Table of Contents Introduction 1 About This Book. 1 Conventions Used in This Book 2 What You Don't Need to Read 2 Foolish Assumptions 2 How This Book Is Organized, 3 Part I: Network Basics. 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 Part I Configuring Computers for Networking. Part Ill: Communicating Across the Network. Part IV: Network Security and Maintenance. Part V: The Part of Tens. Icons Used in This Book, Where to Go from Here. Part I: Network Basics.. Chapter 1: Planning the Lay of the LAN .. Why Would I Want a Home Network? Network Operating Systems (Nothing to Do with Surgery) 1 Which Windows versions have Internet Connection Sharing?.....12 What can Ido if | don’t have the right version for Internet Connection Sharing?. 12 DSL and cable modem users don't have to care about Windows versions 13 Network Types — Just Like Personality Types. 13 Client/server networks for control freaks. 13 Peer-to-peer networks are more relaxed about controls. 15 Mixed networks fit all types: 16 ‘The Nuts and Bolts of Hardware 16 Your NIC has to get on the right bus. 16 Some NICs don't take the bus 18 Connections: Cables, wires, and thin air 19 Wireless connections for the cable-phobic. 23 Saving Time, Trouble, and Money When You Buy Hardware 25 Doing your homework: Just like being in school 26 Plunking down the money: Tips for buying. 27 Chapter 2: Installing Network Adapters . It’s Okay to Mix and Match NICs Before You Start.X— Home Networking For Dummies, 3rd Edition Putting a NIC on the Bus 31 Disassembling your computer: Open sesame 31 Removing the backplate 32 Inserting the NIC. 33 ‘Adding USB Connectors — Easy as Pie 34 Installing Laptop Adapters. 36 ‘Troubleshooting Network Adapters. 37 No adapter icon on the taskbar. 37 Two adapter icons? 37 Cable Unplugged error. 38 No Signal Can Be Found error. 39 Chapter 3: Installing Ethernet Cable ... At Ready, Set, Run 41 Ethernet cable has many aliases 41 Concerning the concentrator 43 Deciding Where to Put the Concentrator. 44 Concentrators are environmentally Tussy. 45 Concentrators are innately powerless 45 Distance Depends on What You Choose to Measure. 46 Handling Cable Correctly. 7 Connecting two patch cables. 47 ‘Making your own patch cables. 48 ‘The Chase Is On: Running the Cable. 49 Cabling within a room 49 Cabling between adjacent rooms 49 Cabling between nonadjacent rooms on the same floor. 50 Cabling Between Floors. 51 Beauty Is in the Eye of the Decorator 53 ‘Adding cable faceplates, 53 Using floor cable covers 54 Curing Your Network's Growing Pains 55 Getting Into the Zone. 57 Chapter 4: Using Wires That Are Already There One Standard, Indivisible, with Liberty and Networking for All 59 ‘Tapping Into Phone Lines to Connect a Network 60 Where do I plug in phones?, 61 Ganging the network and the telephone 62 Ganging the network, the telephone, and an external modem ...62 Ganging the network, the telephone, and an internal modem....63 Too many computers, not enough phone jacks? 65 Phoneline networks and DSL service 65 Sharing an Internet connection on a phoneline network 66 ‘Troubleshooting phoneline networks 67Table of Contents Powering Up Your Network with the Electric Company. 9 Using USB powerline adapters 69 Using your built-in Ethernet adapter 70 Powerline networks and Internet Connection Sharing 70 DSL powerline kits. 70 Powerline security a ‘Troubleshooting powerline communications. n Chapter 5: Look Ma, No Wires . ‘Translating the Geek: Speak of Wireless Technology 3 Radio frequency: Hello, den? Kitchen here 74 Wireless standards — alphabet soup. 74 Positioning Computers. 76 How far can you go? 76 Detouring around obstructions n Empower Your Network with Hardware Doohickeys 78 Wireless routers 78 Access points 79 Signal boosters 79 Understanding Wireless Network Security 30 SSID. 80 Broadcasting across the alrwaves 31 Data encryption. 33 Wireless Hotspots for Pubic Use. 85 Part I: Configuring Computers for Networking .. Chapter 6: Installing Networking Software Install Wireless Doohickeys First Installing the software Connecting to an Ethernet adapter, Configuring the device. Installing Drivers for Network Adapters ‘The Plug and Play way. Doing it yourself Special tasks for installing ISA NICs. Installing Network Protocols and Services. Deciding on a protocol Adding a protocol Configuring TCP/IP. Adding network services. Naming computers and workgroups Using the Windows Home Networking Wizards. 