4. Configuring Windows Firewall
It is a good idea to check that Windows
Firewall is set up correctly; otherwise, you could end up exposed to
Internet hacking, or you could find that your network is so locked down
that you can’t use file and printer sharing.
If your Windows 8 computer is connected to a
domain network, your network manager will set up a firewall “profile”
that controls security when you are connected to the corporate network.
You shouldn’t be able to change these settings. Your network manager
will also probably configure another “default” profile to protect you
when you are disconnected from the corporate network, such as when you
are traveling or using your computer at home.
In this section, we assume that you are
managing your own computer and that your network is not protected by a
professionally installed firewall. As a home or small office user, go
through this quick checklist of steps to confirm that your network will
function safely:
1. At the Start screen, type the word fire and, under that, click Settings. In the search results, select Check Firewall Status.
2. You should see that
you are connected to a private network, and within the Private Networks
box, you should see that Windows Firewall is on. If it’s not, and you
haven’t installed an alternate Internet security program that has a
replacement firewall, at the left select Turn Windows Firewall On or
Off. In both the Private and Public sections, be sure that Turn On
Windows Firewall is selected and that Notify Me When Windows Firewall
Blocks a New Program is checked.
In general, Block
All Incoming Connections doesn’t need to be checked. You can check it
in the Public profile section to get the strongest security, but you
might not be able to use some Internet services such as FTP (file
transfer), telephone, and voice/video chat.
These are the default settings, but it’s best to check them to be sure.
5. File and Printer Sharing Without a Router
If you are setting up a small network of
computers that connect with each other through an Ethernet switch or
hub but not a router, you’ll run in to a problem with the Windows
Network Location feature. Windows uniquely identifies each network that
your computer joins by the Media Access Control address (MAC address),
a physical hardware identification number, of the network adapter at
the network’s TCP/IP gateway address. On a computer without a router,
Windows automatically assigns IP addresses; however, there is no
gateway address, so no MAC address to examine, so Windows cannot tell
this network from any other network. It will call the network an
unidentified network and will not let you enable file or printer
sharing on it.
You can solve this problem in either of two ways:
• Use an inexpensive DSL/modem
connection sharing router instead of a switch, and just don’t connect
its WAN port to a DSL or cable modem. You can get these used on eBay or
Craigslist for just a few dollars.
• Assign IP addresses to each of your
computers manually, using addresses like 192.168.0.2, 192.168.0.3, and
upward. (Skip 192.168.0.1 in case you eventually do add a router). In
each computer, when you assign an IP address using the dialog box shown
in Figure 1, enter the IP address of one of the other
computers as the gateway address. This is clunky, but it works. The
other computer must be turned on for your computer to be able to
identify the network and enable sharing.
6. Setting Up a Homegroup
Windows 7 and 8 have a networking feature
called HomeGroup that can make sharing files, folders, printers, and
music/video media very easy. What a homegroup does is let each user
decide whether or not to share specific categories of documents, music,
video, printers, and so on, or even specific folders and files. Every
user on every computer in the homegroup can see the items, once shared,
without worrying about passwords or usernames. It’s all just there,
organized, and easy to get to.
HomeGroup networking works by setting up a
password that is used to join each computer to the group. Any user on
any of the member computers can see any of the group’s shared folders
and printers.
Is a homegroup right for you? Consider these points to decide whether or not to use this feature:
• The HomeGroup feature works only with
Windows 7 and 8 computers. (Although, computers running Windows Vista,
XP, Mac OS, Linux, and so on can still share with a homegroup, and use
folders and printers shared by a homegroup)
• Within a homegroup, you can’t decide
individually which other users can see your shared stuff and which
users can’t. Anybody who can use a computer that’s a member of the
homegroup can use the content that you decide to share.
What you can control is
whether to share your stuff or not, and whether the other users can
just view and use your stuff, or modify, delete, and add to it.
Note
If you have a computer that is part of a
domain network when you connect at work, you can still join it to your
homegroup at home. You’ll be able to use folders and printers shared by
other computers in the homegroup, but you won’t be able to share any of
your computer’s folders with the group.
If you don’t need to control access on a
person-by-person basis, then a homegroup is definitely a convenient
thing to set up. It’s easy to change your mind later on, so don’t worry too much about this.
To set up a homegroup, log on to one of your Windows 8 computers and perform the following steps:
1. At the Start Screen, type home. Under that, click Settings. Then, in the search results, select Homegroup.
2. Click Create.
3. Select which types of your content you want to share with everyone else in the homegroup, as shown in Figure 2.
Check Pictures, Documents, Music, and/or Videos to let other users see
your files. Check Printers and Devices to share your computer’s
printer(s) with other computers in the group.
Figure 2.
Select the types of files you want to share with everyone else in the
homegroup. This selection applies only to your own files—other users
get to choose for themselves what they want to share.
4. Scroll down to the
bottom of the list of settings, if necessary, to view the Password
listed in the Membership section. Jot this down. You’ll need it to join
your other Windows 8 computers to the homegroup. Upper- and lowercase
matter, by the way.
If you want to use a different
HomeGroup password than the one Windows chose, you can, and now is the
time to change it. On the Start screen, type home and, under that, click Settings. In the search results, select Change HomeGroup Password. Then, click Change the Password.
Note
If you are signed on to Windows 8 with a
Microsoft (online) account when you set up your homegroup, and then use
that same account to sign on to another computer on your network, the
HomeGroup password will be automatically filled in for you when you go
to enroll this new computer into the group. HomeGroup passwords are one
of the things that Windows 8 syncs between the computers you use. (It’s
an odd thing for Microsoft to have done, because HomeGroup passwords
are a “per-computer” rather than a “per-user” attribute.)
5.
You or another computer owner can now go to another Windows 8 computer
on your network, log on, and repeat this process. This time, instead of
“Create,” you’ll be able to join the existing homegroup.
On Windows 7, go to the Control Panel. Select Homegroup and Sharing Options, then Join Now.
Tip
If you forget the password, go to the Start screen, type home and, under that, click Settings. Select HomeGroup and scroll down to the Membership section.
Repeat step 5 with any other Windows 7 or 8 computers that you want to join to the homegroup.
Each user on each computer will have to log
on and decide which of their materials they want to share with the
homegroup. Until they do, their names won’t appear in the HomeGroup
listing in File Explorer.
