What is the purpose of the Microsoft Loopback Adapter?
localhost, loopback
Solution
Well, the best answer I can give you is a few links. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loopback The key sentence here is
"Any traffic that a computer program sends to the loopback interface is immediately received on the same interface."
http://www.juniper.net/techpubs/software/erx/erx50x/swconfig-system-basics/html/system-mgmt15.html This may be a little more obscure if you don't know networking well.
Basically, it's a fake network interface, useful for tests and stability. In practice, most likely something you'll never have to worry about (or you'd already know about it!)
Problem
Just as the question says, what is the Microsoft Loopback Adapter, and as a bonus, what scenerios as a developer would it be useful? I've noticed it's been required when installing a couple of applications to my machine, but aside from guessing, I've never have had a sturdy understanding of it's functionality. I've read a couple of articles online, but nothing really made me "get it". While I don't need a hugely complex answer, a little explaination would be very useful. Thanks! George