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BOOT
CAMP 228 (04/06/02)
LIVING WITH BROADBAND, part 1
Broadband
or ADSL as it's known to its teccy friends is coming to a telephone exchange
near you. It may already be available or you might be able to hook up to your
local cable TV company's high-speed network, either way, if you use the Internet
for more than a few hours a week put broadband at the top of your wish list!
The
cost of broadband has fallen significantly in recent months and probably still
has some way to go but even at the current rates of £80 or so for a modem and
monthly subscription charges £25 to £30 it still looks like fair value -
compared with 'unmetered' Internet dial-up access -- especially when you take
into account the real cost of your time spent waiting for web pages and files to
download via an ordinary 56k modem. If you use the Internet for gaming or
business then argument for broadband becomes very compelling
indeed.
In
this week's Boot Camp we'll look at the day-to-day practicalities of living with
a broadband connection, next week, how to share it with the other PCs in your
home or office. We dealt with the installation basics a few months ago in Boot
Camp 210. Nevertheless, it's worth reiterating that if you're interested in
broadband you can check if it's available in your area - you should be within
5.5km of a broadband capable exchange - by carrying out a line-check at: http://www.btopenworld.com/broadband/linecheck/.
If the phone line option isn't available investigate the possibility of
broadband cable, otherwise you'll have to wait, or look into the more expensive
satellite broadband services (http://www.btopenworld.com/satellite/).
It
takes a little while to get used to the fact that when you've got broadband you
can continue to use your existing telephone line as normal. However, ADSL modems
generate an annoying high-pitched buzz on your phone (but not the caller's
phone). Most home installation kits come with one or two line 'filters'. These
connect between the phone and the wall socket and cut out the noise but if you
have more than a couple of extension you may need extra filters, in which case
have a word with your ISP or they can be bought from PC accessory dealers for
around £5.00.
A
broadband connection is 'always on' and there is no longer any need to worry
about call charges, or tying up the line for prolonged surfing sessions, so you
will probably change the way you and others use your PC. Your virus scanner
should be updated religiously and you must install some Firewall software on
your computer. Attacks from hackers are much less of a threat on a normal
dial-up connection, you are generally on line for shorter periods and the
Internet 'address' assigned to your PC by your ISP changes every time you
connect. With a broadband connection your address stays the same, inevitably you
are more vulnerable to attack moreover visiting many more web sites and
downloading software greatly increases the risk of catching something nasty. A
Firewall program like ZoneAlarm (www.zonelabs.com) will alert to any spyware,
adware or Trojans that find their way onto your PC and warn you about any other
programs that try to access the net without your knowledge or
permission.
You
will probably want to leave your PC running all day -- you may even decide to
leave it switched on all the time - if so you should check the power management
settings for the PC and monitor (Start > Settings > Control Panel).
Keeping the PC permanently on does no harm but it is wasteful of power so it's
sensible to set the monitor to go into standby and power down the disc drives
after an hour or so of inactivity. If you do leave it on all of the time ensure
that the case is well ventilated and it's worth re-booting every two or three
days as a build up of files in temporary folders and caches can make Windows 9x
sluggish.
You
may want to make some changes to your Internet software so that it connects
automatically. In Internet Explorer and Outlook Express the dial-up window
normally appears as soon as they are opened, after you've made sure the user
name and password details are correct tick the 'Connect Automatically' box. You
should set Outlook Express to check for messages every few minutes (1 to 5
minutes), these settings can be found on the Tools menu, under Options (select
the General tab).
Having
a broadband connection means you and your family's surfing sessions will last
much longer and it will make it harder to keep an eye what the kids are up
to - especially if you share the
connections with other PCs - so
configure your browser's Content settings or better still, install some net
monitoring software (Net Nanny, Safe Surf etc. and see this week's Top Tip).
While you are at it you should organise your Favourites into sub folders
otherwise it will quickly become cluttered, and get into the habit of clearing
the Temporary Files cache and cookies (Tools > Internet Options, General
tab), unless of course you want to keep them.
Finally,
make good use of that extra capacity and speed. You will find that you can have
two or three large file downloads (music tracks, movies etc.) running
simultaneously (you can do that on a dial-up connection but it will slow
transfer speed to a crawl). It's also a good excuse to have another go at
setting up a web cam (Boot Camps 135 and 136) and establish a videophone link
with friends or relatives abroad, if they've got broadband as well the results
can be really impressive.
Next
week - Broadband 2 - sharing your connection
JARGON
FILTER
ADSL
Asymmetric
Digital Subscriber Line -- high speed digital connection using existing
telephone lines
ISP
Internet
Service Provider -- a company providing Internet access, an E-mail address and a
mailbox where messages sent to you are stored before they're downloaded on to
your PC
TROJAN
Virus
type program PC that allows hackers to access data on your
PC
TOP
TIP
There
are plenty of family-friendly web filtering programs on the market but before
you rush out and buy a commercial package have a look at this excellent freeware
offering called We-Blocker. It's highly configurable and allows concerned
parents to monitor and control their children's surfing activities, and share
filtering data with other users. The file is around 2.5Mb and it can be
downloaded from:
http://www.we-blocker.com/
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