New ibook (yaay!) and questions (boo!)

[J-Low]

Hi all,

First off:
After saying I wouldn't post update, I bought a 14 inch ibook one month ago, (sorry).
I agonised for months and thhis site was most helpful.

Now, I'll be full of questions and hopefully I'll eventually be able to help too.
So Please bear with me and I hope you can advise

I got a cable modem from my ISP, how do I know if it's a router too?

Until I set up the OSX firewall the internet was really fast and now it's not, is this normal?

How does a newbie know which boxes to check in Firewall prefs and furthermore which to check in advanced settings?

How can I change the power supply from country to country without buying the world travel kit from apple as I dont need all the countries.

Ditto Airport express?

And with the airport express can I plug an external HD into the USB?
and if so can I daisy chain a printer?
and if not how can I get a wireless external HD working?

Thanks a lot if anyone can help

J-Low

 

[robbieduncan]

I got a cable modem from my ISP, how do I know if it's a router too?

If it's got more than 1 ethernet port, or built in wireless it's a router too.

Until I set up the OSX firewall the internet was really fast and now it's not, is this normal?

Should not make much of a difference.

How does a newbie know which boxes to check in Firewall prefs and furthermore which to check in advanced settings?

A newbie should just let OSX decide!

How can I change the power supply from country to country without buying the world travel kit from apple as I dont need all the countries.

Standard plug adaptors? Or figure of 8 cables with different plugs. The power adaptor can deal with most voltages/input frequencies.

Ditto Airport express?

And with the airport express can I plug an external HD into the USB?
and if so can I daisy chain a printer?
and if not how can I get a wireless external HD working?

Airport express cannot do this. It has a built in print server. It does not have a file server. You need something that will present the disk to the network. Google for Wireless NAS.

 

[J-Low]

Thanks a lot. you're a marvel.

Cheers.