Windows® 7 Visual™ Quick Tips

10.5. Change the Homegroup Password

You can make your Windows 7 homegroup more secure by regularly changing the password.

In a traditional network, file sharing is accomplished via user accounts. If you have just a single user account on a computer, you configure that account's permissions for each shared resource, and you then provide other network users with the user name and password. A more likely scenario is to add a user account for each network user, and then configure permissions on shared resources for each of those accounts. This type of file sharing is time-consuming at best and, for new users, dauntingly complex, at worst.

With Windows 7's homegroup feature, access to shared resources is governed by a single password. You set up ...