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Most computer users are familiar with using there own desktop/laptop computer for every day use on the internet such as checking emails, browsing the internet, internet banking and conferencing. When you check your email your computer is connecting to a server (big fast computer) sitting in a building somewhere in a major city.

Think of your email program (outlook express) as a mail man on your computer. He is wearing a navy blue uniform and shiny black shoes. When you start it the mail man rides his little red motor scooter over to the server building and requests to the manager that your email be given to him for transport. The mail man carries a note in his pocket with your user name and password and when the server asks for identification he gives them the note from you.

Your mail and attachments are then opened and checked for bugs and dangerous goods and then happily handed over and the mail man rides back to your computer and places them into your inbox. Servers are like depots that can hold information, computer files, web pages and mail and wait for people to knock on the door and request something.

You can set a server up at home which could act as a security guard (firewall) between the internet and your computer. It can automatically backup important files and other complex tasks such as handling addresses for the network. While it sound very complicated i found the entire process quite simple and had my server up and running in less than 30 minutes. The beauty of a server is it requires very little processing power and hardware. I have put together a server from spare parts from computers that are too old to sell. They were so old they would only run windows 95 and so i set them up as a server running a light linux operating system.

I use this server to connect to from anywhere in the world and download files i need, collect information from my Invisible Switch' webcam and take care of backups. It will also be used to create a secure encrypted tunnel that i can connect to when in public internet cafes or behind controlling firewalls. Its final job will be to log activity on the network.