Router

WPA or WPA2

Wifi Protected Access, the current security protocol that prevents hackers from snooping on your wireless communication. In homes and small offices, you create a password on the router which each user uses to securely connect to the Internet through the router.

Ethernet cable

(sometimes called a patch cable) the cables that provide ethernet connections. They come in three common types: CAT-5 (about 10 megabytes a second speed), CAT-5E (about 100 megabytes a second speed), CAT-6 (in theory, faster than 100 megabytes a second speed).

IP Address

Internet Protocol address, the unique number which identifies your computer to other computers on the same network.

DHCP

The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, the system that lets your Internet Service Provider (ISP) give your modem an Internet Protocol (IP) address and then lets your router give each of your computers its own local IP address.

WEP

Wired Equivalent Privacy, an older security protocol that helped prevent hackers from snooping on wireless communications. No longer secure against serious hackers but good enough to keep typical neighbors from eavesdropping on your Facebook chats.

Wireless router

a computer or device which sends packets from one wireless network to another network (usually the Internet).

switch

a device which lets two computers on the same network communicate. Most routers include a built-in switch that lets all of the computers on your home network communicate. •Ethernet the most commonly used way to connect home and office computers to a router or switch using wires. See how to setup Gigabyte Ethernet.

Packet

a piece of information sent over the network and its routing information.

Firewall

a point in the network where unwanted incoming packets are blocked. Every router acts as a basic firewall; there are also special hardware firewalls and software firewalls.

Crossover cable

a special Ethernet cable with one pair of wires reversed that it can connect a cable or DSL modem to a router or can connect two computers together. Often a yellow-color cord instead of the typical blue ethernet cord.

router

any computer or device which sends packets from one network to another, such as from your home network to the Internet. Most routers are small devices with Ethernet ports and wireless antennae, but any computer with two network interfaces (and the right software) can also serve as a router.

Ethernet

the most commonly used way to connect home and office computers to a router or switch using wires. See how to setup Gigabyte Ethernet.