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How to check and increase bandwidth

How to check and increase bandwidth

by | Dec 17, 2022 | How to check and increase bandwidth, Networking, PC Tips

Tips to Identify and Avoid Phishing Scams
Internet security is a subject that enters the collective psyche more and more these days and as some industries have shifted towards remote work, the numbers of varying threats continue to grow. From data privacy to identity theft, each has varying levels of involvement, but one of the most impacting on our day-to-day life is the practice of phishing.

What is Phishing?

Phishing is one of the most common types of online scams that we encounter in our daily lives. It involves a fake individual pretending to be from a well-known company attempting to lure a potential victim into revealing sensitive personal information such as banking numbers, credit card details, and even account credentials.

The most glaring example is that of the “Nigerian prince” – the one that wishes to do some foreign currency transaction with a large sum of money as a rewarding benefit. And while this particular type of scheme is now seen more as a common joke, it’s still successfully at frauding people for almost a million dollars a year. Yet, these types of scams can be avoided with a few simple tips to make sure you’re not part of that statistic.

How to Avoid a Phishing Scam
Verify Sender’s Email Address
One of the first steps to take when receiving an email that’s alerting to some notable request is to check the sender’s email address. Sometimes you’ll notice inconsistencies here such as sending from a non-recognizable domain. Most businesses, with the exception of a few small businesses, will use their own domain names; for example: Microsoft’s domain will read ‘@microsoft.com`.
Look for Cues
While some phishing emails may be carefully crafted, there are often visual cues that give away a potential scam. Some of these include spelling and grammatical mistakes, use of unprofessional graphics, and even the use of generic greetings instead of addressing a user’s specific name.

Careful With Personal Information

Some phishing scams may request you to send some personal or bank account information. For starters, no one should ever make you verify personal or log-in credential information over email. You should already have a portal you access for each respective account. Same goes with any type of bank information. Avoid sending even the most minimal credit card or routing number details over email.
Do Not Rush to React
Some phishing scams may heavily rely on pressure. They will make it seem like there is a limited amount of time before some critical action takes place. This can create a panic and cause you to resort to sudden reactions such as clicking unsecure links or opening malicious attachments. Pause. Take a moment to think things through before making any big movements. Revisit the previously mentioned tips and take a second look at all the details. You may even want to call any respective numbers such as your bank – just make sure to look up their contact from a reliable source such as their website or sometimes listed on the back of your credit or debit card.
Reset Your Credentials
Lastly, if you feel you’ve already been a target of a phishing attempt, make sure to go to your targeted accounts and update your password. Make sure you’re typing in the correct domain address. You can also try to call your bank and get a second look at any malicious activity.

Wifi vs. ethernet speed

Wifi vs. ethernet speed

by | Dec 17, 2022 | Networking, PC Tips, Wifi vs. ethernet speed

Wifi vs. ethernet speed
People use a variety of devices every day to access the internet, such as a smartphone, tablet, laptop or even refrigerators. However, internet speed can vary when connected over a wireless connection due to a number of factors. That’s where an ethernet cable comes in handy. Learn what the difference is between a wired and wireless connection and how it can impact your internet speed.
What is an ethernet connection?​
What is an ethernet connection?
An ethernet connection requires an ethernet cable, also referred to as a network cable, which connects to the router or modem to give a device internet access. Ethernet cables are available in a variety of lengths so you can essentially run the wire from one room to another, depending on where your router is located. Both sides of the cord are the same, allowing you to plug both into your router and device.

While many consider a wired ethernet connection clunky and inconvenient, it provides more reliable speeds than wifi because there is no outside interference. Without having to worry about walls or other objects interfering with the connection, your speeds will be more stable.

How much faster is ethernet than wifi?​
How much faster is ethernet than wifi?

When it comes to wifi vs ethernet connections, an ethernet cable will provide more consistent speeds. However, with the constant advancement in wifi technology, the difference in speed is getting smaller. An ethernet connection can support speeds up to 10 Gbps, depending on the cable you use, and the speeds offered on your plan. New wifi standards can offer speeds up to 866.7 Mbps.

It’s important to note that speeds will not exceed the amount offered on your plan, regardless of whether you’re using wifi or an ethernet connection. For example, if you’re paying for 150 Mbps, that’s the maximum speed you’ll get on an ethernet cable or wifi connection. The difference is that an ethernet connection isn’t interrupted by outside interferences and can consistently offer the speeds available on your router.

While today’s wifi technology can support most of your daily tasks, here are a few examples of when you can benefit from an ethernet connection for a more reliable connection:

 

  • Backing up your devices to a server or shared hard drive
  • Downloading large files
  • Transferring files between two devices
  • Streaming videos
  • Gaming online
Does ethernet affect wifi?

Connecting a device to an ethernet cable won’t slow down the rest of the devices using wifi. Actually this can help pick up your wifi speeds because you have one less device connected to your home’s wifi. It should improve the internet speed and reliability of the devices connected without slowing down your wifi connection.

However, it all depends on the bandwidth capabilities of your home network and how many devices are connected at any given time. Multiple users all trying to access the internet at one time for varying reasons can impact your bandwidth and slow down your speeds.

