Guide to networking (by Ciro)

This is a guide to wireless networking.

Password protecting your network
Your network will need a password to stop your neighbours hacking in to it. This is called a wep key. Get into your modem settings and enable wep. You will see 4 keys and a passphrase. On the right of the passphrase you will see a box that says either 64 or 128. I recommend that you enable 128. All it really means is the length of the password. Once you come up with an easy to remember PW type it into the passphrase section and it will generate 4 keys but don't worry about trying to remember them all you need is the passphrase.

Naming your network
A network name can be your family surname or anything you want. By default it will be your modems brand or wireless. In your modems settings click on a ssid tab and next to where it says ssid type in a name and click apply.

Connecting up other PC's
Your network card will search for networks in range. It might come up with a few. Click on your network name and it will come up with a screen asking for a password. Type in the PW into passphrase section, and remember to make it 128 or 64 depending on what the modem is set on. It will generate the same 4 keys. Click connect and providing you typed in the same PW it will connect. Now you will be able to use your broadband Internet on each connected computer.

File sharing
Once your PC's are connected you can access other PC's files from your PC. To start right click my computer and go to the computer name tab. Here you will name your PC something that best describes it or the room its in. Once you have done that you will see a button that says "change" this will change your full computer name from all those confusing numbers. Click on it and i recommend that you type in your name. Then click on the network id button which is above the button you just clicked. Here you will join a workgroup. The workgroup has to be the same on each PC on your network.
Once you have got all that set up you can share files. Start by sharing your hard drive. Right click it and go sharing and security. It might come up with blue text saying do you understand the risks and so on. Click on it and untick the "make this folder private" square. Then tick the "share this folder on a network" tab and type in a share name it might be the letter of your hard drive. You need to repeat this process on all the other folders you wish to share. And do it on each computer.
Then once each computer has some folders that are shared and is in the same workgroup go to the "my network places" folder. If your modem is on it will search for a second. Then all the folders you shared will come up. Click on them and Vola. You can access other PC's from your computer. It will take a few seconds to load each time you click. You can also share printers.

Troubleshooting
If you are using Zone Alarm you will need to set your trusted zone on medium and add your modems IP address to it. If you don't do this you will not be able to share.

This applies to all firewalls. Make sure that your security isn't set to high.

Also make sure that all computers with wireless cards are in a good position. By that i mean not near a freezer or electricity box and try to get them as close to the modem as possible.

By Michael Yeates