• 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.
Turn Your Old 386 into a Storage Server for $16
Want to turn a 3.5-inch disk into a file server? It's easy and affordable with NASLite. NASLite is a customized Linux-on-diskette that can turn your old 386 into a Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, Unix or OS/2 file server. Load the box with as many hard drives you want, boot up the diskette, configure the server, and you're done.
NASLite runs completely from the diskette. The hard drive is 100 percent devoted to storage. A nice benefit is old BIOSes that do not recognize large hard drives do not get in the way because NASLite runs the show.
NASLite+ is a bootable CD-ROM that supports SMB [define], NFS [define], FTP [define], and HTTP [define]. It runs entirely in 8 MB of memory, supports any type of bootable CD (USB, Firewire, IDE, and SCSI) and supports Gigabit Ethernet.
NASLite+ USB runs from a USB flash drive. All versions support reporting from SMART- (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology)[define] enabled hard drives.
NASLite does have its limitations, however. It has no built-in security, encryption, or user management. It does not include a logical volume manager or any kind of RAID [define]. It stores data only on IDE hard drives [define], and supports a maximum file size of 4 GB. It makes a great home or business file server for storing non-sensitive files, or a good backup server, but don't plan on using it when you need any sort of security or access controls.
NASLite costs $16, a nice price point for something that sets up easily and works well on old hardware.
More information.
