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Basics of a Virtual Private Network

October 17, 2010 by Leave a Comment
BUENA PARK, CA - MARCH 25: Overheated homeowne...
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More and more companies today are looking into allowing their employees to work from home. Because of this, virtual private networks, or vpn’s, have become more popular as well. A virtual private network allows a company to give their employees secure access to the company network from their home computer. Depending on the company, or even the industry that you work for, you may already deal with a virtual private network if you work from home. A virtual private network will make sure that all data that is transferred is encrypted. Because of this added security feature, many companies that require confidentiality will require the use of a virtual private network.

If your company has set up a virtual private network, it may make it easier to get them to allow you to work from home, at least part time. Just make sure that while you’re using the vpn network from your home office, you don’t do non-work things like surfing the Internet or investigating top affiliate programs unless you know that it’s acceptable. Keep your private computer use and your work separate and only connect to the vpn if and when you’re working for the company. In fact, in most cases you’ll have to access the vpn with specific log-in information given by the company for work use only — and which allows them to track your use of the system.

There are even options for a mobile virtual private network. If you do most of your work on a laptop or and travel frequently while working, your company may decide that this is the best way to go. Even if you don’t travel for work on work related business all the time, a mobile virtual private network may be beneficial for those times that you do have to be out of your home office and can help make your work hours more productive.

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Filed Under: Hardware, Local Networks, Private Networks, Software Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Computers 101

October 2, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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Image via CrunchBase

There are eight basic parts to a computer:

1. Power supply for providing electricity in a managed and controlled fashion.
2. Heat sink for cooling the processor.
3. Mother board for routing and directing all of the computer functions.
4. Graphics card(s) for translating the computers workings and operations into an interface that can be viewed.
5. External drives like CD-Rom, DVD-Rom, and diskettes or floppy disks for transferring information to the computer or receiving information from the computer onto physical media.
6. Hard drive for storage and operations of data and programs.
7. Memory – There are various kinds if memory offered. You can get as little or as much memory on your computer as you wish. But it’s best to get more memory than you will ever use.
8. Printers, Scanners, Cameras, etc., and all the other peripheral stuff that is seemingly endless in it’s creation.

Today, most of the aspects of our lives have related computerized components. Everything including vacuum cleaners and toasters have microprocessors. A personal computer is a technically advanced tool that is built around a small, thin chunk of plastic (a processor) with LOTS of microscopic electrical pathways etched or burned into a finely layered piece of metal on the surface. This is where the “thinking” is done. It has a big heat sink and a fan (or liquid cooling) connected to it because all of that thinking heats it up.

Personal Computers started back in the 1970s. Most people were surprised when they actually took off. The original thinking of, “We have a typewriter, why would we ever need a computer?” only lasted about four years. A couple years after the original introduction of the computer, Apple Computers came on the scene and the home computer industry started to take-off incredibly. Soon, companies like Commodore, Atari and Texas Instruments were producing their own versions of the personal computer. Then IBM blasted into the market and soon the competition was defined between Apple on one side and IBM with Microsoft software on the other. These two have, from that point on, led the industry.

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Filed Under: Hardware, Networks, Software Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Outsourcing to Home Workers: How a VPN Can Help Your Company

October 1, 2010 by Leave a Comment
I don't have an office
Image by the tartanpodcast via Flickr

In a nut shell, a virtual private network is a network that connects all the employees of one company together so that everyone can access company programs anywhere. This is great for employees that must travel to remote locations, or those who are home workers.

There are many benefits that a small company will reap as a result of this technology. The home worker can be fully functional because they are on a secured private network. They can get their schedules, assignments and other pertinent information they need to perform their jobs. That alone can save a small company several thousand dollars each year. There is no limit to the number of employees that a company can have and use the same network.

Because your company chooses to outsource work, there is no need to offer the typical benefits such as medical insurance. It is not necessary to have a brick and mortar office. Instead your company can have the flexibility of having a virtual office. No need to pay for office rental fees each month and electric bills. You will see a profit sooner without the extra expenses. This is, after all, the wave of our future.

As the company save money, it enables them to increase their production and hire more home workers. You can keep track of each employee regardless of where they are located. Training home workers on the VPN can be done over the internet, even if the home worker has only basic knowledge of the internet. Keep the training in simple terms so that everyone understands and can continue using it when the training is over to provide their employer with quality service.

These benefits only scratch the surface, because the company spends so little money using VPN they tend to be successful in a shorter span of time than that of the counterpart brick and mortar companies. Profit, the lack of overhead expenses and more production will be a direct result of the VPN. Everyone will have the same information and be able access it on a 24 hour a day basis.

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Filed Under: Networks, Private Networks Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Step by Step Procedure of a VPN Connection Set Up in Windows XP

September 18, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Frustration
Image by Kojach via Flickr

In order to set up a VPN connection in Windows XP, some certain steps must be
followed. By installing a VPN connection in the operating system users can connect to a remote access server of a virtual private network. The operating systems of Microsoft use LT2P and PPTP network protocols for VPN.

Step by Step procedure for VPN set up:

- The computer using Windows XP operating system must be turned on. After that the user should go to the Windows Control Panel from the start menu.
-In the control panel there is an icon named Network connection. The user has to open it. It will show a list of existing LAN and dial-up connections.
- On the left hand side there is an option titled “create a new connection” which must be chosen and a New Connection Wizard will be shown on the screen.
- To begin the wizard, the user has to click Next and then choose the”connect to the network at my workplace” option from the visible list and click next.
-On the next page, “Virtual Private Network connection” from the existing list must be chosen and the user should click next to go to the next stage of the installation.
- On this page the name of the VPN connection should be entered in the “Company Name” field.
-On the next page,”Public Network”option should be chosen. If the user wants to get connected to the VPN at the windows start up, then “Automatically dial this initial connection” option, which is the default option, must be chosen. If not, then “Do not dial the initial connection” must be chosen. The second option requires establishing a public internet connection first and then it will be connected to the VPN.
-The user should enter the IP address or the name of the VPN remote access server and click next. This information will be provided by the company’s network administrator.
-If the user wants to confine the connection then should choose”My use only option” and click the finish button to complete the wizard.

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How to Decide the Best Virtual Private Network that Works for You?

September 6, 2010 by Leave a Comment
MPLS VPN example
Image via Wikipedia

Along with many other services, you can ask for virtual private network services from your internet service provider. A VPN service allows you to work with high security on any TCP/IP network such as the internet. By using local area networks, along with client server arrangement or peer-to-peer architecture, you can avail the service of a VPN.

If you have a large organization, you should use a VPN or virtual private network service. You can either go for your own virtual private network or can hire the services from any local internet or networking service provider. If you are hiring services from any outside source, then you must need to focus on some basic points before choosing your service.

Some of the important points to look at are security and reliability. Along with these two major points, you should also consider speed and other value added services.

Security is a major point you should focus on. If there are no proper measures for security then there is no use of using this virtual private network service. You can compare the services to other providers and then make a suitable decision according to the information you collected. If your business is very sensitive to privacy then you must need high security. In this situation, service providers should focus only on security rather than anything else.

The next important point is reliability. Your network should be secure and reliable. You should be provided with a trustful network. It should use a authenticated mechanism for searching the information or while transmitting the data. Reliability is also important from the view point of the organization. This should be unique and unanimous data within the organization.

Along with these two major areas, one should also look for other services like speed and functionality. This is because both of these areas attribute and play a very important role. The account holder of a virtual private network is paying money for the best services and he should get them in return for their valuable money. Virtual private network services offer consumers security while surfing the internet.

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