NETWORK DEVICE

COLLISION DOMAIN Collisions occur on Ethernet networks when two nodes on the 'network' start transmitting data at exactly the same time and the two frames collide. In today's large-fast-growing-bandwidth-eating network environments this will soon become a problem, stations will have to wait longer before they can transmit data and more .....

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How Router Work

Routers are one of several types of devices that make up the "plumbing" of a computer network. Hubs, switches and routers all take signals from computers or networks and pass them along to other computers and networks, but a router is the only one of these devices that examines each bundle of data as it passes and makes a decision about exactly ...

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Learning the Samba

Samba is an extremely useful networking tool for anyone who has both Windows and Unix systems on his network. Running on a Unix system, it allows Windows to share files and printers on the Unix host, and it also allows Unix users to access resources shared by Windows systems

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Fix your Slow XP and 98 Network

You can run "wmiprvse.exe" as a process for quick shared network access to Win98/ME machines. Stick it in Startup or make it a service.
"On the PC running XP, log in as you normally would, go to users, manage network passwords. Here is where the problem lies. In this dialog box remove any win98 passwords or computer-assigned names for the win98 PCs. In my case , I had two computer-assigned win98 pc names in this box (example G4k8e6). I deleted these names (you may have passwords instead). Then go to My Network Places and -- there you go! -- no more delay!

Now, after I did this and went to My Network Places to browse the first Win98 PC, I was presented with a password/logon box that looked like this: logon: G4k8e6/guest (lightly grayed out) and a place to enter a password. I entered the password that I had previously used to share drives on the Win98 PCs long before I installed XP. I have the guest account enabled in XP.

This solves the problem for Win98 & XP machines on a LAN; I can't guarantee it will work for Win2K/ME machines as well, but the whole secret lies in the passwords. If this doesn't solve your slow WinXP>Win98 access problems, then you probably have other things wrong. Don't forget to uncheck 'simple file sharing,' turn off your ICS firewall, enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP and install proper protocols, services & permissions."

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Make your Folders Private

•Open My Computer
•Double-click the drive where Windows is installed (usually drive (C:), unless you have more than one drive on your computer).
•If the contents of the drive are hidden, under System Tasks, click Show the contents of this drive.
•Double-click the Documents and Settings folder.
•Double-click your user folder.
•Right-click any folder in your user profile, and then click Properties.
•On the Sharing tab, select the Make this folder private so that only I have access to it check box.

Note
•To open My Computer, click Start, and then click My Computer.
•This option is only available for folders included in your user profile. Folders in your user profile include My Documents and its subfolders, Desktop, Start Menu, Cookies, and Favorites. If you do not make these folders private, they are available to everyone who uses your computer. •When you make a folder private, all of its subfolders are private as well. For example, when you make My Documents private, you also make My Music and My Pictures private. When you share a folder, you also share all of its subfolders unless you make them private. •You cannot make your folders private if your drive is not formatted as NTFS For information about converting your drive to NTFS

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NTFS versus FAT

To NTFS or not to NTFS—that is the question. But unlike the deeper questions of life, this one isn't really all that hard to answer. For most users running Windows XP, NTFS is the obvious choice. It's more powerful and offers security advantages not found in the other file systems. But let's go over the differences among the files systems so we're all clear about the choice. There are essentially three different file systems available in Windows XP: FAT16, short for File Allocation Table, FAT32, and NTFS, short for NT File System.

FAT16
The FAT16 file system was introduced way back with MS–DOS in 1981, and it's showing its age. It was designed originally to handle files on a floppy drive, and has had minor modifications over the years so it can handle hard disks, and even file names longer than the original limitation of 8.3 characters, but it's still the lowest common denominator.

The biggest advantage of FAT16 is that it is compatible across a wide variety of operating systems, including Windows 95/98/Me, OS/2, Linux, and some versions of UNIX. The biggest problem of FAT16 is that it has a fixed maximum number of clusters per partition, so as hard disks get bigger and bigger, the size of each cluster has to get larger.

In a 2–GB partition, each cluster is 32 kilobytes, meaning that even the smallest file on the partition will take up 32 KB of space. FAT16 also doesn't support compression, encryption, or advanced security using access control lists.

