I NEED HELP ON BASIC NETWORKING!!IM DOING A-LEVEL I.T & WE ARE STARTING TO DO NETWORKING IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS BUT ID LIKE TI KNOW A BIT ABOUT IT FIRST.CAN ANYBODY HELP??? CHEERS GARETH

Gareth, This is a HUGE topic and without knowing the specifics of your network, it's difficult to suggest where to begin. There are numerous sites on the web that cover this topic. I have included a link to two of them below. You could also try using the search engine at http://www.google.com and enter "network tutorials". There is also a good, easy to follow book, that, by it's design, covers many aspects of networking -- "Network + Study Guide" by Michael Myers. It's designed to help you pass CompTIA's Network+ certification exam and it covers a lot of territory in a relatively easy to follow manner. Two things to consider in regard to the network you're interested in is: 1.)the OS (operating system, i.e., Windows NT, Unix (there are various "flavors" of Unix such as AIX, HP-UX, BSD, Sun-Solaris, etc.), Novell NetWare, and others, and, 2.) the topology (star, bus, mesh, token-ring, etc.) which I would guess is probably star, unless you are on a very old (in computer years!) network. It's a fascinating subject (at least to a "born-again geek" like me) and I wish you the best of luck. Hope this helps... http://www.webopedia.internet.com http://compnetworking.about.com/compute/compnetworking/