Spy on Your Internet Connection
Knowing whether your PC is currently online can seem tricky, especially if you have an internal modem. But keeping tabs on your Internet connection is easier than you might think. In Windows XP, click Start, Control Panel, Network And Internet Connections, and Network Connections. Next, double-click the icon representing your Internet connection. You'll see the Internet Connection Status dialog box, which indicates whether the connection is active or inactive, how long you've been online, and the connection speed. From this dialog box, click the Properties button, select the Show Icon In Notification Area checkbox, and click OK. A tiny icon will now appear in the Taskbar and display a notice whenever your Internet connection becomes active or inactive.
Many New Home Networks Are Wireless
Numerous home users setting up networks nowadays do it wirelessly simply because wireless networks are so easy to set up. A wireless network helps two or more computers share information, printers, and an Internet connection. Users should connect a wireless hub (the control center of the wireless network) to the computer closest to the Internet connection point (that is, the phone line or cable modem). The other computers can connect to the wireless network with Wi-Fi (standard set for wireless equipment; short for wireless fidelity) access cards.
There's no hard-and-fast rule about how far apart computers can be from the hub; it depends on the walls and objects between them. In a typical home or office, you can have from 200 to 300 feet between the PCs before wireless connections start to degrade. Concrete and steel walls reduce the range considerably.
Bypass The Network Password
After you add a Windows 98 PC to a network, you'll probably see the Enter Network Password dialog box appear on-screen every time you boot the computer. This dialog box will prompt you for your name and a password (which you probably haven't set and actually don't need to set for a simple, personal network). You can leave the password field blank and click OK to get past this window, but it's just as easy to eliminate this dialog box altogether.
From Win98's Start menu, choose Settings, click Control Panel, and double-click Network. Look for the Primary Network Logon drop-down menu in the dialog box that displays. Choose Windows Logon (instead of Client For Microsoft Networks) from the drop-down menu and click OK.
Keep The Workgroup Name Consistent
In a large business network, it often makes sense to create multiple workgroups that organize computers by department or function. But in a home or small-office network, all of the computers on the network should have the same workgroup name. However, Microsoft's default workgroup names are inconsistent: In Wimp’s Network Setup Wizard, the default name is MSHOME; in Win98, the default name is Workgroup. To keep networking simple, choose an easy-to-remember workgroup name and make sure it's the same on every PC.
To view or change the PC's workgroup name in WinXP, open the Control Panel, click Performance And Maintenance, and then click System. Choose the Computer Name tab to see the workgroup name, and if necessary, click the Change button to change it. Click OK to save your change and close the dialog boxes. In Win98, open the Control Panel, double-click Network, choose the Identification tab, and change the Workgroup name if necessary. Click OK to save your change.
Quickly Network Two Computers
If you need to move files between two WinXP PCs but don't have access to networking hardware, you can create a direct network using a serial cable, parallel cable, or (if both PCs have them) infrared ports.
First, set up the computer that stores the files you want to move. From the Control Panel, click Network And Internet Connections and then click Network Connections. From the Network Tasks area in the left pane, click Create A New Connection. When the New Connection Wizard appears on-screen, click Next, select the Set Up An Advanced Connection radio button, and click Next. Select the Connect Directly To Another Computer radio button, click Next, select the Host radio button, and click Next. (You'll need to follow these same steps to configure the second PC, but select the Guest radio button instead of the Host radio button during this step.)
Finally, tell Windows how you'll be connecting the PCs: via parallel port, serial port, or infrared. A serial connection is your best bet because it's fast and reliable, plus you may already have a serial cable lying around. On the other hand, trying to find a parallel cable with connectors for hooking up two PCs can be difficult. And infrared is too slow to move a lot of large files.
Share A Printer That's Connected To A WinXP PC
If you have more than one computer, a network helps you share a single printer among those computers. Plus, you can share any printer; it doesn't matter how it connects to the PC. To sh