Home Networking

About This Book

This book isn’t a novel or a mystery, so you don’t have to start at page one and read every chapter in order — you can’t spoil the ending. This book is meant to be digested on a subject-by-subject, not a chapter-by-chapter, basis. Each chapter is self-contained, covering a specific subject.

However, because the process of creating the network requires that tasks be performed in a certain order, I recommend that you check out the chapters in either Part I or Part II before you go to any of the other chapters.

After you get up to speed on the basics, you can decide which chapters you want to look at next and figure out which network features you want to add to your home network.

How This Book Is Organized

This book is divided into five parts to make it easier to find what you need. Each part has a number of chapters (some have more than others).

Part I: Network Basics

Part I helps you plan and install your home network. You have some deci¬sions to make and some hardware to buy. You also have to play architect as you design the placement of computers around the house. This part shows you how to put it all together.

* Planning your network and buying the hardware (Chapter 1)
* Installing the network hardware in your computers (Chapter 2)
* Cabling your house to connect the computers (Chapter 3)
* Using wires that already exist in your home: telephone lines and electric lines (Chapter 4)
* Connecting computers without wires (Chapter 5)

The information you find here may seem geeky and complicated, but it really isn’t as complex as it sounds. If you perform each step in the right order, building a network is no harder than assembling a complicated toy for your kids. To make things as easy as possible, I take you through each task one step at a time.

Part II: Configuring Computers for Networking

After you’ve installed all the network hardware, you have to perform some software tasks, including the following:
* Installing the files that Windows needs for networking (Chapter 6)
* Sharing an Internet connection with everybody on the network (Chapter 7)
* Setting up each computer to share stuff — and keep other stuff private (Chapter 8)
* Setting up users and learning about logins (Chapter 9)
This part tells you how to fine-tune your network — getting the computers to talk to each other and setting up users so everyone can maintain his or her own, personalized computer-configuration options.

Part III: Communicating Across the Network

This part introduces you to the meat of networking. Here’s where you get to put all your setup work into action.

* Setting up network printing (Chapter 10)
* Accessing the other computers on the network (Chapter 11)
* Using files from other computers while you’re working in software (Chapter 12)

The fun of networking is actually doing stuff across the network. Time to test it all out. Sit in front of any computer on the network and get stuff from any other computer. Ahhh, the power!

Part IV: Network Security and Maintenance

If you’re going to create a network, any network, whether in the office or at home, that makes you the network administrator. After all the work you do creating this network, you’ll want to make sure the network is safe and happy. The chapters in Part IV cover the following:

* Protecting the computers against harm from viruses and Internet intrud¬ers (Chapter 13)
* Preparing for disaster by making sure you don’t lose your data when a computer dies (Chapter 14)
* Keeping computers healthy with the aid of some nifty tools (Chapter 15)

Part V: The Part of Tens

In true For Dummies style, this book includes a Part of Tens. These chapters introduce lists of ten items about a variety of informative topics. Here you find additional resources, hints, and tips, plus other gold nuggets of knowl¬edge. The Part of Tens is a resource you can turn to again and again.
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