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 Greg Hall