus the networking and file-sharing options are hidden.
Tips for Securing Your Home Router
Seemingly minor and easily overlooked settings can still have profound security implications. Here are some steps you can take to make sure your wired or wireless home router — and by extension, your network — is as secure as possible.
Most Popular Reviews
Microsoft Windows Home Server
If you have a home network, you'll welcome the easy file sharing, remote access and the image-based backup features of Windows Home Server.
Iomega StorCenter Network Hard Drive
Iomega's fourth generation StorCenter Network Hard Drive brings many of the features found in higher-end storage devices down to an attractive price.
MikroTik's The Dude
This free tool delivers many of the same capabilities that you'd find in pricey network monitoring tools. As long as you don't mind tinkering, The Dude is a decent network utility that should be worth the download.
BOTTOM LINE: Very bood product. Highly recommended REALITY vs. EXPECTATIONS: better than I expected. DETAILS: I bought it once for $100. It backs up my 3 home wired computers and two laptops via wireless. With no annual fees this is a definite winner of a product.
BOTTOM LINE: What about the "Splash" page? REALITY vs. EXPECTATIONS: about as I expected. DETAILS: One point the review did not cover is the dreaded "Splash" page. Most hotels still charge a daily fee for Internet access. This requires that you open a web page once you connect physically to the network and provide some sort of authorization to charge the fee against your room or a credit card. The security software that manages this routine typically will tie this transaction to a MAC address of the device connected. Even if the internet access is free there is normally a splash screen that requires a check mark agreeing to the rules of use. Does this router pass this splash screen process through to your PC. Testing this on a cable connection is one thing. The true test is - will it work in the real world?
SonicWALL SOHO3 Not Recommended by Mildly Upset [noone@thankyou.com]
on 11/11/2010
BOTTOM LINE: The product is probably good but the company sucks REALITY vs. EXPECTATIONS: much worse than I expected. DETAILS: The company seems to go out of its way to make it difficult to have a good customer experience. Registration to get an firmware update. How rediculous - especially when the update is mostly fixes to their botched software design! Say what you will about dell, gateway and others, at least they want to keep their customers happy and not go out of their way to drive them away.
If you want a soho3, you can find mine in the landfill.
BOTTOM LINE: Worked good REALITY vs. EXPECTATIONS: much better than I expected. DETAILS: RAID and backup were equally fine for me on this StorCenter. It has been going good for three years now.
BOTTOM LINE: Worked good REALITY vs. EXPECTATIONS: much better than I expected. DETAILS: RAID and backup were equally fine for me on this StorCenter. It has been going good for three years now.
BOTTOM LINE: Great media player in a small form factor REALITY vs. EXPECTATIONS: about as I expected. DETAILS: Because this device runs linux, there is an active modder community producing plugins that allow you to do stuff such as access network shares using NFS. The significance of that is that NFS allows for higher bandwidth data transfers enabling 1080p video to float over your home network from a NFS-enabled server like a NAS or any other machine you might want to share file from.
BOTTOM LINE: Terrible product and company. REALITY vs. EXPECTATIONS: much worse than I expected. DETAILS: Hard drive failed, called Buffalo, support staff told me I could get hard drive replaced for a fee but data would be lost. Staff member spoken to at Buffalo was very unsympathic. Product was purchased less than a year ago. I will never purchase a buffalo product again.
BOTTOM LINE: Do not purchase REALITY vs. EXPECTATIONS: much worse than I expected. DETAILS: Please believe me when I say: This is "Bait and Switch" software. The PlayOn program worked as a demo, so I bought it for $30. Two days later (and nothing changed on computer, router or wii), it stopped working. I had spent a week writing back and forth to PlayOn's customer service. They told me so many things to do, I almost had them memorized. NOTHING WORKED!!! When asked about a refund, they gave me the same story of "we don't offer refunds".
BOTTOM LINE: CONFIG pain in the arse-Thick spanish tech support REALITY vs. EXPECTATIONS: worse than I expected. DETAILS: I was replacing a linksys wrt54g and was familiar with the Linksys settings... Wanted to give top priority to one LAN port.. On the $12 (after rebate) Linksys I could simply prioritize all the LAN ports. On this thing I had to find and type in all MAC addresses, assign static local IP address; Then set a QOS rule. Latest firmware still buggy.. If you speak Spanish that techsupp.
BOTTOM LINE: works as described REALITY vs. EXPECTATIONS: better than I expected. DETAILS: know your router & it will work fine. didn't realize most adsl modems use pppoe and needed a user name & password to stay connected properly, once i applied that info, hasn't dropped connection once. looks good too, sleek design! disregard my other stupid opinion, user brain fart lol.