Network Your Computers

You can share files with other computers in your home via e-mail or by carting your data around on a USB flash drive, but it’s inconvenient, especially when you want to share a folder containing a couple of hundred vacation photos that are each several megabytes in size. By networking your PCs together, however, you can share entire folders of files, directly access files on another PC, or drag and drop files between computers.

Depending on whether you’re connecting desktops or laptops, and how close they’ll be, you can opt for a wired or wireless connection. Wired connections offer the best speed—up to 1 gigabit of data per second—and the least expensive setup. Wireless (or Wi-Fi) connections are slower (rated at 54 to 300 megabits per second, depending on whether you’re using an 802.11g or 802.11n network), cost slightly more to set up, and require you to configure security correctly to protect your network. With a wireless network, you can roam around the house with your laptop, or connect two desktops without stringing wires across the carpet.

Whichever connection you choose, you’ll want a router. You don’t absolutely have to have one—you can connect two PCs directly by using a special “crossover” Ethernet cable—but a router makes network setup much easier by handling technical details such as assigning the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses that networked computers use to communicate with each other. Routers also let you use the network to share an Internet connection, and many add hardware firewalls, which help protect your PCs against Internet hacks. Even if you plan to use a wired connection, the price difference is small enough that you might consider a wireless router to give you more flexibility in the future. The Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G is a popular router that’s commonly available for less than $50; it features four wired ports and 802.11g wireless connectivity.

In addition to a router, you’ll need an Ethernet (or Cat-5) cable for each computer you plan on connecting to the router. Nearly all modern desktops and laptops include a built-in wired Ethernet adapter, so you’re unlikely to need a network card for a wired connection. For a wireless connection, most laptops have a built-in Wi-Fi adapter, and desktop owners can find inexpensive internal PCI cards or external USB Wi-Fi adapters. Choose a router that uses the same Wi-Fi standard (usually 802.11g or the faster 802.11n) for ease of connection and best performance.

Connect your computers

For each computer you connect to the router using a wired connection, turn off the PC, plug the Cat-5 cable into the Ethernet port on the back, and plug the other end of the cable into the back of the router (typically, into a port marked “LAN”). If you’re also connecting a cable or DSL modem to the router, plug its Cat-5 cable into the port on the router marked “WAN.”

Setting up wireless connections is a bit more complex; you’ll need to follow the instructions included with your router and your wireless network card for specifics. In a nutshell, when you set up the router’s wireless feature, you’ll choose a name for your wireless network, called a Service Set Identifier (SSID). You’ll also want to enable encryption to keep your files private and prevent neighbors from borrowing your bandwidth. Unless you’re using older network hardware that doesn’t support these standards, choose Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) or WPA-2, as they’re much more secure than the older Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) standard. Once the router is set up, you can browse for your new wireless network on your PC, usually by right-clicking the network icon in the Windows Taskbar and choosing “Connect to a network.”

Choose folders to share

Advanced Sharing lets you create a Share name, making it much easier to find your folders on the network than with Vista’s standard sharing scheme.

Now that file and printer sharing are active, you’re ready to choose which folders you want to share with other PCs. You can make a new folder as a repository for shared files, or share existing folders on the network. Be careful not to share folders containing system files or information that hasn’t been backed up, particularly if you’re letting another user write to that folder.

Windows Vista introduced a new “simplified” folder-sharing scheme designed to be easier to set up. But it’s actually more complicated to use, since it does away with the ability to create a Share Name—a nickname for your shared folder that lets you navigate directly to it. If you share a folder (that’s nested within other folders) using Vista’s new sharing method, you end up having to navigate through multiple levels of folders to access your files. So, we’re going to skip the “Share…” option and use Advanced Sharing instead, which offers the more convenient XP-style Share Names.

You can give individual users the right to change shared folder contents, while leaving the folder read-only for others.

You can give individual users the right to change shared folder contents, while leaving the folder read-only for others.

To share a folder in Vista, right-click the folder and choose “Properties.” Click the Sharing tab > Advanced Sharing. Click “Share this folder,” and then enter a Share Name (the folder nickname mentioned above). By default, others will be able to read—but not change or add—files in the folder. If you want to allow write access to the folder, click Permissions > Change to allow others to change files in the folder, and click “Full Control” to allow all file operations over the network. You can also assign different permissions to different users by clicking the “Add…” button and entering the login name of the user whose rights you want to set. Click OK to finish. In XP, right-click the folder you want to share, choose “Sharing and Security,” and then check “Share this folder on the network.” Enter a Share Name, then check “Allow network users to change my files” if you want to allow other users to change the files in the folder. Click OK to share the folder.

Access your shared files

Click Network in the start menu to see all of the computers and devices on your network; then click the PC that contains the files you want to access.

Clicking a computer name will let you view the shared folders on that PC.

Once you open a network folder, you can open or copy files directly from it.

To view your shared folders in Windows Vista, click the Start button, then click Network. You’ll see a list of all of the computers and other devices on your network. Double-click the computer containing the folder you want to access, and you’ll see a list of all of the shared folders on it. (If it’s your first time accessing folders on that PC, you’ll be prompted to enter your user name and password first.) Double-click the folder you want to access, and it will open. Now you can drag files to and from the folder, or launch them directly over the network.

In Windows XP, click the Start menu, and choose My Network Places to view shared folders. XP, however, isn’t as reliable as Vista at showing shared folders, and they may not be present, particularly the first time you check. If this is the case, click the Start button, click “Run,” and then enter the name of the computer you want to access, preceded by a pair of backslashes (\\mediapc, for example, if the name is “mediapc”). Click OK, enter your username and password on that computer if you’re prompted, and you should now see a list of shared folders.

To simplify future access to often-used shared folders, you can drag the folder to your desktop, which will create a shortcut icon you can use to quickly access the folder.

Tags: Computer Network

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