Here's some basic info:

Unicast: Unicast traffic is traffic that is meant for a single host. All other hosts will ignore unicast traffic not meant for themselves. In a switched environment, unicast traffic is generally not "heard" by any hosts other than the host that the traffic is intended for. In an environment that uses hubs (shudder) all hosts will "hear" unicast traffic meant for every other host, but they'll ignore all traffic not intended for themselves.

Broadcast: Broadcast traffic is traffic that is sent with the intent of being "heard" by all hosts on a particular network segment. Examples of broadcast traffic would be an ARP request, which is a broadcast at the physical layer (MAC address FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF) or a NetBIOS name query, which is a broadcast at the network layer (whatever happens to be the broadcast address for that particular network, such as 64.28.42.63 for the network 64.28.42.0/26).

Multicast: Multicast traffic is traffic that is sent with the intent of being "heard" by a particular group of hosts on a network segment. Some multicast traffic can be considered broadcast traffic, such as traffic to the multicast address 224.0.0.1, which is multicast traffic meant for all hosts on the same network segment. Another example of multicast traffic would be traffic sent to the multicast address 224.0.0.9 which is what RIP routers use to send routing information to other RIP routers on the same network segment.

I'll leave Anycast to someone else as I really don't know that much about it.

What is the difference between unicast, anycast, broadcast and multicast traffic?
I'm using Quicken 2008, I'm pondering upgrading to the 2010 edition, but...I'm having some problems; the online balance says I have like 3,000 some dollars and my Ending Balance says that I have like 600 dollars.

I'm totally confused by this. My thought is that the online balance is what the bank believes I have in the bank. But I really don't know how much money I have right now. Is it 3,000 or is it 600? I mean that's a really large gap there.

Why are there two different balances and what do they both mean?

Please note that I get my transaction input from two different places:


My PDA has Pocket Quicken installed on it and I sync this up with my Q2008 installation.
All three of the Financial institutions that I use all sync up with my installation Q2008.


I also read somewhere that if you have duplicate transactions in your Q2008 you should delete them. Does either the 2008 or 2010 edition have support for this, and how do you go about using it to iron out the errors in your account (if they are indeed errors...)