FAT32
The FAT32 file system, originally introduced in Windows 95 Service Pack 2, is really just an extension of the original FAT16 file system that provides for a much larger number of clusters per partition. As such, it greatly improves the overall disk utilization when compared to a FAT16 file system.

However, FAT32 shares all of the other limitations of FAT16, and adds an important additional limitation—many operating systems that can recognize FAT16 will not work with FAT32—most notably Windows NT, but also Linux and UNIX as well. Now this isn't a problem if you're running FAT32 on a Windows XP computer and sharing your drive out to other computers on your network—they don't need to know (and generally don't really care) what your underlying file system is.

The Advantages of NTFS
The NTFS file system, introduced with first version of Windows NT, is a completely different file system from FAT. It provides for greatly increased security, file–by–file compression, quotas, and even encryption. It is the default file system for new installations of Windows XP, and if you're doing an upgrade from a previous version of Windows, you'll be asked if you want to convert your existing file systems to NTFS. Don't worry.

If you've already upgraded to Windows XP and didn't do the conversion then, it's not a problem. You can convert FAT16 or FAT32 volumes to NTFS at any point. Just remember that you can't easily go back to FAT or FAT32 (without reformatting the drive or partition), not that I think you'll want to.

The NTFS file system is generally not compatible with other operating systems installed on the same computer, nor is it available when you've booted a computer from a floppy disk. For this reason, many system administrators, myself included, used to recommend that users format at least a small partition at the beginning of their main hard disk as FAT.

This partition provided a place to store emergency recovery tools or special drivers needed for reinstallation, and was a mechanism for digging yourself out of the hole you'd just dug into. But with the enhanced recovery abilities built into Windows XP (more on that in a future column), I don't think it's necessary or desirable to create that initial FAT partition.

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Provide Remote Assistance When Using a NAT Device

You can provide Remote Assistance to a friend who uses a Network Address Translation (NAT) device by modifying the Remote Assistance invitation using XML. Network Address Translation is used to allow multiple computers to share the same outbound Internet connection.

To open a Remote Assistance session with a friend who uses a NAT device:
1. Ask your friend to send you a Remote Assistance invitation by e–mail.
2. Save the invitation file to your desktop.
3. Right–click the file, and then click Open With Notepad. You'll see that the file is a simple XML file.
4.Under the RCTICKET attribute is a private IP address, such as 192.168.1.100.
5. Over–write this IP address with your friend's public IP address. Your friend must send you his or her public IP address: they can find out what it is by going to a Web site that will return the public IP address, such as http://www.dslreports.com/ip.
6. Save the file, and then double–click it to open the Remote Assistance session.Now, you'll be able to connect and provide them with the help they need. So that your inbound IP connection is routed to the correct computer, the NAT must be configured to route that inbound traffic. To do so, make sure your friend forwards port 3389 to the computer they want help from.

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Set up and Use Internet Connection Sharing

With Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) in Windows XP, you can connect one computer to the Internet, then share the Internet service with several computers on your home or small office network. The Network Setup Wizard in Windows XP Professional will automatically provide all of the network settings you need to share one Internet connection with all the computers in your network. Each computer can use programs such as Internet Explorer and Outlook Express as if they were directly connected to the Internet. You should not use this feature in an existing network with Windows 2000 Server domain controllers, DNS servers, gateways, DHCP servers, or systems configured for static IP addresses.

Enabling ICS
The ICS host computer needs two network connections. The local area network connection, automatically created by installing a network adapter, connects to the computers on your home or small office network. The other connection, using a 56k modem, ISDN, DSL, or cable modem, connects the home or small office network to the Internet. You need to ensure that ICS is enabled on the connection that has the Internet connection. By doing this, the shared connection can connect your home or small office network to the Internet, and users outside your network are not at risk of receiving inappropriate addresses from your network.

When you enable ICS, the local area network connection to the home or small office network is given a new static IP address and configuration. Consequently, TCP/IP connections established between any home or small office computer and the ICS host computer at the time of enabling ICS are lost and need to be reestablished. For example, if Internet Explorer is connecting to a Web site when Internet Connection Sharing is enabled, refresh the browser to reestablish the connection. You must configure client machines on your home or small office network so TCP/IP on the local area connection obtains an IP address automatically.

