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.
ZyXEL Prestige 314 Broadband Sharing Gateway
Author: Tim Higgins Review Date: 8/3/2000
Model: Prestige 314
Pros:
- Very Fast! - Reliable PPPoE connection
Cons:
- Limited, single port mapping. - Access control (Filters) difficult to configure
9/5/00 Deleted references to Serial cable. No longer included.
8/16/00 Pricing and availability info added.
The Basics
Indicators
Power
Test
100Mbps, Link/Activity, for each of four LAN ports
Link/Activity for the WAN port
Connectors
One RJ45 10BaseT for the WAN
Four RJ45 auto sensing 10/100BaseT LAN
Power
Console (9p female D serial port)
Comes with
printed Installation guide sheet
CDRom with HTML Applications notes, PDF copy of User guide
one normal UTP cable
one crossover UTP cable
Other
NO Hardware Reset switch
HAS Normal / Crossover switch for LAN Port 4.
What it is!
It's no secret (no longer anyway...) that ZyXEL is the design force behind Netgear's recent routers. The Prestige 310 and Netgear RT311 single LAN port routers are twins, and now so are the P314 and Netgear RT314. The differences between the two companies' offerings have been different warranty policies (advantage Netgear), different pricing (advantage Netgear), and different schedule for firmware updates (advantage ZyXEL). Both companies have nice web support areas, although I like the organization of ZyXEL's better than Netgear's.
This time, however, there is actually three differences between the P314 and Netgear RT314:
The P314 has a Normal/Uplink switch that affects Port 4, for easy expansion of the P314's port count. The Netgear doesn't have this switch.
The P314's default address is 192.168.1.1 vs. the RT314's 192.168.0.1.
The P314 comes with normal UTP and crossover cables vs. just a normal UTP cable with the Netgear
Note that the P314's hardware is completely different than that of the Prestige 310 and includes a faster processor. This means that although you can upgrade the Prestige 310 firmware to 3.20 and get the same feature set, you won't be able to increase the speed of the Prestige 310.
ZyXEL is launching the P314 with promotional pricing of $175 for a limited time. Product is available direct from ZyXEL's on-line shop for US customers and will soon be available from on-line retailers such as Onvia and Hardware Buyline.