Windows Vista in a Nutshell

Sharing Resources and Files

There’s little point in setting up a network with multiple computers if you don’t take advantage of the connection by sharing files and printers. Once you’ve established a network connection with another Windows computer and verified that the connection is working, you can set up resources to be shared over your network.

A shared resource is a folder on your hard disk, a printer physically attached to your computer, or some other device that you would like to share with other computers on your network. If you share a printer, others on your network can print to it; if you share a folder, others on your network can access the files and folders contained therein as though they were stored on their own hard disks.

Whenever you share a resource, you are opening a backdoor to your computer. It’s important to keep security in mind at all times, especially if you’re connected to the Internet. Otherwise, you may be unwittingly exposing your personal data to intruders looking for anything they can use and abuse. Furthermore, an insecure system is more vulnerable to viruses and other malicious programs.

To start sharing resources, you first need to enable sharing on your PC. Open the Network and Sharing Center (Figure 7-33) by choosing Control Panel → Set up file sharing, or Control Panel → [Network and Internet] → Network and Sharing Center.

Figure 7-33. The first ...