Ed Bott - Windows 10 Support Secrets

66 CHAPTER 5 | Connecting to the Internet and cloud services CHAP T E R 5 Connecting to the Internet and cloud services Even IT pros with advanced networking certifications occasionally have trouble making sense of how computer networks work in the real world. For mere mortals without that technical background, setting up a network and troubleshooting problems with an Internet connection can sometimes seem more like sorcery than science. In fairness, modern networking is magical. The very idea that we can get news and sports scores from anywhere, as they happen, book a two-week vacation without the help of a travel agent, and have a high-definition video chat with a loved one halfway around the world is truly remarkable. The good news for your users who aren’t experts is that the building blocks of networking are fairly easy to understand. Windows 10 does an excellent job of configuring network connections out of the box, and it offers straightforward tools for viewing the status of a connection and fixing problems. So let’s begin with those building blocks. Networking basics For devices to communicate with one another over a network, you need a combination of hardware and software. Your Windows 10 device has at least one network adapter, capable of making a wired or wireless connection to the Internet and to other devices on a local network, including PCs, printers, and even smart TVs. The software that controls each adapter is capable of chopping outgoing transmissions into packets and reassembling received packets into the original data. Each network adapter has at