Description:
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'Kelley
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