Johnny 5: Routers

While many computer users trust that information such as emails will be sent and received by their computer without the user needing any knowledge of how or why it’s happening, the savvy computer user might be wise to learn a little bit about what router they’re using.

Routers are computer networking devices that basically receive packets of data and forwards that information to the appropriate device, such as a computer within a network, or another router outside of a network.

While it gets fairly technical to truly understand the process, the main thing to keep in mind is that routers also safeguard against people accessing your computer and potentially stealing not only your internet signal, but your personal information, as well.

As is often the case, the more you spend, the better protected your going to be.

Wireless routers come in different classes, designated A,B,G, pre-N and N. In short, the higher up in the alphabet you are, the more range your router is going to give you, the more freedom of compatibility you’re going to have between machines, and the more that router is going to protect your computer from being accessed by unauthorized users.