[rich2202]

You want straight through cables. Rarely have I ever needed a crossover cable.

You want stranded cable. Solid cable is good when the wire NEVER moves. Stranded is good for wire that has to flex. With flexing, the solid cable will break (internally) a lot sooner.

Solid wire is one thick piece of wire. Stranded is lots of thin wire wound together. Solid has less "resistance", but because of its thickness, it breaks easily if it is flexed too much. Thin wire has a lot more "give", and can survive a lot of flexing. Also, if one strand breaks, the other intact strands can spread the load across the gap. Not so with a solid wire.