A computer network is a combination of two or more computers, which are connected in a multitude of ways, which allows them to share information between each other. There are several ways through which computers can be connected; the general ones are LANs, computers that are located in the same building, WANs – connected through telephone lines or radio waves, CANs – located on the same base/campus, MANs – ones connected across the whole town/city and HANs – connected inside our homes for personal use. With all of these different types of networks, what sort of advantage do they bring? Computers that are connected through networks are comparatively low in individual power; however they make up for it with numbers. Because they are connected through a network, they are allowed to share the burden, that would have been too much to handle for them, with other computers in the same network and at the same time, they take advantage of the unused resources in other computers to make themselves work faster, which is significantly useful for example, during making animations and image rendering. What other benefits do computer networks provide? They allow easier communication, access and use, quicker transfer and sharing of various forms of data because they are interconnected and also the ability for multiple computers to connect to a single device, for example a printer. These advantages do not come without a price though, because having computers interconnected produces some forms of risk or disadvantage. For example, because they are so closely interconnected, if a computer virus manages to enter even one of the computers, the whole network would be done for, due to the speed with which the virus would spread between them. Another example is that it might interfere with some wavelengths, thus preventing them from doing what they’re supposed to. The last one is more of a disadvantage than a risk; computer networks cost a lot to set up and are not easily affordable by most companies. What does all of this mean to us? We are living in a world where networks are used to achieve a variety of things, from completing a transaction to setting up a cyber-attack aimed at one point from the opposite side of the globe. But the things which people would care the most for, is that networks are used for iCloud to store all the information that you have, so that you might retrieve it later.

Questions

How does a proxy work?

How does roaming work?

How do computers take advantage of unused space of other computers inside a network?