A Networking Review

A Networking Review
Before we go too far into the concept of file sharing, we should review basic
networking concepts a bit (that we touch upon in earlier chapters of this
book): that is, what a network is and how it works.
Basic networking terminology
Simply defined, a network is something that links computers, printers, and
other devices together. These days, the standard protocol used for most networking
is Ethernet. A protocol is the language that devices use to communicate
to each other on a network.
For one device to communicate with another under the Ethernet protocol,
the transmitting device needs to accomplish a few things. First, it must
announce itself on the network and declare what device it’s trying to talk to.
Then it must authenticate itself with that destination device — confirming
that the sending device is who it says it is. This is done by sending a proper
name, such as a domain or workgroup name, and also a password that the
receiving device will accept.
For our purposes here, when we talk about networking, we’re talking about
sharing devices on a Windows-based network. Windows 95/98/Me start the
network tour with Network Neighborhood. In Windows XP (both Professional
and Home) and Windows 2000 Professional, this is called My Network Places.
Although both show the same information and serve the same function, My
Network Places has more layers. In Network Neighborhood, you see all the
computers and other network devices that are currently on your network.
Your computer knows this because it has been monitoring your Ethernet network
and has seen each device announce itself and what it has to offer to the
entire network when each one first powered up.
With the release of Windows XP Professional and Home, Microsoft introduced
a new look and feel to the desktop. The differences in the new look were drastic
enough that during the beta testing of XP, Microsoft decided to offer
people a choice as to which look and feel they would like by implementing
themes. When we reference the XP desktop in this chapter, we are referencing
what’s known as the Windows Classic Theme in XP. If, at any point, you’re
having trouble following any of our steps, do this:
1. Right-click the desktop and then choose Properties from the pop-up
menu that appears.
2. On the Themes tab of the Display Properties dialog box, choose
Windows Classic from the Themes pull-down menu.
You can always change the theme back without doing any damage to any
personal preferences that you set up for yourself.