Libraries and Public Folders
Broadly defined, a
library is a place where you keep information. In the computer world, a
library is usually a collection of folders and files. In Windows 7, you
can share access to your libraries, folders, and files by configuring
what you want to share in the HomeGroup.
In
Windows 7, libraries themselves don’t store your files or folders—they
point to different folders on your hard disk or on an external drive
attached to your computer. This means you have easy access to a group of
files regardless of where they are stored. For example, some of your
music files might be on your hard disk and some may be on a thumb drive,
but if they’re organized into the Music Library, you can access all of
your music files there.
A folder is another
place where you keep information, and a public folder on your computer
has information that’s available to anyone who has access to your
computer or has been given permission via your HomeGroup. A personal
folder on your computer is accessible only by you, unless you’ve given
explicit permission to another user.
Your
computer has both Personal and Public folders in the Documents, Music,
Pictures, and Videos libraries. It also stores other public files at
C:\Users\Public. Personal user folders are at C:\Users\<username>.
Many of the common user
folders have been renamed in Windows 7. Windows Vista had Documents,
Downloads, Photos, Videos, and Music. In Windows 7, these folders have
been renamed as Personal Documents, Personal Downloads, Personal Photos,
Personal Videos, and Personal Music. This lets you more easily
distinguish between public and personal documents.
Creating a New Library
Even though Windows 7
comes with a decent selection of built-in libraries, it is likely that
you will want to create your own, too. Here’s how:
1. | Click the Start icon; then click on Computer on the right side of the screen.
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2. | Scroll through the list of locations on the left side of the screen; then click Libraries.
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3. | With the Libraries window open, right-click anywhere in the window, and then click New, Library (see Figure 1),
and give your new library a name. From here on, your new library will
be included in the list of Libraries in the navigation pane.
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4. | After
you create the library, you should decide what you want included. If
you have already created a file (document, picture, music, or video),
right-click the folder or file and click Properties.
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5. | On
the Library tab, click Add, select a folder, and then click Include in
Library. You can include as many folders and files in your library as
you want.
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Network and Sharing Options
You can change many aspects
of how your network is connected and how information is shared from the
Network and Sharing Center .
To change the setting by
which this network is connected, click Change Adapter Settings. This
lets you specify the type of connection this network uses to talk to
other computers. If you have an Internet connection set up, it will be
one of the options shown. If you have a broadband connection, such as a
cable modem, it will also appear. Any other network connections that the
system has detected will also be displayed.
To change other
network settings, click Change Advanced Sharing Settings. This lets you
specify which network settings you want to change. This window displays
options you can change for each network to which your computer is
connected, with the Home or Work network shown first. Settings you can
change include
Network Discovery,
which allows (or disallows) your system to automatically detect what
other computers and devices are available for connection to your network
File and Printer Sharing, which allows (or disallows) you to share access to various files and printers
Sharing of Public Folders, which allows (or disallows) your public folders to be shared
Media
Streaming, which allows (or disallows) you to stream your music and
video files to other devices, such as the living room TV set
File Sharing Connections, which allow (or disallow) other users to access certain encrypted files
Sharing
of Passwords, which means you can allow (or disallow) specified other
users to have password-protected access to your computer
HomeGroup
Connections, which allows (or disallows) the system to use your
HomeGroup account and password to connect to all of your computers in
your HomeGroup
In each case, you can turn the feature on or off, or in the case of file sharing, specify the type of protection.
Troubleshooting
From the Network and Sharing screen, if you click Troubleshoot a Problem, you will see the window shown in Figure 2, asking what you want to fix.
If
you select one of the options on this screen, Windows 7 searches for and
attempts to fix any network issues. If it can’t fix the problem on the
first pass, it gives you several other options for fixing the problem
yourself.
Using the Windows Media Player
The
Windows Media Player is normally connected to your system via settings
in your HomeGroup. Turn on Windows Media Player streaming support in the
Advanced Sharing Settings window and your computer will detect other
WMP libraries on the network and allow playback from them, as well as
allowing other computers and devices to be able to read and play the
shared media content.
Windows 7 and Domains
With
more and more people working from home on laptops or having the option
to do so these days, Microsoft’s developers decided to include in
Windows 7 the capability for these mobile workers to enjoy some of the
media content they have on the other PCs in their HomeGroup while they
work. At work, instead of a HomeGroup, the laptops are usually joined in
domains, which are groups of computers and other devices to which
certain permissions are attached.
Those work computers used a
specialized domain controller system to manage the permissions. Any
computer in the domain would log in to the domain controller, rather
than directly into the local system.
Windows HomeGroup
brings that centralized permission capability to your home computer.
When you create a HomeGroup, you are in essence creating a small,
localized domain. One nice feature about this is that joining the
HomeGroup doesn’t obstruct you from logging in to your work-based domain
at the same time. Normally, your computer is only allowed to belong to
one domain at a time. HomeGroups allow your computer to belong to a work
domain and your HomeGroup simultaneously.
This enables the
domain-joined computer to consume the media available on Windows 7 PCs
in the home, watch TV through WMC, listen to music via WMP, or print to
the printer on another HomeGroup PC. It’s done simply by entering the
same password you use to connect to your HomeGroup.
The
only apparent difference is that protected content on the corporate
network is never shared with the HomeGroup computers other than the one
that’s connected. In essence, the domain-joined computer can see and use
the resources on both networks, but nothing else can. Thus, other
computers on your work network can’t see the resources available through
your HomeGroup, and other computers on your HomeGroup can’t see the
systems on your company network.
