Get to know your PC:
Network Interfaces/Cards
A question often asked at Ibertech is
"Can I network My PC's" and we always
reply "Yes". However, how you network
your PC depends upon the network
Interface type you currently have in your
machine. The old school "IT" people
amongst us know the term NIC which
stands for Network Interface Card, and
this is the key to getting you networked.
In the olden days (well up to
about 15 years ago)
computers had no built-in
network connectivity
capability, so this was
invariably provided by the
installation of a NIC device.
NIC's are still available
today, but more often the
Network Interface is integrated straight
on the Motherboard in the shape of an
RJ45 connector. As the Networking
standards change, the new NIC cards
become available in the various forms
PCI, PCMCIA and USB then the
Motherboard manufacturers catch up
and start integrating the new standards
on the Motherboards.
Today's standard tower PC's and Laptop
motherboards almost always come with
a RJ45 NIC for connection to a network.
You will see the terms 10/100 or
10/100/1000 meaning 10
Mb/100Mb/1Gb on the cards or
Motherboards and this tells you what
speed the NIC is capable of running at, in
optimal conditions. The speed of your
actual connection can vary, depending
upon other networking elements.
Typically a 1Gb (one GigaBit or 1000
Mbs) connection is what ships today on a
reasonable spec machine. That's not to
say that a 100Mb connection is too
shabby, it's still about 30 times faster
than an internet connection, and more
than fast enough for streaming video,
but if you are copying files around in the
office you will notice the difference.
On almost all laptop
PC's these days you
will also get an
additional integrated
wireless interface
connector. The most
common will be
known as 802.11g
which will run at up to
54Mb although older models may only
support 802.11b which runs at a mere
11Mb. However, the slower speed can be
addressed through the addition of an
additional wireless card either through a
PCMCIA card (also known as PC Card) or
a USB dongle. Some of the newest
laptops ship with pre N wireless (we will
cover wireless standards soon) but you
will pay a premium.
Note that your network will only run as
fast as your slowest component, so if you
want to spend time to improve your
home/office network data transfer
speeds, you need to think not only about
your machines, but also your network
too. We'll cover network components in a
later article to help you understand what
you need to achieve the optimum out of
your network environment.
Questions & answers
Q. I was trying to install the fax
service and it said I need to
be an administrator on the
machine how do I make
myself an administrator?
A. There will always be one
administrator account on a
machine and it is fairly simple
to make your account an
administrator under normal
circumstances. I am assuming that you
are a normal home user and not in a
domain environment. Open Control
Panel and click on the user accounts
icon. Here you will see the user
accounts on the machine. As you are
not an administrator there must be
another account on the machine that
is designated as an administrator. You
will see the words "computer
Administrator" under the user name.
Hopefully it will not say "password
protected" if it does you will have a
problem if you do not know what the
password is. Remember the user name
that is the administrator then log in
using that account. Normally there will
be an icon on the log in screen. Once
logged in as an administrator, go back
to the control panel choose your own
account name and click the option to
make it a computer administrator. You
then have two options install the fax
service under this account, or log in
under your newly changed
administrator account and install that
way. Again this is assuming that the
conditions are normal. If the
administrator account is password
protected and you do not know or
cannot get the password contact us
and we can assist in getting it
removed.
Q. I bought my computer at
IberTech early this year and
I have just reinstalled
windows. It's now asking me
to activate my copy of windows each
time I boot the PC. I have tried to do
this online and it fails telling me I
may have inputted the key
incorrectly. I have confirmed the key
on the windows sticker located on
my case and retyped this number a
few times but it still won't activate.
Any Ideas?
A. As you bought the
computer here then you
have a genuine version of
windows and therefore
should be no problem with that
activation. The key you are using
would have already been activated
by us at the time of purchase and
now Microsoft would like to confirm
that this key is still being used on only
the original system and not being
used on multiple computers. On the
screen where you are told that online
activation has failed you will have an
option to activate via telephone? You
should select this option and call
Microsoft directly, they have a
number listed for Spain, but if you
wish you can select the UK number
for English speaking options. You will
normally not have to actually speak
to anyone directly but instead be
given some recorded questions
where you input the answers on your
telephone keypad. You will need to
have you installation ID from the
screen and be able to input the
confirmation ID that you will be given
immediately. Once you click next
you should be told you have
successfully activated your copy of
windows.
If you have any computer questions
that you want the Ibertech Team to
take a look at send them to
Ibertech@coastrider.net and we'll
try an answer them.
How to: Configure fax services in
Windows XP
Once you have successfully installed the fax
services you need to configure them for use.
You start by using fax configuration wizard.
Click Start, point to All Programs, point to
Accessories, point to
Communications,
point to Fax, and then
click Fax Console. This
will bring up the Fax
Configuration Wizard.
Click Next, type the
information that you
want to appear on
your fax cover page,
and then click Next.
Click the modem that
you want to use in the
Please select the fax
device list. This will be
the modem that is
installed in your
machine. You should
find that the Enable
Send check box is
selected by default.
Click to select the
Enable Receive check
box if you want the
computer to receive
faxes. When this check
box is selected, you
can click Manual
answer if you do not
want the computer to
automatically receive
faxes. By default, automatic answering is
enabled. Click Next. Next you can type in the
TSID & CLSID but they are not mandatory here
in Spain. The Transmitting Subscriber
Identification (TSID) helps you identify the fax
machine where the fax originates from the
Called Subscriber Identification (CSID) that you
want in the CSID box. The CSID is displayed on
the fax machine where the fax originates from.
This number helps
you confirm that you
are sending the fax to
the correct recipient.
Click Next. Click to
select the Print it on
check box if you want
each of the faxes that
you receive to be
automatically
printed. When you
select this check box,
you can select a
specific printer where
you can print the fax
you receive. Click to
select the Store a
copy in a folder check
box if you want to
create an archived
copy of each fax.
When you select this
check box, you can
specify the storage
location for the fax
copy. Click Next.
Confirm the
configuration
settings in the
Configuration
Summary list, and
then click Finish. The Fax Configuration Wizard
closes and the Fax Console window opens. The
computer is now configured to send or receive
faxes. Next week I'll show you how to send a
fax.
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