Networking Home PCs for Dummies Book

Kathy Ivens notes in the introduction to Networking Home PCs for Dummies, "I think that if you have more than one computer in your home, you should have a network." Ivens knows of what she speaks; as a columnist for Windows NT Magazine, she lives in the thick of the networked PC world. By linking together your computers, she observes, you eliminate the problem of remembering where a file is stored or whose turn it is on the Net. And you save money by routing all your machines to a single set of hardware like printers, scanners, etc. Each chapter covers a single subject, such as "Installing Telephone Line Networking Hardware and Software," "Cabling the House," "Profiling Users," "Using Files on Remote Computers," "Sharing Printers," "Sharing Peripheral Drives," or "Sharing a Modem." The step-by-step instructions are frequently augmented with optional technical explanations, and chapters often provide "links" to other sections with related content. One caution: as long as you are a Windows 95 or 98 user, you are in good hands. All of the screen shots and procedures described involve Windows 95 and 98 software. But if you are a Mac user, Unix user, or Windows 3.x or NT user, you'll need to look elsewhere (though an appendix does explain how to add a Mac to a PC network). The book also includes a large glossary and a CD-ROM full of freeware, shareware, and evaluation software (including evaluation versions of Net Nanny and Norton Utilities). --Patrick O'KelleyRead More