10 ‘Windows Me Home Networking Wizard 110 Windows XP Network Setup Wizard 13 Windows XP SP2 Wireless Network Setup Wizard 14 xtXf Home Networking For Dummies, 3rd Edition Accommodating Road Warriors 17 Bridging the topology gap. 7 Managing multiple settings 18 Changing settings manually. 118 Using software to move between networks. 19 Using the netsh commanddine tool 120 Macintosh Can Join the Family, Too. 121 Chapter 7: Setting Up Shared Internet Connections . ‘The Internet: From Your House to the World and Back. 123 Understanding Your Hardware Options. 126 Telephone modems. 126 Cable modems 127 Digital subscriber line (DSL) modems 128 Fiber-optic DSL 130 Satellite connection, 131 Configuring Telephone Modem Connections 131 Creating a DUN connection in Windows 98 SE and Windows Me. 132 Creating a DUN connection in Windows 2000. 136 Creating a DUN connection in Windows XP. 137 Sharing a Telephone Modem Connection. 139 Windows 98 SE Internet Connection Sharing. 140 Windows Me Internet Connection Sharing. 143 Windows XP Internet Connection Sharing 146 Sharing DSI. or Cable Modems. 148 Bridging the wiring gap 148 Routing the network to the modem: 150 Configuring the router 152 Configuring client computers for a router 152 ‘Two NICs instead of a router Chapter 8: Configuring Computer Sharing ..... Understanding Hierarchy: Shares Have Parents and Children 156 Sharing a Hard Drive, 157 Sharing a hard drive in Windows 98 and Windows Me 158 Controlling user actions in Windows 98 and Windows Me.......159 Sharing a hard drive in Windows 2000, 160 Sharing a hard drive in Windows XP. 162 Sharing Removable Drives. 162 Sharing Folders. 163 Windows XP Security — Sorting Out the Confusion 164 Using Hidden Shares 165 ‘Creating a hidden share. 166 Getting to your hidden share from a remote computer 16 Keeping the secret a secret 166Table of Contents Chapter 9: Setting Up Users .. Profiles in Windows 98 and Windows M Enabling profiles in Windows 98/Me. 168 Creating users in Windows 98/Me computers. 169 Deciding which settings to personalize. 172 Changing user options. 173 Sneaking around, resetting passwords, and otherwise foiling Windows 98/Me “security” 176 Back to the drawing board: Creating a new password 178 Logging on to your Windows 98/Me computer 179 Switching to another user 179 Getting to know the default desktop. 180 Using the Family Logon feature 181 Logging Off 183 ‘Tweaking profiles in Windows 98 and Windows Me 184 What's in my profile? 134 Where your desktop really lives. 185 Viewing your Start Menu folder 185 Adding software listings to your Programs menu. 187 Managing Users and Profiles in Windows 2000. 188 Creating users in Windows 2000. 188 Setting permissions in Windows 2000 190 Managing Users and Profiles in Windows XP 191 Creating users in Windows XP. 191 Part Ill: Communicating Across the Network... Chapter 10: Printing Across the Network Setting Up Shared Printers. Enabling printer sharing, Installing a printer Sharing a printer. Installing a Network Printer. Choosing an installation method Running the installation procedure 203 Renaming network printers 204 Using both local and network printers. 204 Using password-protected printers 205 Devising schemes for using multiple printers. 205 Managing Network Printing 207 Understanding the spooler 207 Manipulating print jobs 207XIV Home Networking For Dummies, 3rd Edition Printing Tricks and Tips 208 Using a printer shortcut on the desktop 208 Using separator pages to identify users. 210 Using a Hardware Print Server: 211 ‘Attaching a print server 212 Installing a print server 212 ‘Troubleshooting Network Printing 213 Check the print server. 213 Check the printer 213 Cheek the network cable 214 Check the Windows XP SP2 Firewall. 24 Chapter 11: Getting Around the Neighborhood a5 ‘Traveling on the Network 215 Visiting Network Neighborhood (Windows 98). 215 Calling on My Network Places (Windows Me, 2000, and XP)......216 Viewing information about the neighborhood residents 221 Exploring the neighborhood in Windows Explorer. 