Loading ...Welcome to the last newsletter of 2009. page.
Have a Good Xmas and A Happy New Year
Steve
Contents
- SMTP Authentication
- Out of Office Replies
- Understanding Computer Names and Addresses
- ADSL Broadband Internet
Most email systems require you to use SMTP authentication when sending email through there SMTP server.
The reason that many email providers have switched to requiring this is to avoid their servers being used for spam.
Although the settings for clients will differ slightly they generally offer two choices. One is to use the same authentication as you use to access the POP3 server and the other is to use a different username/password combination.
In General the same authentication is used for both but it does depend on your particular setup. Below is the screen shot for Outlook Express.
However recently even more security is being implemented and you may start receiving 553 errors when sending email.
Related articles on site:
An out of office reply is an automated email response to an incoming email message.
It is common in large organisations to see automated replies saying that "so and so is out of the office for x number of days and…."
Although they cannot be implemented on email clients like outlook express/Thunderbird they can be configured on Yahoo and Gmail email accounts.
So if you are using either a Yahoo or Gmail (Googlemail for UK users) account they
For Yahoo it is called Holiday response and is located under Options>mail Options>Holiday response.
You can set the date when it is active and have a generic and a special holiday response configurable for certain domain names.
Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom of the page to turn it on!
For Gmail it is located under Settings>General and is called vacation response. Gmail lets you send a response to everyone who send you email or only to those in your contacts (recommended).
With Gmail you cannot set dates for it to be active you simply turn it on and have to turn it off when you come back off holiday.
Related articles on site:
All computers on a windows network have a name (computer or host name) and an address.
The name and address are used when the computer is used on a network. Although computer addresses are optional, a Windows computer always has a computer name.
The computer name is also called the host name and on a windows network they are the same.
The computer name is assigned at install but can be changed later (click on start menu and right click my computer>computer name>change).
To make using it easier make it something meaningful and short. I use WS1 (workstation 1) etc.
Note that all computer names on a network must be unique.
You may also find the computer name; referred to as the Netbios name and host name. The netbios name arises from the fact that early Microsoft networks used the netbios networking protocols which required all devices to a have a unique name.
Although Microsoft moved away from the Netbios protocol many years ago they never removed the netbios name requirement hence the computer name.
Microsoft moved from Netbios to IP protocol which uses optional host names which are linked not tied to a computer. This means that on a TCP/IP network a computer can have many host names (nicknames).
On a microsoft network then
computer name=netbios name=host name
and even on a Microsoft network a computer can have several host names but only one computer name.
MAC Addresses and IP Addresses
Computers have two addresses commonly known as the physical address and the logical address.
Mac addresses (physical) are fixed, assigned by the network adapter manufacturer, and cannot be changed. IP addresses are assigned by the system administrator or automatically (using DHCP) and are also called logical addresses, and they can be changed.
Finding Your computer Name and Addresses
The easiest way is to open a command prompt (old DOS prompt) by going to start menu>run and typing cmd into the box. At the command prompt type
ipconfig /all
This will display the host name, Mac address (physical address) and IP address. In the above screenshot I have two network cards- a wireless card and an Ethernet card, you can see that they both have IP and Mac addresses and that they are different.
If your computer isn’t connected to a computer network then the name and addresses aren’t really important.
But if you are then you will find yourself needing to know and use the computer names to access files and printers located on other computers on your home network.
Next Month We will look at windows workgroups
Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) is the main broadband connection mechanism for home users/small businesses.
The main characteristics of ADSL are
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It is provided over the existing telephone line.
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Provides different upload and download speeds.
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Requires an ADSL Modem connected to the telephone socket.
Choosing a Provider
Before you can connect you need to check with your local telephone company that your telephone line is capable of receiving broadband.
If so, then you need to sign up for a broadband account with a ADSL broadband provider (ISP).
Most people use their local telephone company as their broadband provider but you don’t have to. In the UK ( I believe in most other countries as well) you can use one company as the telephone provider and any other broadband company as your broadband provider.
Download and Upload Speeds
Typically most people download more from the internet than they upload, with a majority of Internet users not uploading really anything. Therefore download speeds are considerably greater than upload speeds, and most Internet providers only highlight the download speeds in their marketing literature.
Typically you may see download speeds of 20Mb but the upload speed may only be about 500kb.
As more people start to use the Internet for online storage, file sharing, video conferences etc then upload speeds are likely to become more important and you will probably see more emphasis being placed on the upload speeds in the marketing literature of the broadband providers.