Every household can benefit from using a combination of both a wired and wireless connection. Devices that require more bandwidth, such as a gaming console or smart TV, should be plugged directly into the router for faster speeds. This will help devices that require more mobility or are located far from the router, like a tablet or mobile phone, to have more bandwidth on a wireless connection.

If you have a smart home or you don’t want to run an ethernet cable throughout your house, upgrade your internet plan to whole home wifi. Both a wired and wireless connection are only as good are your internet. Get the best internet plan for the fastest speeds.

How routers and other devices affect internet speed

How routers and other devices affect internet speed

by | Dec 17, 2022 | How routers and other devices affect internet speed, Networking, PC Tips

How routers and other devices affect internet speed

Is the internet speed you’re getting not meeting your expectations? Every device in your household can be impacting your connection. Find out what could be affecting your internet speeds and how you can help improve your connection.
Do routers affect internet speed?

Routers can affect internet speed and are responsible for processing and managing every device on your home network. A quality, new router can help maximize your internet speed, while an older one can slow down your connection. However, keep in mind your internet speed will only be as fast as the plan you pay for, regardless of the type of router you have. For example, if you’re paying for 300 Mbps, that’s as fast as you’ll get unless you upgrade your internet plan.

Think of your router as a traffic cop dedicated to routing network traffic. If your bandwidth is overloaded with multiple devices or it’s congested during internet rush hour, the connection can slow to a crawl. Likewise, if your router is older and outdated, it can bottleneck your connections. Internet speed can also be slowed down if your router is placed too far away from your devices.

If your router isn’t capable of reaching the speeds on your plan, you should upgrade your router. Otherwise, you’ll end up paying for faster speeds that you’re not using. Since internet technology is constantly evolving, older routers tend to have lower speed limitations. For example, an internet plan that offers 500 Mbps on a N300 router, will automatically lose 200Mbps of bandwidth. However, devices connected with an ethernet cable will still benefit from the speeds offered on your plan. Upgrading your router can increase your internet speed.

Do modems affect internet speed?​

The same concept of the router applies to a modem – low-tier or older modems will have speed limitations. Older or outdated modems may not be capable of supporting the speeds offered on your internet plan.

A speed test can help determine whether your modem is what’s causing your connection to slow down. If the results show it’s time for an upgrade, contact your internet service provider to get a list of compatible options for your plan. 

If your modem and router are up to date but you still aren’t seeing the speeds, your wireless devices may be the issue. Just like your router and modem, every wireless device has a different limit of how much speed it can support. If you have a smartphone or laptop that supports wifi 5, but you’ve upgraded your router to wifi 6 technology, you won’t be seeing the speed increase on those devices.

Do wifi boosters affect internet speed?

Wifi extenders connect via an ethernet cable, or the coaxial cable used for your cable TV and internet. Since the wifi extender is connected directly to your network, speed isn’t impacted due to outside interference. Other devices on your network and thick walls won’t slow down your connection on devices using an ethernet cable.

How do smart devices affect internet speed?
Internet speeds can be impacted by how many devices are connected to your internet connection. Today, smart homes can feature numerous devices like cameras, lights, outlets and locks. Each of these products must connect to your home network in order to work, which can consume a lot of bandwidth. Ensuring you have enough bandwidth to support all your devices can help maintain the speeds on your plan. You can also help improve speeds by disconnecting any wifi-enabled devices when not in use.

It’s also possible for older devices to consume large amounts of bandwidth and slow down the connection for the rest of your household. Older computers and mobile devices could be slowing down your connection and causing your other devices to lag. Update your devices to help get the speeds you signed up for.

What is Cloud Computing?

What is Cloud Computing?

by | Jun 17, 2020 | Networking, News, PC Tips

What is Cloud Computing?

apps for CMS Content Management System

Compute power

The goal of cloud computing is to make running a business easier and more efficient, whether it’s a small start-up or a large enterprise. Every business is unique and has different needs. To meet those needs, cloud computing providers offer a wide range of services.

You need to have a basic understanding of some of the services it provides. Let’s briefly discuss the two most common services that all cloud providers offer – compute power and storage.

Cloud computing is renting resources, like storage space or CPU cycles, on another company’s computers. You only pay for what you use. The company providing these services is referred to as a cloud provider. Some example providers are Microsoft, Amazon, and Google.

The cloud provider is responsible for the physical hardware required to execute your work, and for keeping it up-to-date. The computing services offered tend to vary by cloud provider. However, typically they include:

 

  • Compute power – such as Linux servers or web applications used for computation and processing tasks
  • Storage – such as files and databases
  • Networking – such as secure connections between the cloud provider and your company
  • Analytics – such as visualizing telemetry and performance data

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Cloud computing services

The goal of cloud computing is to make running a business easier and more efficient, whether it’s a small start-up or a large enterprise. Every business is unique and has different needs. To meet those needs, cloud computing providers offer a wide range of services.

You need to have a basic understanding of some of the services it provides. Let’s briefly discuss the two most common services that all cloud providers offer – compute power and storage.

