How to Make a LAN Cable

How to Make a LAN Cable

Most of us who’s hobby is assembling or tinkering computer don’t bother to acquire knowledge on LAN cabling, simply because LAN cable is readily available and can be bought at any computer store. There is nothing wrong in buying ready-made LAN Cable. The problem is, we can’t always find the right length for our needs and it is quite expensive.

Here, we will learn how to make a LAN Cable. There are two types of LAN Cable: the Straight and the Crossover Cable. What is the difference between Straight Cable and Crossover Cable? The Straight cable is used to connect computers to hub or switch while the Crossed Cable is use to Connect two computers directly without using any hub or switch provided that both computers have LAN cards. The materials we will use are: Registered Jack 45 (RJ-45) and an unshielded twisted pair (UTP). Category 5e is recommended if the speed of your network is running at speeds up to 1000 Mbps (1 gigabit per second). The only tool we will use is RJ45 crimping tool.

The first type of cable we’re going to make is a straight cable. First, take a desired length of cable, strip off the cladding using the stripper of the crimping tool, exposing the eight conductor wires, then arrange the wire as follows: white with orange, orange, white with green, blue, white with blue, green, white with brown, brown. After you arranged the wire, insert the wires to the RJ45. The white with orange wire goes to the Pin 1, the orange wire in Pin 2, the white with green wire in Pin 3, the blue wire in Pin 4, the white with blue in Pin 5, the green wire in Pin 6, the white with brown in Pin 7 and lastly the brown wire in Pin 8. After you insert the correct color of the wire in the RJ45, crimp it using the crimping tool. Next, repeat the procedure on the other end of the cable. Now we are done making a straight cable.

Let’s proceed with the crossover cable. The crossover cable has the same Pin configuration as straight cable at one end of the cable but the other end has a different Pin configuration. First, arrange the wire like in the straight cable then crimp it, then at the other end of the cable arrange the wire as follows: white with green in Pin 1, green in Pin 2, white with orange in Pin 3, white with brown in Pin 4, brown in Pin 5, Orange in Pin 6, blue in Pin 7, and white with blue in Pin 8. After the arranging the position of the conductor wires to the RJ45, crimp it. Congratulations! We now have completed making our two types of cables.

Ways to Avoid Spam

Ways to Avoid Spam

 

Ever since the invention of the Electronic Mail or E-mail, our life became more convenient.  We never have to wait for a long time for our mail to arrive even if our friends and family members are located at the other end of the Earth. Like all other things in life, nothing is perfect. Just like the traditional mail or as we refer to it now as ‘snail mail’, we can also receive junk mail called ‘Spam’, not the Spam by Hormel, maker of canned luncheon meat.

Then what is a Spam? Spam is an unsolicited bulk email sent by an anonymous sender. According to Webster online dictionary, the origin of the word ‘Spam’ came from the skit in Monty Python’s Flying Circus were most of the dialog are Spam. Now the questions are: Why are Spammers doing this? Are they profiting from it? The answer is ‘yes’.  The spammer sends bulk email to all contacts that they harvested in the net, and if the recipients reply, the spammer earns a small percentage from them.  Now, how can we protect our email addresses from being a target of spammers?  These are some simple ways to do it:

 

1.      Never post your email addresses in forums, chat rooms, mailing lists or any publicly accessible resources.

2.      When creating email address, don’t limit it to your name only.  Use combination of numbers and letters that make it harder for the spammer to spell it. Usually spammer guesses the email address by using combination of names.

3.      If you’re going to post your email in public, mask or disguise your email address for example: joesmith@yahoo.com you can type it like joesmith(at)yahoo(dot)com or better yet post it as an image rather than text. There are sites that provide this service for free or you can manually do it in any photo editing software.

4.      Create multiple email addresses. One for your private and business, and the other for registering in forum or other site. In this way, you will not worry about your private email being flooded by spam.

5.      Never respond to spam.  If you do, the spammer will know that your email is active and most likely they will send you more junk mails.

6.      Tell your friends and family members not to post your private email in any site or to be use in registering in sites.

7.      Use anti-spam solution or spam filter.

 

The tips I’ve mentioned are not 100 percent solutions. Spammers will always create new and better ways to get your e-mail and spam you. In case your email had been discovered by a spammer, be ready to change your email address.