Logging off the Network
After you finish using the network, log off. Logging off the network makes the network drives and printers unavailable. Your computer is still physically connected to the network (unless you cut the network cable with pruning shears; it’s a bad idea — don’t do it!), but the network and its resources are unavailable to you.
Here are a few other tips to keep in mind when you log off:
After you turn off your computer, you’re automatically logged off the network. After you start your computer, you have to log on again. Logging off the network is a good idea if you’re going to leave your computer unattended for a while. As long as your computer is logged in to the network, anyone can use it to access the network. And because unauthorized users can access it under your user ID, you get the blame for any damage they do.
In Windows, you can log off the network by clicking the Start button and choosing the Log Off command. This process logs you off the network without restarting Windows:In Windows 7: Click Start and then click the right-facing arrow that appears next to the little padlock icon.In Windows 8, 8.1, and 10: Press Ctrl+Alt+Del and then choose Sign Out.
Chapter 4
More Ways to Use Your Network
IN THIS CHAPTER
Chapter 3 introduces you to the basics of using a network: logging on, accessing data on shared network folders, printing, and logging off. In this chapter, I go beyond these basics. You find out how to turn your computer into a server that shares its own files and printers, how to use one of the most popular network computer applications — email — and how to work with Office on a network.
Sharing Your Stuff
As you probably know, networks consist of two types of computers: client computers and server computers. In the economy of computer networks, client computers are the consumers — the ones that use network resources, such as shared printers and disk drives. Servers are the providers — the ones that offer their own printers and hard drives to the network so that the client computers can use them.
This chapter shows you how to turn your humble Windows client computer into a server computer so that other computers on your network can use your printer and any folders that you decide you want to share. In effect, your computer functions as both a client and a server at the same time. A couple of examples show how:
It’s a client when you send a print job to a network printer or when you access a file stored on another server’s hard drive.
It’s a server when someone else sends a print job to your printer or accesses a file stored on your computer’s hard drive.
Enabling File and Printer Sharing
Before you can share your files or your printer with other network users, you must set up a Windows File and Printer Sharing feature. Without this feature installed, your computer can be a network client but not a server.
If you’re lucky, the File and Printer Sharing feature is already set up on your computer. To find out, open Windows Explorer and right-click Desktop in the Navigation pane. If the menu includes a Share With command, File and Printer Sharing is already set up, so you can skip the rest of this section. If you can’t find a Share With command, follow these steps:
1 Click the Start button, type Network and Sharing Center, and press Enter.This step opens the Network and Sharing Center.
2 Click Change Advanced Sharing Settings.The Advanced Sharing Settings page is displayed.
3 Click the down arrow next to the network you want to enable file and printer sharing for.For a home computer: Click the down arrow next to Home or Work (Windows 7) or Private (Windows 8 and later).For a computer in a public location: Click the down arrow next to Guest or Public.For a computer connected to a domain network: Click the down arrow next to Domain.Figure 4-1 shows the settings for a Domain network. The settings for a Home, Guest, or Public computer are the same.FIGURE 4-1: Enabling file and printer sharing. Do not enable file or printer sharing for the Public network. Enabling file or printer sharing on a public network exposes your computer’s data to other users on the same public network.
4 Select the Turn on File and Printer Sharing option.
5 Click the Save Changes button.This action saves your changes and closes the Advanced Sharing Settings page.
Sharing a Folder
To enable other network users to access files that reside on your hard drive, you must designate a folder on the drive as a shared folder. Note that you can also share an entire drive, if you so desire. If you share an entire drive, other network users can access all the files and folders on the drive. If you share a folder, network users can access only those files that reside in the folder you share. (If the folder you share contains other folders, network users can access files in those folders, too.)
To share a folder on a desktop version of Windows, follow these steps:
1 Open File Explorer.Windows 10: Open the desktop and click the File Explorer icon on the taskbar; then click Computer in the Location list on the left side of the screen.Windows 7: Choose Start ⇒ Computer.
2 Navigate to the folder you want to share.
3 Right-click the folder you want to share and choose Properties.The Properties dialog box appears.
4 Click the Sharing tab and then click the Share button.The File Sharing dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 4-2.FIGURE 4-2: The File Sharing dialog box.
5 Click the arrow in the drop-down list, choose Everyone, and then click Add.This action designates that anyone on your network can access the shared folder.If you prefer, you can limit access to just certain users. To do so, select each person you want