In a home computer, you will generally not have a network card, but these devices are very common for computers in office settings. A network card is a special card which allows your computer to talk to other computers that are physically attached via cables. Depending on how the network is set up, you can send messages from computer to computer, run programs that are stored on different computers, and share devices like hard drives and printers. In many offices, the network also gives you access to the Internet. Network connections are generally faster than modem connections.