Windows 8 In Depth

Using Universal Plug and Play

If you use a hardware connection-sharing router, you might want to consider enabling a feature called Universal Plug and Play (UPnP). UPnP provides a way for software running on your computer to communicate with the router. Specifically, UPnP provides a means for the following:

• The router to tell software on your computer that it is separated from the Internet by NAT. This may let some software—the video and audio parts of most instant messaging programs, in particular—have a better chance of working.

• Software running on the network to tell the router to forward expected incoming connections to the correct computer. Online messaging programs often require this. When the computer on the other end of the connection ...