Compute power

When you send an email, book a reservation on the Internet, pay a bill online, or even take this Microsoft Learn module you’re interacting with cloud-based servers that are processing each request and returning a response. As a consumer, we’re all dependent on the computing services provided by the various cloud providers that make up the Internet.

When you build solutions using cloud computing, you can choose how you want work to be done based on your resources and needs. For example, if you want to have more control and responsibility over maintenance, you could create a virtual machine (VM). A VM is an emulation of a computer – just like your desktop or laptop you’re using now. Each VM includes an operating system and hardware that appears to the user like a physical computer running Windows or Linux. You can then install whatever software you need to do the tasks you want to run in the cloud.

The difference is that you don’t have to buy any of the hardware or install the OS. The cloud provider runs your virtual machine on a physical server in one of their datacenters – often sharing that server with other VMs (isolated and secure). With the cloud, you can have a VM ready to go in minutes at less cost than a physical computer.

VMs aren’t the only computing choice – there are two other popular options: containers and serverless computing.

What are containers?

Containers provide a consistent, isolated execution environment for applications. They’re similar to VMs except they don’t require a guest operating system. Instead, the application and all its dependencies is packaged into a “container” and then a standard runtime environment is used to execute the app. This allows the container to start up in just a few seconds, because there’s no OS to boot and initialize. You only need the app to launch.

The open-source project, Docker, is one of the leading platforms for managing containers. Docker containers provide an efficient, lightweight approach to application deployment because they allow different components of the application to be deployed independently into different containers. Multiple containers can be run on a single machine, and containers can be moved between machines. The portability of the container makes it easy for applications to be deployed in multiple environments, either on-premises or in the cloud, often with no changes to the application.

What is serverless computing?

Serverless computing lets you run application code without creating, configuring, or maintaining a server. The core idea is that your application is broken into separate functions that run when triggered by some action. This is ideal for automated tasks – for example, you can build a serverless process that automatically sends an email confirmation after a customer makes an online purchase.

The serverless model differs from VMs and containers in that you only pay for the processing time used by each function as it executes. VMs and containers are charged while they’re running – even if the applications on them are idle. This architecture doesn’t work for every app – but when the app logic can be separated to independent units, you can test them separately, update them separately, and launch them in microseconds, making this approach the fastest option for deployment.

 

Here’s a diagram comparing the three compute approaches we’ve covered.

Storage

Most devices and applications read and/or write data. Here are some examples:

  • Buying a movie ticket online
  • Looking up the price of an online item
  • Taking a picture
  • Sending an email
  • Leaving a voicemail

In all of these cases, data is either read (looking up a price) or written (taking a picture). The type of data and how it’s stored can be different in each of these cases.

Cloud providers typically offer services that can handle all of these types of data. For example, if you wanted to store text or a movie clip, you could use a file on disk. If you had a set of relationships such as an address book, you could take a more structured approach like using a database.

The advantage to using cloud-based data storage is you can scale to meet your needs. If you find that you need more space to store your movie clips, you can pay a little more and add to your available space. In some cases, the storage can even expand and contract automatically – so you pay for exactly what you need at any given point in time.

Summary

Every business has different needs and requirements. Cloud computing is flexible and cost-efficient, which can be beneficial to every business, whether it’s a small start-up or a large enterprise.

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What is a Network Switch?

What is a Network Switch?

by | Feb 8, 2019 | Networking

What is a Network Switch?

A network switch (also called switching hub, bridging hub, officially MAC bridge) is a computer networking device that connects devices together on a computer network by using packet switching to receive, process, and forward data to the destination device.

A network switch is a multiport network bridge that uses hardware addresses to process and forward data at the data link layer (layer 2) of the OSI model. Some switches can also process data at the network layer (layer 3) by additionally incorporating routing functionality. Such switches are commonly known as layer-3 switches or multilayer switches.

Switches for Ethernet are the most common form of network switch. The first Ethernet switch was introduced by Kalpana in 1990. Switches also exist for other types of networks including Fibre Channel, Asynchronous Transfer Mode, and InfiniBand.

Unlike less advanced repeater hubs, which broadcast the same data out of each of its ports and let the devices decide what data they need, a network switch forwards data only to the devices that need to receive it

What is a Router?

What is a Router?

by | Feb 8, 2019 | Networking

What is a Router?

A router is a networking device that forwards data packets between computer networks. Routers perform the traffic directing functions on the Internet. Data sent through the internet, such as a web page or email, is in the form of data packets. A packet is typically forwarded from one router to another router through the networks that constitute an internetwork until it reaches its destination node.

A router is connected to two or more data lines from different networks. When a data packet comes in on one of the lines, the router reads the network address information in the packet to determine the ultimate destination. Then, using information in its routing table or routing policy, it directs the packet to the next network on its journey.

The most familiar type of routers are home and small office routers that simply forward IP packets between the home computers and the Internet. An example of a router would be the owner’s cable or DSL router, which connects to the Internet through an Internet service provider (ISP). More sophisticated routers, such as enterprise routers, connect large business or ISP networks up to the powerful core routers that forward data at high speed along the optical fiber lines of the Internet backbone. Though routers are typically dedicated hardware devices, software-based routers also exist.