1. Displaying the Network and Sharing Center
Vista’s
home base for networking is the new Network and Sharing Center, which
enables you to do all the following network-related tasks:
See a list of your current network connections.
Visualize your network with a network map .
Customize the network name, type, and icon.
Change your computer discovery and sharing options .
View the status of each network connection.
View the computers and devices on the network .
Connect to another network.
Manage your wireless networks .
Manage your network connections .
Diagnose and repair a network connection .
The Network and Sharing Center is a great new
networking tool that you’ll probably use a great deal. That might be why
Microsoft offers so many ways to open it. Here’s a summary of the
various methods you can use:
Select Start, Control Panel, View Network
Status and Tasks (you can also click Network and Internet and then
Network and Sharing Center).
Click the Network icon in the notification area and then click Network and Sharing Center.
Select Start, Network, and then click Network and Sharing Center in the taskbar.
Select Start, Connect To, Open Network and Sharing Center.
In the Manage Wireless Networks window , click Network and Sharing Center in the taskbar.
Whichever method you use, you see a version of the Network and Sharing Center window shown in Figure 1.
The Network and Sharing Center window comprises four main areas:
Map— This section gives you a miniature version of the network map: a visual display of the current connection.
Network— This
section tells you the name of the network to which you’re connected,
the network category (private or public), whether you have Internet
access via that connection, and which of your computer connections is in
use (this will usually be either Local Area Connection for a wired
connection or Wireless Network Connection). If you’re connected to
multiple networks or have multiple connections to a single network
(wired and wireless, for example), all the connections appear here.
Sharing and Discovery— This area shows the current network detection and sharing settings.
Tasks— This pane on the left side of the Network Center window gives you one-click access to the most common network tasks.
Customizing Your Network
When
you first open the Network Center, in most cases, you won’t have a
profile set up for the network, so Vista configures the network with
three default settings:
A default name, usually either Networkor the SSID of the wireless network.
The
network type, which depends on the network location you chose when you
first connected to the network. (This might have occurred when you
installed Vista.)
Note
Windows Vista supports
three types of network categories: private, public, and domain. Private
networks are usually home or small office networks where you need to
work with a few nearby computers. To that end, Windows Vista turns on network discovery—a
new feature that enables you to see other computers and devices on your
network—and file and printer sharing. Public networks are usually
wireless hotspot connections in airports, coffee shops, hotels, and
other public places. When you designate a network as public, Vista turns
off Network Discovery, and file and printer sharing. The domain
category applies to networks that are part of a corporate domain.
A default network icon,
which depends on the network location you chose when you first connected
to the network.
To change any of these default, follow these steps:
1. | Click Customize to display the Customize Network Settings dialog box shown in Figure 2.
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2. | Type a name in the Network Name text box.
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3. | Select either Public or Private. (You see the Domain option only if you are connected to a network with a domain.)
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4. | To change the icon, click Change to open the Change Network Icon dialog box, select an icon, and then click OK.
Tip
The Change Network Icon dialog box initially shows you a small collection of icons from the %SystemRoot%\system32\pnidui.dll file.
To get a larger choice of icons, type any of the following pathnames
into the Look for Icons in This File text box (press Enter after you
enter the pathname):
%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll
%SystemRoot%\system32\pifmgr.dll
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe
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5. | Click Next and enter your UAC credentials. Vista applies the new network settings.
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6. | Click Close. Vista updates the Network and Sharing Center window with the new settings.
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