Datasheet

Cutting through the Terminology
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(most likely using Exchange Server, another cantankerous Microsoft
product that’s chock full of features). Data backup and other mainte-
nance tasks that would be a nightmare to coordinate over a peer-to-peer
network are all localized (that is, wrapped up into a server).
✦ The P in peer-to-peer stands for powerful, painless, and potentially
embarrassing.
If you get your Internet company to install a wireless net-
work, you can have your network up and running in hours — and most
of that time will be sweating over sharing printers and Public folders
(see Book II, Chapter 1). When it’s up, the network will be reliable and
easy to use — and as exposed as a lobster in a glass tank. Unless you go
to the trouble of setting up and rigorously using passwords (see Book II,
Chapter 2), anybody who can sit down at a PC can make all the PC’s con-
tents available to anyone on the network, at any time. Except in extreme
situations, not even Windows Firewall can help.
If you try to install and maintain a client/server network yourself — even
with helper tools such as Microsoft’s Small Business Server — be aware that
it’s not nearly as simple as the marketing brochures would have you believe.
Many Dummies, this one included, feel that installing and maintaining your
own client/server network rates as a low-benefit, high-commitment time sink
of the first degree.
Someday, secure networks will be easy to set up and use. That day hasn’t arrived
yet. Although peer-to-peer networking in Windows Vista has made simple net-
working a reality, truly secure networks — and really big networks — are still
the province of guys in white lab coats.
Cutting through the Terminology
Peer-to-peer networks work great over wireless connections. If the people
who sell you an Internet connection have a wireless box, get it. The installa-
tion folks plug the
wireless router into the phone line or cable TV outlet, and
every machine that has a wireless card gets on the Internet with a minimum
of fuss.
Confused by the terminology? Don’t be. Here’s a quick reference:
✦ A wireless router combines the functions of a wireless access point, a
DSL or cable “modem,” and (usually) a hub. If you buy or rent a wireless
router from your Internet company, you don’t have to futz with any of
the details — or any of the other terms in this list.
✦ A wireless access point is a box with a pair of rabbit ears on top. PCs with
wireless cards talk to the wireless access point.
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