Wireless Home Networking - Index of

Chapter 10: Putting Your Wireless Home Network to Work
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 accepts.
For our purposes, when we talk about networking, we’re talking about sharing
devices on a Windows-based network. Windows XP starts the network
tour with My Network Places, where you see all the computers and other network
devices on your network. Your computer knows the identity of other
networked devices because it has been monitoring your home 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 new Vista operating system, Microsoft has taken a simpler — and
more intuitive — approach that looks surprisingly like Mac OS X when you
use Vista’s Details view. In Vista, you just have Network, and under Network
you can see all the computers and resources that you can access shares on
within your network. All the domain and workgroup information is in the
Details view in the right-hand window pane. This spreadsheet type of view is
easy to understand and work with.
With the release of Windows Vista, Microsoft introduced a new look and feel
to the desktop. The differences are not as drastic as the upgrade from
Windows 2000 to XP, but they’re enough that Microsoft decided to maintain
a choice about which look and feel a person wants by using themes. When
we talk about the XP desktop in this chapter, we’re referring to the Windows
Classic theme in XP. When we talk about Vista, we’re referring to the Windows
Vista theme, which is the standard for Vista.
If you have trouble following any of our steps, do this if you’re using
Windows XP:
1. Right-click the desktop and choose from the pop-up menu that appears.
The Windows XP Display Properties dialog box appears.
2. Choose Windows Classic from the Themes pull-down menu.
You can always change the theme back without affecting any personal
preferences you’ve set.
And if you’re using Vista, follow these steps:
1. Right-click the desktop and choose Personalize from the pop-up menu
that appears.
2. Choose the Themes option to display the Themes Settings dialog box.
3. Select Windows Vista Classic.
You can always change the theme back without affecting any personal
preferences.
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