Home Networking: The Missing Manual

Sharing Your PC's Files and Folders

Okay, so you've named your computers, you've set up any user accounts you wanted to create, and now it's time for the last big step: deciding what network resources—files, folders, printers, and so on—you want to make available.

All versions of Windows can share resources with other computers on the network. As you might expect, the newer Windows descendents—Windows XP and 2000—come with lots of configurable options. Windows 95, 98, and ME aren't all bad when it comes to sharing: they're very easy to set up.

Windows gives you three methods for sharing files and folders. First, if you're using Windows XP (Home Edition or Pro), you can use Simple file sharing, which basically gives you a big on/off switch that you can flick on almost anything on your computer. Simple file sharing's really easy to use, but it's about as customizable as a pitchfork.

Standard file sharing, available in Windows XP Pro or Windows 2000, is a little more complex (but much more full-featured) than the simple method. You can really exercise full control over who gets access to what on your PC using Standard file sharing.

Finally, for you folks running Windows 95, 98, or ME, you get an easy-to-use but very basic system that's fairly comparable to Simple file sharing.

Windows XP Simple File Sharing

If you're working on a home network, and you have nothing to hide from the other people in the house, you may appreciate Windows XP's new Simple file sharing feature. It lets you ...