Sharing — I Can Do That!

Sharing — I Can Do That!
File sharing is a basic feature of any home network. Whether sharing MP3
files on a computer with other devices (including your stereo as we discuss
in Chapter 13) or giving access to financial files for mom and dad to access
on each other’s computers, sharing files is a way to maintain one copy of
something and not have a zillion versions all over the network.
You can share your whole computer, you might want to share only certain
things (documents or folders), or you might want to share some stuff only in
certain ways. Here’s an idea of what you can share in your network:
The whole computer: You can choose to make the whole computer or
device accessible from the network. (We really don’t advise sharing your
whole computer because it exposes all your PC to anyone who accesses
your network.)
Specific internal drives: You can share a specific hard drive, such as
one where all your MP3s are stored or your computer games.
Specific peripheral drives: You can share PC-connected or networkenabled
peripheral drives, like an extra Universal Serial Bus (USB)-
attached hard drive, a Zip or Jaz backup drive, or an external CD/DVD
read/write drive.
Files: You can set up particular folders or just a specific file to share
across your network. Note: File storage schemes on devices are hierarchical:
If you share a folder, all files and folders within that folder will be
shared. If you want to share only one file, select just that file or share a
folder with only the one file in it.
Enabling file sharing on
Windows 95/98/Me
Luckily for you, file sharing is easy. But to share files in Windows 95/98/Me,
you first must enable sharing on your PC.
After you set up sharing, your computer will need to reboot, so we recommend
that you close any and all other applications before following these steps.
To enable file sharing on your Windows 95/98/Me PC, do this:
1. Choose Start➪Settings➪Control Panel and then double-click the
Network icon.
2. On the Configuration tab of the Network dialog box, click the File and
Print Sharing button.
3. In the File and Print Sharing dialog box that appears, select the I Want
to Be Able to Give Others Access to My Files check box and then click
OK twice.
If you want to share a printer from this machine, you could also select
the I Want to Be Able to Give Other Access to My Printers check box.
4. Click OK in the dialog box that asks to restart your computer.
Your computer reboots, and your files are now ready for sharing.