Ten Ways to Keep Your Network Healthy

As you assume the role of network administrator, remember that you need to care for your network as well as for each individual computer. Following are ten ways to keep your network healthy.

1.Protecting against Electrical Surges

An electrical surge is a sudden spate of very high voltage that travels from the electric lines to your house, and ultimately to your computer. Surges are usually caused by lightning or a return to power after a blackout.

A real surge can fry your computer.You can safeguard against spikes by plugging your computer and any attached devices such as drives, scanners,monitors, speakers, and so on, into a surge protector.

The only devices you don’t want plugged into a surge protector with your computer are printers. Read the specifications before you buy a surge protector to make sure that it’s rated for effective surge protection. (Voltage can rise by 10 volts or hundreds of volts, so make sure that the surge protector you buy can handle these extreme surges.)

In addition, because any surge received by a single computer can travel over the network cable to the other computers on your network, make sure that all the connected equipment for each of your computers is plugged into surge protectors

2.Protecting against Lightning
We’ve seen several large networks destroyed during a lightning storm, and in each case, the surge came through the telephone lines, not the electrical lines.Telephone lines are typically not protected against lightning.

The only sure protection against lightning strikes is to unplug your computers and connected equipment from both the electrical outlets and the phone jacks. Stop working. Then walk around the house and unplug other equipment with chips that could fry during a lightning storm (like your microwave oven).

3.Saving Your Computer when Power Fails
When you’re running Windows, you can’t just turn off your computer. You must initiate a shutdown procedure to shut down all your files in an orderly manner.You can keep your computers running long enough to complete an orderly shutdown of all your software and the operating system if you have an uninterruptible power supply (UPS).

A UPS is a mega-battery that you plug into the wall, and you then use the UPS outlets to connect your computer and monitor.
If your power fails, your computer draws power from the battery, giving you enough time to shut down everything.

For many home users, a UPS may be overkill. But if you live in an area that has reasonably regular power cuts due to foul weather or lousy power service, a UPS may be a good idea. If you work at home all or part of the time, a UPS is arguably
essential.

4.Fixing Low-Voltage Problems
Sometimes, the electrical voltage drops, which is called a brownout. Computers — especially their hard drives — are extremely sensitive to brownouts. Well before you see the lights flicker, your hard drive can be damaged by a brownout.

Here are some of the causes of low voltage, along with possible fixes:

-Too many appliances are plugged into the same circuit as your computer.
-An appliance that’s a voltage pig (central air conditioning, electric heating systems) kicks on, disrupting voltage throughout the house.
-Your laser printer (or powerful inkjet color printer) is plugged into the same circuit as your computer.
-The electric company is sending low voltage into your home.

You can prevent most of these problems by moving things around to different outlets. You can overcome those that you can’t prevent by purchasing a voltage regulator. A voltage regulator constantly measures the voltage coming out of the wall and brings it up to an acceptable minimum. Some uninterruptible power supplies (see the preceding section) have voltage regulation built in.

5.Preventing Static-Electricity Damage
Static electricity is responsible for more damaged computers than most people realize. One day, when some hardware component mysteriously dies, you may not realize that you zapped it yourself.

You must discharge the electricity from your body before you touch the computer or any connected devices. Touch anything metal (except an electric appliance,such as a computer or a lamp). A filing cabinet is good if one is handy. If nothing
metal is within reach, attach a metal bar to the desk or table that your computer sits on.

6.Checking Cables and Connectors
Make sure that the cables aren’t pinched or bent to the point that they can’t handle data. Have you ever sharply bent a water hose? The water stops flowing. The same thing can happen to cable. If you have excess cable, gently roll it into a circle and use a twist tie to keep it together. (Don’t tie it tightly.)

This precaution is true for all the cables in an Ethernet network, as well as for the cables between access points and your router or hub in a wireless network.Cable connectors are the weakest link in the network hardware chain. Because of
this, you should check the connectors first when your computers can’t communicate.

Here’s what to check if you wired your network with 100 BaseT or Category 5 (twisted-pair) cable:

-Make sure that the connectors are properly inserted in the NICs. Make sure that the connectors are properly inserted in the router.
-Make sure that the router is plugged in. (A router usually doesn’t have an on/off switch — if it’s plugged in, it should be working.)

