Ask Leo!: Networking

What's the difference between a hub, a switch, and a router?

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 09:48:10 -08:00

What's the difference between a hub, a switch, and a router?

]]> In a word, intelligence.

Hubs, switches, and routers are all devices that let you connect one or more computers to other computers, networked devices, or even other networks. Each has two or more connectors called ports into which you plug in the cables to make the connection. Varying degrees of magic happen inside the device and therein lies the difference. I often see the terms misused, so let's clarify what each one really means.

How do I monitor internet activity and see who's using it?

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 14:32:34 -08:00

My wife and I share a laptop, using Windows XP and connected to a satellite. The ISP limits our bandwidth. Recently, we received a message that we were using too much: about 150 MB during one recent hour. We do not run any videos, such as YouTube. We just browse (eBay) and email (Mozilla Thunderbird). I have checked all the places that I can think. If I turn off the automatic updates, for example, it still recurs. When I am logged in, the problem goes away, so it is some program which my wife is inadvertently running in the background, I suppose. Looking at Processes with Task Manager does not help much. It jumps around too much. I ran a scan with Norton and found nothing. I took it in to the computer geek store here, and they ran a more extensive scan, but found nothing. Is there any program which could monitor Internet activity and let me know what's running?

]]> Yes, there is.

It's a free tool, called Process Monitor, that I suspect will be perfect for this problem. While it's a little geeky, this extremely powerful tool can be used to diagnose many issues.

I'll walk you through how to set it up for this scenario.

How does a VPN protect me?

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 14:18:45 -08:00

I use a VPN - how and what are the protections of this versus just connecting through my ISP? What limitations does this have? Can they "see" what I'm doing (like using a Bit Torrent), and that is coming from my account?

]]> A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is an approach to safely connecting to a remote resource. Depending on the VPN that privacy can extend from one end of the connection to the other, or it can protect you only for a certain portion.

I'll describe the different scenarios and how you are, and perhaps are not, protected by a VPN.

What's the difference between an intranet and the internet?

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 08:00:00 -08:00

What's the difference between an intranet and the internet? At my work we have a page on our website that everyone at work calls the intranet but it's just a hidden page that only staff who have been given the link and login password know how to find, but I don't consider this an intranet (even though I'm not entirely sure what an intranet is defined as). I thought an intranet would be a server that is not accessible to anything outside the network which is definitely not how we have our 'intranet' set up. Anyway, I thought maybe you could shed some light for me and others.

]]> There's no real hard-and-fast definition ... or rather what definitions exist tend to get used and abused to the point of being very, very fuzzy at best.

I'm with you in my general belief of what intranet should mean.

But "should" and "does" are often at odds, especially as usage changes and definitions struggle to keep pace.

How do I see what's happening on my machine's network connection?

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 19:24:20 -08:00

I have noticed that when I log on the Wireless Network Connection Status Window shows that the packets leaving my computer almost equal the packets entering the computer, even though I am not uploading any files. Is this an indication that a keystroke logger or similar malware is exporting files from my computer, also is there any way that I can monitor the actual data content that is leaving my machine?

]]> The network is a busy place, even when you're doing nothing at all. It's not necessarily the sign of something bad, and not something most people even notice.

Depending on just how detailed - and geeky - you want to get, there are tools that will let you monitor what's happening to varying degrees - all free.