Byte-Size Beginner

  I like to consider myself a problem solver… or at least in most cases. I am a firm believer that if there is a problem, attempt to solve it before saying "I can’t do this". However, I’m starting to question some of my problem-solving skills when it comes to troubleshooting networks and computers. Let’s face it computers and networks are a bit more complicated than troubleshooting issues with a radio or tv. Just recently I had issues with my computer failing to update. Despite my uncertainty, I tried to trouble shoot it and fix the problem myself… unfortunately, that was unsuccessful, and I ended up deleting an important system application… I had to revert back to a previous back up in order to fix it. But that didn’t fix my problem, I still needed to reach out to windows support for help. Anyway, the moral of the story is it’s okay to reach out for help if you ever feel uncertain about troubleshooting. We can still learn from asking for help. But if you want to try it you...

  You’re almost done completing your last task for the day… and boom your network crashes! What do you do? Do you have a backup plan in place…. Are you panicking because you lost all of your important information?! This is one of the many reasons you should have a backup recovery plan in place! in the event that something happens you are able to restore all your data. Depending on your needs, your backup plan may look different from another person’s plan. Ideally, when creating a back plan, you should decide a few things first, where you want to store your backups, and what you want to back up. Once you have these key factors figured out, you can start your back-up process, whether you choose a cloud service, external hard drive, USB, etc. pick the method that fits your needs best! Just because you did your initial back-up doesn’t mean you stop there; a back-up should be done periodically or even weekly to ensure that all your new files, applications, any important data etc. are ...

  Back in my senior year of high school, I took an architecture class at a local community college… it was rather fun, and I enjoyed doing it. Upon reading this week’s chapters, something stood out to me and how it shares similar traits or steps in the process; making the concept so much easier to envision and understand. Designing a network is similar to that of designing and building a new house. Hear me out, when designing a house plan you need to decide the overall size, how many rooms are needed, how the wiring and electrical will be laid out, plumbing to ensure proper flow. Windows and doors act as entry points etc.   Much like that of a network, how big it needs to be, and how many devices are needed, where the cables need to go, and how the data needs to flow in order to maximize efficiency. In this example, the windows and doors of the house represent the needed security points that need to be protected on a network, preventing unwanted people from coming and going ...

  Being born in the early 90’s gave me the opportunity to experience the joys of using dial up internet… waiting for it to connect, hearing the loading dial tone, and the ‘you got mail’ message that would play when you finally connected. Am I the only one that remembers “get off the internet, I need to use the phone” or “get off the phone I need to use the internet”? one of the drawbacks is that is connected directly to your land line, and you could not use both at the same time. This is something that a lot of people do not use anymore, and what I thought was completely obsolete. This week’s reading blew my mind when I read that dial up still exists today and is something that modern computers can set up to connect to it! One of the keep components you need is a landline, but you can reach out to your ISP to get a dial up account. But why would one use dial up if we have faster internet available? While dial up is extremely slow in comparison, it is more affordable and those tha...

That moment when you know there has to be something more, but you can’t quite put your finger on it… that is the moment I just had. So, a lot of us know that Ipv6 are unique addresses assigned to devices that are connected to the internet. The unique address that contains the network and the host address, I was under the assumption that the IP address was randomly generated from your internet service provider. While it does technically come from your ISP, it’s not just a ‘made on the spot’ number that they put together. There is actually a hierarchy to this! At the top of the IP address hierarchy is the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) and are the ones that send large amounts of addresses to Regional Internet Registries. The RIRs are then responsible for distributing them to Local internet Registries (this would be your ISP). Now that your ISP has a selection of usable IP addresses, they can then select any of the ones from their pool of addresses and provide it to the end-...

  Virtual Private Networks, they have so many more uses than what people have been recently trying to use it for (you know, the news that has swept the nation with the recent application restrictions). I see a lot of people using them as a way to get around geo locations. It was also popular with the Pokémon go app, so people could catch all the good Pokémon. But that is beside the point. It’s interesting that a lot of people I know personally, only associate VPNs with bypassing geo locations. There are a lot of uses that a VPN can be used for and offer great benefits. For instance, protecting your online privacy, encrypting data, using public wi-fi in a more secure manor, and even working remotely. Having a VPN is an extra layer of security that can help minimize or even element certain risks a user may face when working with sensitive data or even public wi-fi… lets face it, wi-fi spoofing is real, and you would not want to get tangled in that web. There are a lot of services...