Here’s what to check if you’re using wireless:
-If you’re using a splitter, make sure that the splitter is firmly positioned in the jack.

7.Checking Network Adapters
A network adapter rarely gives up, rolls over, and dies (unless you’ve had a power surge or done something dumb like stick a bobby pin in the connector). However,it’s not unheard of.

Checking Ethernet adapters

If your network adapter has a light on the back panel near the connector, the light should glow green.If you’re using Ethernet and no light is glowing and you’ve checked the connectors and the cable, the only way to check the network adapter is to replace it.

If the new device works, the old one was bad. If the new device doesn’t work, recheck your connectors and cable. Take the new device back to the store and get a credit.If your network adapter has two little light bulbs and the red one is glowing, it’s working but isn’t receiving or sending data. You can be fairly sure that you have a connector or cable problem.

Checking wireless adapters

If you have a wireless network, run your signal strength utility (Programs USR WLAN USR Adapter Wireless LAN Configuration Utility) and see if you’re getting a signal and if the adapter is functioning properly.

If you suddenly have problems with signal strength, or your network just ceases to function and you can’t figure out why, ask yourself whether you have any large appliances running at the same time you’re trying to use your network. Items like microwave ovens, washing machines, and especially anything with a large electrical motor, can cause interference.

Usually, for these appliances to cause trouble with your network, they have to be physically very close to an access point or adapter. If you have multiple 802.11 devices from different companies all trying to work in the same area, you could experience signal problems.

Using the U.S. Robotics Wireless LAN Configuration Utility to help reposition your access point, computer, or the offending electrical appliance should get you network functioning again. Just move things around a bit (usually a few feet will do the trick) until the signal looks good again. We think it’s pretty cool that the wireless networking hardware comes with its own built-in test bench!

8.Monitoring Monitors
Monitors require some special attention, and too many people maul and mishandle them. By no coincidence at all, those same people are the ones who have to buy new monitors more frequently than should be necessary.

A monitor’s screen attracts and collects dust — it actually sucks dust out of the air.You can’t avoid monitor dust. Remove the dust by wiping the screen with a soft,dry cloth. You’re best to do this with the monitor turned off. (Static electricity, which is responsible for attracting the dust, can build up to damaging levels when you rub the screen.)

If you want to use the bottle of window cleaner that you keep around the house,spray it on a cloth, not on the monitor; the monitor isn’t sealed properly to avoid leaks. Then wipe the moistened cloth across the screen.

9.Protecting Printers
You should perform a few maintenance chores regularly to make sure that your printed documents look terrific and your printers perform without errors:

-Don’t overfill paper trays — doing so results in printer jams. If you have to clean up a printer jam, unplug the printer. Never yank on the jammed paper. Pull it steadily and gently.
-Always clean a laser printer when you change toner cartridges, following the directions that come with the cartridge. -Keep printers covered when they aren’t in use. Dust is their biggest enemy.
-Use paper that’s compatible with your printer. (Check the documentation that came with your printer.)

Besides protecting your printer, you also need to protect your computer from your printer, especially if you use a laser printer or a powerful color inkjet printer. These printers use a lot of power. If they’re on the same circuit as your computer, you’re probably causing minor brownouts for the computer, which can harm your hard
drive and your data.

10.Using Antivirus Software
You know if one kid in kindergarten gets the chicken pox, nearly every other kid will too? Computer networks are similar. If one computer has a virus, other computers in your network probably will too.

The very nature of a network — allowing easy sharing of files and folders — means that one infected computer can
easily infect others. Viruses can cause no damage at all, or can be devastating,causing complete loss of all data on a hard drive.

Fortunately, preventing such mishaps is easy. Antivirus software is essential for your network. Each computer on your network needs to have antivirus software installed and regularly updated. With antivirus software installed, you can keep all
the computers on your network happy and healthy.


Backing Up
Loss of data can occur because of, among other things, a virus, a power surge, or plain old hardware failure. Of course, with antivirus software installed and surge protectors on your computers, the chances of data loss are small. However, backing up your data means that you’re protected if the unthinkable should happen.

You can purchase backup programs with sophisticated server features, enabling you to specify a location, such as a shared removable drive on your network for all your computers to back up to.