Home Networking Survival Guide [Paperback]

David Strom (Conductor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0072193115 | ISBN-13: 978-0072193114 | Publication Date: September 7, 2001

The book features: unique design - through use of easy-to-spot icons readers can navigate the book's content - "rescue planes" denote survival tips, "sharks" flag trouble spots and "message in a bottle" icons contain helpful notes; and great value - comprehensive coverage at an affordable price. This is the only book that offers up-to-date practical advice for the average consumer who wants to setup his/her first home network with a minimum of fuss and at a low cost. It also features a consistent format - each chapter will have five sections: basic concepts, problems, solutions, troubleshooting, and future developments.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Clear, precise advice for setting up your first home network

Want to set up a home network, but not sure where to begin? Look no further because help has arrived! Now you can set up and install your very first home network using this easy-to-follow and jargon-free guide. Filled with step-by-step instructions, this straightforward resource will show you how to network with both Windows and Macintosh systems -- with minimum fuss and with just a few inexpensive products. From choosing the right cables to file sharing and connecting to the Internet, this book contains all you need to get a home network up and running quickly and easily.

The Home Networking Survival Guide features:

• An introduction to basic concepts in clear, non-technical language
• Logically-organized chapters divided into sections for ease of use
• Easy-to-spot icons to help navigate through the book's content
• Step-by-step instructions for setup and troubleshooting
• Straightforward, practical advice to specific problems
• Solutions accompanied with helpful illustrations and screen shots

About the Author

David Strom is founder and president of David Strom, Inc., a networking and communications consulting firm dedicated to improving the quality of networked products, explaining Internet technologies to corporate computing managers, and helping early-stage Internet technology companies. He has worked for most of the major networking companies, including IBM, Microsoft, Sun, Novell, Intel, and others. Strom is one of the leading experts on network and Internet technologies and has written extensively on the topic for more than thirteen years for a wide variety of publications, including PC Week, Infoworld, Network World, Computerworld, CNET.com, and Internet.com. Since 1995, he has published Web Informant, a weekly newsletter on Internet trends and technologies. In 1990, he created Network Computing Magazine, for which he was the first editor-in-chief. He is also a frequent speaker, panel moderator and instructor at various industry events and trade shows around the world. Strom has appeared on the Fox TV News Network, NPR's Science Friday radio program, ABC-TV's World News Tonight and CBS-TV's Up to the Minute news broadcasts.

Product Details

• Paperback: 350 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill/OsborneMedia (September 7, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072193115
• ISBN-13: 978-0072193114
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,204,806 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Strom is one of the leading experts on network and Internet technologies and has written and spoken extensively on topics such as VOIP, convergence, email, network management, Internet applications, wireless and Web services for more than 25 years. He has had several editorial management positions for both print and online properties in the enthusiast, gaming, IT, network, channel, and electronics industries.

He is also the creator of an innovative series of video screencast product reviews of enterprise IT products that can be found on Webinformant.tv and syndicated to various other Web sites.

He has had several editorial management positions for both print and online properties in the enthusiast, gaming, IT, network, channel, and electronics industries, including the editor-in-chief of Network Computing print, Digital Landing.com, and Tom's Hardware.com. He is currently the business channels editor for ReadWriteWeb.com.

Over the course of his editorial career, he has helped launch dozens of Web sites, including the DesignLine series (such as automotivedesignline.com for CMP's Electronics Group) and sites for convergence (such as tomsguides.com for Tom's Hardware). As the founding editor-in-chief for Network Computing magazine, he hired a staff of 20, established the magazine's six networked laboratories, designed a network-based publishing and production system and wrote many articles on networking topics.

He has written over two thousand different articles covering a wide variety of opinion columns, reviews, feature stories and analyses for dozens of publications and web sites, including ITworld.com, TechTarget.com, Internet.com, Network World, Infoworld, Computerworld, Small Business Computing, c|net and news.com, eWeek, Baseline Magazine, PC World, and PC Magazine. For many years, he wrote weekly opinion columns on eCommerce for IDGWorld's email subscription service, and networking columns in Infoworld and PC Week.