Home or small office network users must also configure Internet options for Internet Connection Sharing. To enable Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) Discovery and Control on Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium Edition computers, run the Network Setup Wizard from the CD or floppy disk on these computers. For ICS Discovery and Control to work on Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium Edition computers, Internet Explorer version 5.0 or later must be installed.To enable Internet Connection Sharing on a network connection You must be logged on to your computer with an owner account in order to complete this procedure.

Open Network Connections. (Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double–click Network Connections.)
Click the dial–up, local area network, PPPoE, or VPN connection you want to share, and then, under Network Tasks, click Change settings of this connection.
On the Advanced tab, select the Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection check box.

If you want this connection to dial automatically when another computer on your home or small office network attempts to access external resources, select the Establish a dial–up connection whenever a computer on my network attempts to access the Internet check box.
If you want other network users to enable or disable the shared Internet connection, select the Allow other network users to control or disable the shared Internet connection check box.

Under Internet Connection Sharing, in Home networking connection, select any adapter that connects the computer sharing its Internet connection to the other computers on your network. The Home networking connection is only present when two or more network adapters are installed on the computer.

To configure Internet options on your client computers for Internet Connection Sharing Open Internet Explorer. Click Start, point to All Programs, and then click Internet Explorer.)
On the Tools menu, click Internet Options.

On the Connections tab, click Never dial a connection, and then click LAN Settings. In Automatic configuration, clear the Automatically detect settings and Use automatic configuration script check boxes.

In Proxy Server, clear the Use a proxy server check box.

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Speed up your browsing of Windows 2000 & XP machines

Here's a great tip to speed up your browsing of Windows XP machines. Its actually a fix to a bug installed as default in Windows 2000 that scans shared files for Scheduled Tasks. And it turns out that you can experience a delay as long as 30 seconds when you try to view shared files across a network because Windows 2000 is using the extra time to search the remote computer for any Scheduled Tasks.

Note that though the fix is originally intended for only those affected, Windows 2000 users will experience that the actual browsing speed of both the Internet & Windows Explorers improve significantly after applying it since it doesn't search for Scheduled Tasks anymore.

Here's how :Open up the Registry and go to :
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace

Under that branch, select the key :
{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}
and delete it.

This is key that instructs Windows to search for Scheduled Tasks. If you like you may want to export the exact branch so that you can restore the key if necessary.

This fix is so effective that it doesn't require a reboot and you can almost immediately determine yourself how much it speeds up your browsing processes.

How to Remove Windows XP's Messenger

Theoretically, you can get rid of it (as well as a few other things). Windows 2000 power users should already be familiar with this tweak. Fire up the Windows Explorer and navigate your way to the %SYSTEMROOT% \ INF folder. What the heck is that thingy with the percentage signs? It's a variable.

For most people, %SYSTEMROOT% is C:\Windows. For others, it may be E:\WinXP. Get it? Okay, on with the hack! In the INF folder, open sysoc.inf (but not before making a BACKUP copy first). Before your eyes glaze over, look for the line containing "msmsgs" in it. Near the end of that particular line, you'll notice that the word "hide" is not so hidden.

Go ahead and delete "hide" (so that the flanking commas are left sitting next to one another). Save the file and close it.

Now, open the Add and Remove Programs applet in the Control Panel.

Click the Add / Remove Windows Components icon. You should see "Windows Messenger" in that list.

Remove the checkmark from its box, and you should be set. NOTE: there are other hidden system components in that sysoc.inf file, too. Remove "hide" and the subsequent programs at your own risk.

Top 10 benefits Microsoft Office 2007

Microsoft Office Access 2007 helps information workers quickly track and report information with ease thanks to the Microsoft Office Fluent user interface and interactive design capabilities that do not require deep database knowledge. Users can share information over the Web on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 lists where it can be audited and backed up. Here are the top 10 ways Office Access 2007 can help you.

1. Get better results faster with the Office Fluent user interface.
Office Access 2007 provides a completely new experience with the Office Fluent user interface, new navigation pane, and tabbed window views. Even with no database experience, any user can start tracking information and creating reports to make more informed decisions.

2. Get started quickly using prebuilt solutions.
With a rich library of prebuilt solutions, you can start tracking your information immediately. Forms and reports are already built for your convenience, but you can easily customize them to meet your business needs. Contacts, issue tracking, project tracking, and asset tracking are only few of the out-of-the-box solutions included in Office Access 2007.

