Windows Vista Annoyances

Sharing Files

Whether you built the network yourself or work in an office where somebody has done that work for you, all kinds of fun can come from having a network. You’re now ready to share the following components among the various PCs on the network:

• ▸ Printers. You don’t need a printer for every PC; all of the PCs can share a much smaller number of printers. If several printers are on your network—say, a high-speed laser printer for one computer and a color printer on another—everyone on the network can use whichever printer is appropriate to a particular document.

• ▸ Your Internet connection. Having a network means that all the PCs in your home or office can share a single connection (Section 16.2).

• ▸ Files, folders, and disks. No matter what PC you’re using on the network, you can open the files and folders on any other networked PC, as long as the other PCs’ owners have made these files available for public inspection. That’s where file sharing comes in, and that’s what this section is all about.

  The uses for file sharing are almost endless. At its simplest, you can use file sharing to finish writing a letter in the bedroom that you started downstairs at the kitchen table—without having to carry a flash drive around. But you can also store your library of MP3 music files on one computer and play them from any other computer on the network.

Note

Your network might include a Vista PC, a couple of Windows XP machines, Windows 95, 98, or Me machines, and even Macs. That’s perfectly ...