Windows 98 From A to Z

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Net Watcher

Net Watcher enables you to monitor other computer users who are accessing resources on your network. Additionally, Net Watcher permits you to see which resources, such as folders, that you have shared with (or made available to) the rest of the network. This feature applies only to users who are connected to a network, so if you do not have a network connection, then this feature is not for you.

Prior to running the Net Watcher utility, you must have the Client for Microsoft Networks installed with the File and Print Sharing options enabled. To run Net Watcher, do the following:

1. Click the Start button, then choose Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and then Net Watcher, as shown in Figure N.1.

Figure N.1

2. The main Net Watcher screen, shown in Figure N.2, appears. To choose which computer to monitor (for example, a file server), click the Administer menu option and then choose Select Server.
3. The Select Server window, shown in Figure N.3, appears. Here you can type the name of the computer that you want to administer or obtain that computer's name by using the Browse button.

Figure N.2

Figure N.3

4. If you clicked the Browse button in the Select Server window, you see the Browse for Computer screen, shown in Figure N.4. Navigate to the server you want to administer, and select it. In this example, the computer I want to administer is PHAEDRUS2, which is located in the Network Neighborhood (for more information, see the section titled "Network Neighborhood").
5. Click OK to return to the Select Server window, shown in Figure N.5, where the server you selected now appears in the Name text box. Click OK again to confirm your selection.

Figure N.4

Figure N.5

6. You are returned to the main Net Watcher screen. Clicking the toolbar buttons along the top of the screen presents you with different views of the shared resources, and shows you who is accessing those resources at any given time. As shown in Figure N.6, clicking the Show Shared Folders button enables you to determine which folders are shared with users who connect to your computer (in this example, PHAEDRUS2's fax and printing capabilities are shared).

Figure N.6

7. The button to the right of the Show Shared Folders button is known as the Show Files button (see Figure N.7). Clicking this button is a quick way to view which files are opened on your system, from which folder they are shared, and who presently is accessing them.

Figure N.7

Network

The Control Panel's Network feature enables you to install and modify the necessary networking client and protocol software required to make a computer talk to a network. To open the Network dialog box, do the following:

1. Click the Start button, then choose Settings, and Control Panel, as shown in Figure N.8.

Figure N.8

2. Double-click the Network icon in the Control Panel window, shown in Figure N.9.
The Network dialog box that appears contains three tabs:


NOTE: The name of the computer must be unique, must not exceed 15 characters (numbers and letters are acceptable), and should be descriptive.

Figure N.9

Figure N.10

Figure N.11


NOTE: The name of the workgroup should be the same as the networking domain to which you most often connect, or it should be the same as the domain of the server that authenticates you to the network. As with the computer name, it cannot exceed 15 characters (numbers and letters are acceptable).


NOTE: The computer name and workgroup name must be different. Windows 98 will not permit these two fields to contain the same name!

Figure N.12


NOTE: User-level access control is possible only if your network administrator permits it and has preconfigured the network to support it.

Adding a Network Component

To add a network component, do the following:

1. Click the Add button in the Configuration tab of the Network dialog box.
2. In the Select Network Component Type dialog box that appears, click the type of network component you want to install (see Figure N.13). Your options are as follows:


NOTE: If you have a disk containing a client, adapter, protocol, or service that does not appear in the list, add it by clicking the Have Disk button (this button appears after you have selected the type of network component you want to install).

Figure N.13

3. Click the Add button. Carefully follow all the prompts, and reboot your computer if prompted.

Configuring Resource Sharing

Resource sharing is essentially the act of making your local computer's files and printers available to others across the network. An important fact to keep in mind is that when you use Dial-Up Networking to connect to another computer system (such as the Internet, an Online Service Provider, or your corporate networks), other people on those systems may have the ability to access your computer. Therefore, it is very important that if you do establish a share for one of your system's resources, you should do so carefully. Always assign a password to anything that you should share.

