Difference between Between SQLSever Authentication and Windows Authentication

What is the differrence between SQL Auth and Windows Auth ?

What is Server Name in SQL Server Connection Dialog ?

Server Name Consists:

• ComputerName
• ComputerName\SQLEXPRESS

What is SQLEXPRESS ?

SQL Authentication requires a username and password to authenticate. Windows authentication uses the currently logged in Windows user to authenticate an SQL Server sessin.

Server Name is the name of the Server, surprisingly

SQL Express is a free version of SQL Server provided for non commercial use

Just to further clarify...

When you install SQL Server, you can install it as a named instance, or a default instance. There can only be 1 default instance installed per computer. With a default instance, you use the ComputerName in the connection dialog. With a named instance, you use back slash () and the instance name.

When you install SQL Server Express, it defaults to installing named instance (named SQLEXPRESS).