annoyances.org is a remote file, but an HTML file on your own
hard disk is a local file, even though they may appear indistinguishable
in a browser. Vista tries to blur the line, a strategy that sometimes works
and other times causes problems: for instance, different security restrictions
and drag-drop rules apply to remote files and folders than to local
ones, and the subtlety can be a pain in one??™s keister.
LAN versus WAN
LAN is shorthand for Local Area Network, a small assemblage of PCs in
a home or small office connected with cables or wireless signals. Likewise,
WAN stands for Wide Area Network, or a network formed by connecting
computers over large distances (e.g., the Internet).
Ethernet
Ethernet is the wired technology upon which the vast majority of local
area networks is built. Any PC capable of handling Vista is likely to have a
built-in Ethernet adapter (also called a NIC, or Network Interface Card).
A standard Ethernet connection is capable of moving data up
to 10 megabits per second (Mbps; see ???Bandwidth,??? later in
this list), a Fast Ethernet connection (sometimes marked
???10/100???) can move data at 100 Mbps, and a Gigabit connection
can move data at up to 1000 Mbps.
WiFi
WiFi is a trendy shorthand term for wireless networking based on the
802.11x standards. The early favorite was 802.11b, but with a leisurely
maximum speed of only 11 Mbps, it was quickly obsoleted by 802.11g
(54 Mbps). Further tweaking has given us multichannel 802.
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