Reader Challenge for September 2008 and August Reader Challenge Winner

August 2008 Reader Challenge Winner

Congratulations to the winner of our August 2008 Reader Challenge. Mark Latham of Colorado wins a copy of “Windows Vista in a Nutshell,” from O'Reilly Media (http://oreilly.com/).

September 2008 Reader Challenge

Solve this month's Vista Update challenge, and you might win a prize! Email your solution (don't use an attachment) to [email protected] by September 15, 2008. You MUST include your full name, street mailing address (no P.O. Boxes), and a telephone number. Without that information, we can't send you a prize if you win, so your answer is eliminated, even if it’s correct.

I choose winners at random from the pool of correct entries. I’m a sucker for humor and originality, and a cleverly written correct answer gets an extra chance. Because I receive so many entries each month, I can't reply to respondents, and I never respond to a request for an email receipt. Look for the solutions to this month's problem at http://www.windowsitpro.com/articles/index.cfm?articleid=10089 on September 16, 2008.

The Challenge

 This month's challenge is inspired by email from users. According to the messages I receive, many IT pros who work in large corporations are doing part-time consulting for small businesses. The questions I get reflect the fact that the hardware and network set-up tasks for small peer-to-peer networks are foreign territory to people who are used to administering large domains. Your challenge is to answer some of the common questions I'm asked.

Question #1: The difference between a hub and a switch is:

A. A switch tracks MAC addresses of connected devices and sends received data only to the port connected to the target device.

B. A switch tracks IP addresses of connected devices and sends received data only to the port connected to the target device.

C. A hub sends all received data to all connected devices, leaving it to the target device to accept or reject the data.

D. A hub sends all received data to the connected device with the unique computer name in the data header.

Question #2: Routers used in small networks are:

A. Switches

B. Hubs

C. Neither a switch nor a hub; you must connect a switch or hub to the router.

Question #3: A residential gateway is:

 A. Another term for a shared modem (either DSL or Cable) that's connected to a router.

 B. A router that includes DHCP services.

 C. A router that includes DNS services.

The ANSWERS, Please: