The Vista Network Map
The network map is a very cool new feature in Windows that allows you to visually see on your network is connected together. It is part of the Networking & Sharing Center. Lets take a look at this cool new tool.
October 25, 2007
October 24, 2007
Public Folder Sharing
In my home we have around 5 computers and 3 computer users running at any one time. This sometimes makes for some confusing document management. On top of it these computers are all running various OS’es back to Windows 2000 because of hardware limitations and need. So when my wife wants to see a copy of a certain document or we want to have our music accessible to my daughter we have started to use the Public Folder and shared it from one of the Vista machines. While hardly a new concept in the computer world to anyone that has worked in a corporate office or admins one it does strike strictly home users as kind of cool.
Lets walk through the different features and options of the public folder.
October 23, 2007
Managing Network Discovery
One of the new features that Vista had in the networking areas was the concept of different types of networks you connect to. The three types of network are as follows:
- Home
- Work
- Public Location
Not many people realize the ramifications of your choices when you make that first click. The biggest one being whether Network Discovery is turned on our not. Now the cry from the masses of “So?” is deafening 
October 22, 2007
Network & Sharing Center
This week I am going to focus on articles that have to do with the Network & Sharing Center. This control panel console is used to help home users in sharing resources on their home network. Much more robust then its XP counterpart it has some nifty new features that are helpful. While the Network & Sharing console is included in every version of Vista, it will be more often used in the following editions:
- Home Basic
- Home Premium
- Ultimate
If you want to go in and take a look there are a few ways to get there.
- Double click the Network and Sharing Center icon in the Control Panel
- Right-click the Network item on the Start Menu and choose Properties
- Choose Network in the Start menu, and then click the Network and Sharing button from the context menu.
October 18, 2007
Limit the Number of Windows Displayed with Flip3D
Flip3D was one of those cool WOW things that Vista marketing couldn’t show enough of. If you are using a low end machine and barely clearing the Aero performance bar you may want to limit the number of windows displayed to keep the performance hit to a minimum. If you haven’t seen it yet you can read my article about using Flip3D.
