How many computers do you have at home? How many of those are in use? Do you have a number of computer users as well? One in the study, couple in the kid’s room, one for the kitchen, if you have more than two computers and computer users in your home then you may try networking all the computers.
What are the benefits of home networking?
• If connected to a network, files can be sent back and forth by each computer.
• You can play music and video files from another computer.
• You can access the printer and the scanner that is connected to one computer from any other computer that is within the network.
• You can avail of the best features of the computer with highest configuration.
• If one computer in the network serves as a server, then you can store important files as back up in the server.
• You can share one Internet account to reap its benefits from different computers at the same time.
• Imagine playing Age of Empires or racing cars with real opponents at different computers in the house!
Yes, networking allows you to have multi-player games.
So how do you get home networking?
Networking can be done by using a wireless networking connection or by an Ethernet cable. All you need for Ethernet networking are:
- Number of networking cables
- Networking cards
- A router
Once you have these, follow the following steps.
- Select the computers that you want to be in the network
- Install a networking card in each
- Connect a cable to each which will in turn be connected to the router
- The router will then be connected to the server
- The router will then be connected to the modem machine in order to enable internet access to all the machines
- Once the hardware connections are in place, set up internet in each computer by configuring the Local Area Network (LAN) settings
- Finally use the router manual to access the password and set up internet connection on each computer through the router
So what are the precautions that you need to take while connecting your home computers in a network?
First and foremost you need to realize that whatever data you have in each computer will be accessible by everybody.
So start by defining the rights to each drive and folder of your respective computers. Since people other than family members who sit on someone’s computer can also access the information in other computers, ideally only ‘read’ right should be given to folders and drives with sensitive information, so that someone else cannot copy, edit or delete such information.
You can even deny ‘read’ rights to folders if need be. Since you are connecting to the internet through your network, you must install a firewall for maximum security. Install anti-virus software on each computer.
Connecting home computers in a network is a good idea, helps in staying connected and also make full utilization of the facilities available in each computer. With a little bit of precaution, networking can only be fun!
By: Gregg Hall
Posts Tagged ‘Home Networking’
Computer Networking – How to Network Your Home Computers
November 24th, 2009Posted in Article
Tags: Age Of Empires Computer Users Different Computers Ethernet Cable Hardware Connections Home Computers Home Networking Internet Account Local Area Network Multi Player Games Network Lan Networking Cables Networking Card Networking Cards Networking Connection Racing Cars Share One Two Computers Video Files Wireless Networking
Home Networking – File Sharing Made Easier
October 26th, 2009
There is much file sharing going on via the web and email as you are probably aware. After building your home network, you have a lot of options as to what you can do with it. One thing which many people like often to do is to share files between different computers on the network without having to use old-school methods like CDs or even floppies which are no longer considered to be that ideal.
Something common with most email providers is that most may have limits on the size of email attachments that you can be able to send to and back using their email service therefore making the sharing of large files difficult. Your email connection may also be far slower than the speeds of your home network. This therefore may prompt you to set up your own home networking system in order to make file sharing much easier and convenient. On a Windows based home network, file sharing is a snap; and it’s not much harder to set up for Linux.
Here are two ways to get started: If one of your computers has an adapter to share an internet connection, this computer is typically acting as a hub for your home network. In many cases, this computer also can do double duty as a file server. It can do this via FTP or Windows Shares.
FTP has been around for a long time now. it is one of the most efficient means of copying files from one computer to another over a network. One computer must act as the FTP server, another as an FTP client. Pretty much common is the fact that any web server already has FTP server software installed. For the client, you can use any number of different FTP client programs available online; many are free. You can also use the FTP command, built in to your command line program on Windows or Linux.