To configure resource sharing, do the following:

1. Click the File and Print Sharing button in the Configuration tab of the Network dialog box.
2. Click the appropriate check boxes in the File and Print Sharing dialog box, shown in Figure N.14.

Figure N.14

3. Click the OK button to return to the Network dialog box. Click OK again to return to the Control Panel window (you might be prompted to install additional Windows 98 software).

Removing Unused Network Software

If your computer is not connected to a network, it is wise to remove the network software that is built into Windows 98 from your computer because this software consumes hard disk space and memory as well as system resources. To remove the network software, simply highlight the option you want to remove in the Configuration tab of the Network dialog box (see Figure N.15), and then click the Remove button.

Figure N.15

Network Neighborhood

The Windows 98 Network Neighborhood displays all computers presently connected to your network (some Windows NT computers might not appear, as well as most PCs that do not run Microsoft operating systems). If you do not have any network drivers installed on your PC, the Network Neighborhood icon is not displayed on your Windows 98 desktop. This section quickly demonstrates how to access a computer's resources that have been shared on your network:

1. Double-click the Network Neighborhood icon on your Windows 98 desktop, as shown in Figure N.16.

Figure N.16

2. The Network Neighborhood window shows which computers and servers are available on your network. Click a PC icon along the left side of the window to view a description of that computer, as shown in Figure N.17. (You might remember that this was the description I entered in the Identification tab of the Network dialog box in the "Network" section.)

Figure N.17


NOTE: Because it is possible to hide a computer from the Windows 98 browser window, you might not be able to view all the computers on the network in the Network Neighborhood window. (This is the exception, however-- not the norm.)
3. To close this window, click the x button in the upper-right corner of the window.

To explore Network Neighborhood's other options, right-click the Network Neighborhood icon on the desktop to view the shortcut menu shown in Fig-ure N.18.

Figure N.18

Among other things, this menu enables you to quickly map a network drive. When you map a drive, it basically means that a new "logical" drive letter is assigned to a direct path to server-based resources. To map a drive, do the following:

1. Click the Map Network Drive option. This opens the Map Network Drive dialog box, shown in Figure N.19.
2. Type the name of the server and its shared resource (whether it is another folder or a network device such as a fax or printer) in the following
format:
\\server name\resource name

Figure N.19

3. Click OK to map the drive.

Network Printer

A network printer is nothing more than a computer printer that is available to other computers in addition to the one to which the printer has been physically attached. If your computer is not attached to a network, then you do not have access to a network printer. Likewise, you cannot expect your neighbors to be able to connect to one of your locally connected printers unless all of you are on the same network (LAN or WAN).

Newsgroups

Newsgroups are electronically based forums on the Internet where interested parties can exchange information in a text-based manner.

There are literally tens of thousands of Internet newsgroups available to the general public. If there is a topic of any kind that interests you, then there is certain to be an Internet newsgroup that focuses on that topic. The Microsoft Outlook Express client software that is integrated into the Microsoft Internet Explorer web browser is a great tool for perusing these newsgroups.

Notepad

Notepad enables you to create or edit non-formatted text files. These files cannot exceed 64 KB in size, and are saved into the ASCII file format. If you want formatting such as colored text or funky fonts, or if you want to have files that are larger than 64 KB, then you should use WordPad (it, like Notepad, is built into the Windows 98 operating system).

To use Notepad, do the following:

1. Click the Start button, choose Programs, Accessories, and then click Notepad, as shown in Figure N.20.

Figure N.20

2. To begin using the Notepad application, just start typing as soon as the program begins.
3. Create a new file by clicking the File menu option and choosing New.
Or, open an existing file by clicking the File menu option and choosing Open, as shown in Figure N.21.

Figure N.21

4. In the Open dialog box, navigate to the file you want to open, click it, and then click the Open button. As shown in Figure N.22, the file you selected opens onto the Notepad screen. Make changes to the text as needed.

Figure N.22

5. To save the file, click the File menu option and choose Save.
6. To print the file, click the File menu option and choose Print.
7. To close the file, click the File menu option and choose Close.


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