Since September 1995, he has self-published a weekly series of essays called Web Informant, sent via email to several thousand subscribers. The essays cover topics such as eCommerce, web site usability, VOIP, mobile communications and web product marketing issues. Strom is the author of two books: Internet Messaging (Prentice Hall, 1998) which he co-authored with Marshall T. Rose and Home Networking Survival Guide (McGrawHill/Osborne, 2001).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy-to-use and bonehead simple route to home networking!, May 24, 2002

By 

Richard Stratton (Bellevue, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Home Networking Survival Guide (Paperback)

I always relied on the young, smart people in the office to deal with the networking challenges. I've read Dave Strom's columns for years now and when this book was available, ordered it the first week. I just went through the book's step-by-step guidelines for installing network cards, creating shared folders, sharing printers, etc. and when I finished, it all worked!

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book that Doesn't Treat You Like a "Dummy" or an "Idiot", October 22, 2001

By 

Joel Shore (Boston, Mass. USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Home Networking Survival Guide (Paperback)

Lots of books explain how to network your home. David Strom's "Home Networking Survival Guide" is better. Here's why: Strom doesn't look down on you like you are a "dummy" or an "idiot." Unlike some other books, the tone in which Strom writes is never condescending, never preachy. It's just you and Dave, sittin' on the patio in the back yard, sippin' lemonade, watchin' the clouds float by, and having a good ol' talk about sharing PCs and Macs, files, printers, and that all important Internet connection. Dave puts his arm around your shoulder, says "come with me," and he shows you the way. He won't make you feel stupid. You've become his partner, not his lab experiment.
The chapters are concept-based: home wiring (or wireless) choices, sharing files, sharing printers, sharing an Internet connection, using e-mail, intrusion security, and protecting your family--from their own actions.

Dave walks you through choosing and installing a solution, but he doesn't just dictate a list of steps to follow. He takes the time to explain why. Too many books just say 'do this' without educating the reader. What good is that?

In summary, this book is like that blue blanket you had as a kid. It makes you feel secure and empowers you to conquer, well, home networking in this case. Next time your cable company or phone carrier says you can't have several computers on your cable or DSL connection, you'll know better.

-Joel Shore, Reference Guide Inc.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much more than a Survival Guide, October 11, 2001

By 

S. Morrison "up-the-river" (Ossining, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Home Networking Survival Guide (Paperback)

Two weeks ago I ordered a DSL/Cable router to network our current two PCs at home, knowing I absolutely had to find some way of sharing the DSL connection to the internet. Last week, I successfully installed the router and started to enjoy the benefits of sharing the fast internet connection. But the network cables were simply strung from the router to the laptop computer temporarily set up in the next room. My challenge this week: to complete the network and enable each computer to see/use files on the other PC and/or to share the laser printer. Unfortunately, the installation guide for the router was useless. And the Dummy/Idiot guides seemed only slightly better.

Unlike some other reviewers, I don't know David Strom, but I feel he must know me, or at least he knows what it feels like to be well (over?) educated but very confused by the challenge of wiring together and configuring each PC to complete a basic home network.

Strom's approach was perfect: my first scan of the book lead me to three specific sections I needed to read to understand the basics and some of the pitfalls I was likely to encounter. I bought the book, finished intalling the network cable, then used Strom's book to troubleshoot problems on each computer.

Strom's Survival Guide fully covers several different methods for "wiring" (phoneline, ethernet cables, wireless, mixed PC/Mac environments); configuration/troubleshooting for various flavors of Windows + Mac OS; recommendations on the best equipment to use to share a DSL/cable modem connection to the internet; troubleshooting tips to fix 22+ Windows Network Problems; and more. There were answers to all my questions and helpful tips at every step along the way. Along the way it felt like I was in touch with a very understanding and very thorough help desk (unlike the "hurt" desk I am forced to rely on at the office).