On Windows, click Start/Run from your menu and type cmd into the box. Type ftp and then ? The command prompt comes up with a list of options. These options are for sending and receiving from and to different computers. You can also use File Shares. By default, Simple File Sharing is enabled on Windows XP (Home Edition) systems. To turn this on or off, double click the My Computer icon on your desktop and select Folder Options from the Tools menu. Click on the View tab and change the setting for Use Simple File Sharing.
You can set the level of security you want for your file sharing. You can make files Read Only to keep people from inadvertently deleting them. You will need to allow Write access to let others transfer files to the system however. If you want Read and Write access, you’ll have to allow Full Control. Right click on a folder and select Sharing and Security to set the level of security you want.
It can be a little time consuming, at least to set up. However, if file sharing is something which you will be doing often on your home network, you’ll save a lot of time in the long run by setting up file sharing now while you still have the time with little or no stress.
By: Joseph Nyamache
Posted in Article
Tags: Cmd Command Prompt Different Computers Double Duty Email Attachments Email Connection Email Providers Email Service File Server Floppies Ftp Client Ftp Command Ftp Server Home Networking Linux On Windows Network File Sharing Networking System Old School Server Software Type Ftp
Setting Up a Home Networking System
October 17th, 2009
Since Microsoft released Windows for Workgroups, networking has become quite easy and very commonplace for most home computer users. Everything that is needed to set up a home network is built right into the computer’s operating system which was installed in the machine. All you have to do is turn it on and set it up. If you happen to have Windows 95/98 setting up a network is a snap!
A home network is, simply put, a made up of set of hardware and also a set of software that will allow computers to communicate with each other. A home network enable File sharing or using the same printer or other input and outputs instead of buying one for each available computer.
A home network functions in almost the exact same way as that used by a private businesses when a LAN or Local Area Network is created. Designations, or IP addresses, as well as some that are catchy phrases that humans will remember are called host names and they know who everyone is as well as where everything is. Let’s say that 10.1.1.5 or Computer Jack sends a file to 10.1.1.6 or Computer Jill. The hardware and software must cooperate with each other in order to know where and how to send the file from Jack to Jill.
This idea is much the same as that used by the post office. There is an address associated with each home. A letter that is sent from one home is routed to another by using that address. Putting the return address on the letter is very important so the person knows where to respond. Also, if the letter gets lost, it will be sent back to the return address. If there is no return address it just goes to the dead letter office. Home computer networks work in much the same way.
The routing data is also known as ‘an envelope’. This surrounds the data or the words on the letter. A home network comes in two main types: cabled and wireless. In a cabled network different wire bundles which are known as Ethernet cables with connectors on each end plug into either a network interface card, or NIC, in the printer, fax, computer or into a switch/router. Hubs or switches are simplified devices that allow physical connections between the components of a network.
A wireless network operates in much the same way. The main difference is that there is no need for cables. Small devices known as transceivers send and retrieve information by radio signals. Let’s say that you want two computers within a home network to both be able to print on the same printer. Where would you even start to do something like that? You can make this happen in two possible ways. In one set up, the printer is physically attached to one of the computers. The alternate set up connects the printer to the network and not to any individual computer;
With this first arrangement, the printer is called local, but shareable. It is possible to allow a remote computer to print to the locally attached device. Computer-Jack then just shares the printer by using software of the hosting system, Computer Jill. In most typical cases nowadays, the printer has its own NIC. It is then attached to a router or switch by way of Ethernet cables or a wireless transceiver. Then each computer on the network is able to ’see’ the printer as a device that the computer can use.
Scanners, fax machines and other computers operate in pretty much the same way. Every device receives an address and a name. Software on the device allows it to be configured so that its function is accessible to multiple computers on the same network.
By: Joseph Nyamache
Posted in Article
Tags: Catchy Phrases Designations Ethernet Cables Home Computer Networks Home Computer Users Home Networking Host Names Ip Addresses Lan Local Area Network Most Home Computer Users Network Functions Networking System Operating System Post Office Private Businesses Return Address Setting Up A Network Snap Wire Bundles
