Windows 7 : Maintaining Your System Configuration (part 2) - Creating or Joining a Homegroup & Viewing Hardware Settings

2. Creating or Joining a Homegroup

Whenever your computer is in a workgroup, you have the option of creating or joining a homegroup. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start→Control Panel→Network and Internet→Network and Sharing Center.

2. Under the “View your active networks” heading, click the link that shows the type of network to which you are connected, such as “Work network.”

3. In the Set Network Location dialog box, click Home Network.

4. If no homegroup exists on your network, Windows prompt you to select the sharing settings for a new homegroup. As shown in Figure 4, select what you want to share and then click Next. Write down the homegroup password and then click Finish.

5. If a homegroup exists on your network, you are notified that a homegroup was detected. As shown in Figure 5, select what you want to share in this homegroup and then click Next. When prompted, enter the homegroup password and then click Next.

Figure 4. Creating a new homegroup

Once you’ve created and/or joined a homegroup, you can manage the homegroup settings and homegroup sharing options on the HomeGroup page in the Control Panel (see Figure 6). To access this page, click Start→Control Panel→Network and Internet→HomeGroup.

Figure 5. Joining an existing homegroup

3. Viewing Hardware Settings

You can use the Hardware tab in the System Properties dialog box to access Device Manager and Windows Update (see Figure 7). You can access the Hardware tab in the System Properties dialog box by following these steps:

1. Click Start→Control Panel→System and Security→System.

2. In the System console, click “Change settings” under “Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings.” Or click Advanced System Settings in the left pane.

3. Click the Hardware tab.

Figure 6. Configuring your homegroup settings

Figure 7. Viewing hardware settings