3. Create multiple reports with different views of the same information.
Creating a report in Office Access 2007 is truly a “what you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) experience. You can modify a report with real-time visual feedback and save various views for different audiences. The new grouping pane and filtering and sorting capabilities help you display the information so you can make more informed business decisions. .

4. Create tables quickly without worrying about database complexity.
With automatic data type detection, table creation in Office Access 2007 is as easy as working with a Microsoft Office Excel table. Type your information and Office Access 2007 will recognize whether it is a date, currency, or another common data type. You can even paste an entire Excel table into Office Access 2007 to begin tracking the information with the power of a database.

5. Enjoy new field types for even richer scenarios.
Office Access 2007 enables new field types such as attachments and multivalue fields. You can now attach any document, image, or spreadsheet to any record in your application. With the multivalue field, you can now select more than one value (for example, assign a task to more than one person) in each cell.

6. Collect and update your information directly from the source.
With Office Access 2007, you can create forms using Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 or HTML to gather information for your database. You can then send this form to your teammates via e-mail and use their responses to populate and update your Access table to eliminate the need to retype any information.

7. Share your information with Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services.
Share your Access information with the rest of your team using Windows SharePoint Services and Office Access 2007. With the power of both applications, your teammates can access and edit the data and view real-time reports directly through a Web interface.

8. Track Windows SharePoint Services lists with the rich client capabilities of Office Access 2007.
Use Office Access 2007 as your rich client interface to analyze and create reports from Windows SharePoint Services lists. You can even take the list offline, and then synchronize any changes when you reconnect to the network, making it easy for you to work with your data at any time.

9. Move data to Windows SharePoint Services for better manageability.
Make your data more transparent by moving it to Windows SharePoint Services. This way, you can routinely back up the data on the server, recover deleted data from the recycle bin, track revision history, and set access permissions, so you can better manage your information.

10. Access and use information from multiple sources.
With Office Access 2007, you can link tables to your database from other Access databases, Excel spreadsheets, Windows SharePoint Services sites, ODBC data sources, Microsoft SQL Server databases, and other data sources. You can then use these linked tables to easily create reports so you can base your decisions on a more comprehensive set of information.

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The Ribbon Microsoft Office 2007

The Office Fluent Ribbon is the primary replacement for menus and toolbars and provides the main command interface in Office Access 2007. One of the main advantages of the Ribbon is that it consolidates, in one place, those tasks or entry points that used to require menus, toolbars, task panes, and other UI components to display. This way, you have only one place in which to look for commands, instead of a multitude of places.

When you open a database, the Ribbon appears at the top of the main Office Access 2007 window, where it displays the commands in the active command tab.
The Ribbon contains a series of command tabs that contain commands. In Office Access 2007, the main command tabs are Home, Create, External Data, and Database Tools. Each tab contains groups of related commands, and these groups surface some of the additional new UI elements, such as the gallery, which is a new type of control that presents choices visually.

The commands on the Ribbon take into account the currently active object. For example, if you have a table opened in Datasheet view and you click Form on the Create tab, in the Forms group, Office Access 2007 creates the form, based on the active table. That is, the name of the active table is entered in the form's RecordSource property.

You can use keyboard shortcuts with the Ribbon. All of the keyboard shortcuts from an earlier version of Access continue to work. The Keyboard Access System replaces the menu accelerators from earlier versions of Access. This system uses small indicators with a single letter or combination of letters that appear on the Ribbon and indicate what keyboard shortcut actives the control underneath.

When you have selected a command tab, you can browse the commands available within that tab.
Select a command tab
Start Access.
Click the tab that you want.
-or-
Start Access.
Press and release the ALT key.
The keyboard tips appear.
Press the key or keys shown in the keyboard tip on or closest to the command tab that you want.

You can execute a command a number of different ways. The quickest and most direct route is to use the keyboard shortcut associated with the command. If you know the keyboard shortcut used from an earlier version of Access, it should also work in Office Access 2007.

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Getting Started with Microsoft Office Access

When you start Office Access 2007 by clicking the Windows Start button or a desktop shortcut (but not when you click on a database), the Getting Started with Microsoft Office Access page appears. This page shows what you can do to get started in Office Access 2007.

For example, you can create a new blank database, create a database from a template, or open a recent database (if you have opened some databases before). You can also go directly to Microsoft Office Online to learn more about 2007 Microsoft Office system and Office Access 2007, or you can click the Microsoft Office Button and use the menu to open a existing database.