222 Psst — What's the Password? 222 ‘Opening a password-protected share. 222 Creating permission-level passwords. 224 Say UNCJe: Understanding UNCs. 204 ‘Naming your computers and shared resources 224 Understanding the UNC format 225 Displaying UNCs. 295 ‘Opening a share by typing the UN 226 Creating UNC shortcuts. 227 Mapping Drives 228 Understanding drive letters. 228 ‘Mapping a UNC 229 Viewing and using mapped drives 231 Reconnecting mapped drives 232 Working with mapped drives in Windows Explorer. 234 Working with mapped drives at the command line. 235 Chapter 12: Using Files from Other Computers Working with Remote Files Copying files between computers. Relocating (moving) files. Deleting files from remote computers ‘Opening Remote Files in Software Windows 242 Opening distant files 243 Saving remote files 244 Uh oh, two documents with the same name. 246 Understanding documents in use 247 Files that should never be opened across a network 250 Licenses and other complications 250Table of Contents How About Including My Macintosh? 251 Mac, meet Dave 252 From a PC LAN to a PC MACLAN 252 Part IV: Network Security and Maintenance were 253 Chapter 13: Making Your Network Secure ..... 255 Al About Viruses 255 Filesinfecting viruses 256 System and boot infectors 257 Macro viruses, 258 ‘Trojan horses 260 Worms 260 Antivirus Programs: For Prevention and Cure 261 ‘Common Sense: Part of Your Arsenal. 263 Develop e-mail paranoia. 264 Develop Internet download paranoia 264 Virus hoaxes. 264 Firewall: Defense for internet Attacks 266 Why do you need a firewall? 266 What a firewall does 267 Examining firewalls log file 268 Testing the security of your system. 269 Windows XP firewalls 211 Troubleshooting Windows XP SP2 Firewall 2m Hardware firewalls in routers 279 Troubleshooting router firewalls 279 Spyware 281 Windows XP SP2 Security Center. 282 Checking for a firewall 283 Checking for automatic updates 283 Checking virus protection software 285 Security Center alerts 285 Security Centers don't play well with others 286 Chapter 14: Disaster Planning and Recovery . Avolding Zapped Computers. Protecting against electrical surges. Protecting against telephone line surges 289 Protecting against lightning hits. 288 Protecting against power loss 289 Understanding and fixing low-voltage problems. 290 Preventing static electricity damage 291 Caring for Network Hardware 292 Checking connectors 292 Checking cables. 293 Checking NICs 294 xvXU{ Home Networking For Dummies, 3rd Edition Monitoring Monitors, 294 Protecting Printers 295 Establishing a Plan for Backing Up Data 296 Back up often 296 Configure computers for efficient backups. 297 Safeguard software CDs and disks 298 Safeguard backup media 298 Using Microsoft Backup 299 Installing Microsoft Backup 299 Configuring Microsoft Backup 302 Backing Up Data on Floppy Disks 303 Backing Up Data to Removable Drive Cartridges 303 Using Microsoft Backup with removable drives 304 Using Send To with removable drives 304 Backing up data on CDs. 305 Backing up data on tapes. 305 Backing Up to Remote Computers. 306 Restoring a System after a Disaster 307 Using System Restore. 308 Chapter 15: Using Windows Maintenance Tools 309 Checking Your Hard Drive for Damage with ScanDisk 309 Why hard drives develop problems. 310 Running ScanDisk in Windows 98/Me. 31 Running ScanDisk in Windows 2000 and Windows XP 313 Defragging Your Hard Drive. 315 Why hard drives get fragged. 315 How to defrag your drive 316 Managing Devices with the Device Manager 318 Viewing a specific device. 318 ‘Managing device problems 319 Printing a report about devices. 320 Determining Who's on Your Computer 320 Cleaning Up Files with Disk Cleanup 322 Working with System Information, 324 General System Information 325 Hardware Resources 325 Components 326 Software Environment 327 Internet Explorer. 328 Saving system information toa file 328 Checking Windows 98 system files 328 Automating Maintenance Tasks. 329 Maintenance Wizard in Windows 98 and Windows Me 329 Doing an Express setup 330 Doing a Custom setup, 331 Task Scheduler. 333 Troubleshooting Disk Errors 335