Open a new blank database
Start Access from the Start menu or from a shortcut.
The Getting Started with Microsoft Office Access page appears.
On the Getting Started with Microsoft Office Access page, under New Blank Database, click Blank Database.
In the Blank Database pane, in the File Name box, type a file name or use the one that is provided for you.
Click Create.

The new database is created, and a new table is opened in Datasheet view.
Office Access 2007 provides a number of templates with the product, and you can download more from Microsoft Office Online. What is a template? In the context of Office Access 2007, it is a predesigned database complete with professionally designed tables, forms, and reports. Templates give you a big head start when you create a new database.

Create a new database from a featured template
Start Access from the Start menu or from a shortcut.
The Getting Started with Microsoft Office Access page appears.
On the Getting Started with Microsoft Office Access page, under Featured Online Templates, click a template.
In the File Name box, type a file name or use the one that is provided for you.
Optionally, check the Create and link your database to a Windows SharePoint Services site if you want to link to a Windows SharePoint Services site.

Click Create-or-Click Download
Access creates the new database from the template and opens it.
You can download additional templates from Office Online directly from within the Office Access 2007 user interface.
Create a new database from a Microsoft Office Online Template
Start Access from the Start menu or from a shortcut.

The Getting Started with Microsoft Office Access page appears.
On the Getting Started with Microsoft Office Access page, in the Template Categories pane, click a category and then, when the templates in that category appear, click a template.
In the File Name box, type a file name or use the one that is provided for you.

Click Download.
Access automatically downloads the template, creates a new database based on that template, stores it in your documents folder (for example, the My Documents folder), and opens the database.

When you open (or create and open) a database, Access adds the file name and location of the database to an internal list of the most recently used documents. This list is displayed on the Getting Started with Microsoft Office Access page so that you can easily open your most recently used databases.
Open a recently used database

Start Access.
On the Getting Started with Microsoft Office Access page, under Open Recent Database, click the database that you want to open.
Access opens the database.

Open a database by using the Microsoft Office Access button
Start Access.
Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click the database that you want to open, if it appears in the right pane of the menu.-or-Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Open. When the Open dialog box appears, enter a file name, and then click Open.
The database opens.

E-Books Access 2007 user interface 01

Overview

The new user interface in Office Access 2007 comprises a number of elements that define how you interact with the product. These new elements were chosen to help you master Access, and to help you find the commands that you need faster. The new design also makes it easy to discover features that otherwise might have remained hidden beneath layers of toolbars and menus. And you will get up and running faster, thanks to the new Getting Started with Microsoft Office Access page, which provides you with quick access to our new getting started experience, including a suite of professionally designed templates.

The most significant new interface element is called the Ribbon, which is part of the Microsoft Office Fluent user interface. The Ribbon is the strip across the top of the program window that contains groups of commands. The Office Fluent Ribbon provides a single home for commands and is the primary replacement for menus and toolbars. On the Ribbon are tabs that combine commands in ways that make sense. In Office Access 2007, the main Ribbon tabs are Home, Create, External Data, and Database Tools. Each tab contains groups of related commands, and these groups surface some of the additional new UI elements, such as the gallery, which is a new type of control that presents choices visually.

The major new interface elements in Office Access 2007 are:
Getting Started with Microsoft Office Access The page that is displayed when you start Access from the Windows Start button or from a desktop shortcut.
The Office Fluent Ribbon The area at the top of the program window where you can choose commands.

Command tab Commands combined in ways that make sense.
Contextual command tab A command tab that appears depending on your context — the object that you are working on or the task that you are performing.
Gallery A control that displays a choice visually so that you can see the results that you will get.
Quick Access Toolbar A single standard toolbar that appears on the Ribbon and offers single-click access to most needed commands, such as Save and Undo.

Navigation Pane The area on the left side of the window that displays your database objects. The Navigation Pane replaces the Database window from earlier versions of Access.
Tabbed documents Your tables, queries, forms, reports, pages, and macros are displayed as tabbed documents.
Status bar The bar at the bottom of the program window that displays status information and includes buttons that allow you to change your view.

Mini toolbar An on-object element that transparently appears above text that you have selected, so that you can easily apply formatting to the text.