A list of available drives appears. One of these is the media server you enabled in the earlier steps. You can access its content the same as you would your own hard drive.
If the media server doesn’t appear in this step, on the Computer tab, click Media Access, and click Connect to Media Server. Then follow the prompts.
Summing Up
In this chapter, you learned how to set up and use a local area network on your Windows 8 computer. Here are some of the highlights:
✓ If you share an Internet connection among multiple computers in your household, you probably have both a broadband modem and a router, and you already have a basic network set up.
✓ You can check the network status by pointing at the Network icon in the notification area.
✓ The computer’s network adapter (network interface card, or NIC) lets it participate in the network. Each network adapter has a unique IP address on the network.
✓ By default, the router doesn’t have any security features enabled, but you can — and should — enable security by accessing the router’s con- figuration page via your web browser.
✓ A HomeGroup enables all computers that are running Windows 7 or 8 on the network to easily share files and other resources with one another.
Using a HomeGroup is optional.
✓ To browse other people’s shared resources, open File Explorer and click Network.
✓ Mapping a network drive assigns a drive letter to a shared network folder for easy access to it.
✓ You can share libraries with other users, either by configuring sharing in the HomeGroup settings or by sharing individual libraries.
✓ To share with everyone, set up the resource to share with specific people and then share with the name Everyone.
✓ A network-aware printer has its own NIC and network address; a shared printer is a locally installed printer that is shared with others on the net- work.
✓ To set up a network printer, from the Devices and Printers screen, click Add Printer.
Know This Tech Talk
broadband modem: A device provided by your Internet provider (usu- ally cable or DSL) that interfaces with your cable or phone line so you can use it for Internet connectivity.
Device Manager: A utility in Windows that provides a list of the installed hardware and enables you to access Properties boxes for configuring each of the devices and its driver.
Ethernet: The most common technology used for home and business networking.
HomeGroup: A collection of networked computers that trust one another, and therefore are allowed more simple and relaxed sharing per- missions with one another than with the network at large.
local area network (LAN): A group of connected computers in the same room or building.
network: A group of connected computers.
network adapter: A communication interface that an individual computer uses to connect with a network. It may be a separate device, or it may be built into the device.
network-aware printer: Also called a network-ready printer. It’s a printer that has its own NIC and its own network address.
network interface card (NIC): See network adapter.
router: An intelligent traffic-routing box through which all the computers in the network connect.
shared printer: A locally installed printer that’s set up on the PC to be shared with others.
Know This Tech Talk
stream: To view or play content from one computer on another without permanently transferring the content to the computer that’s playing it.
Wi-Fi: A shorthand way of referring to the type of wireless technology that computers commonly use for networking and Internet. Also called IEEE 802.11.
Lesson 7
Managing Accounts and User Settings
✓ Create new Windows user accounts.
✓ Change an account’s password.
✓ Adjust mouse settings.
✓ Change the system date and time.
✓ Configure power management.
2 . But what if I don’t want to provide an e-mail address?
Create a local account instead. See page ... 234
3 . Why can’t I make system changes when I’m logged in as a certain user?
It’s probably a standard account, not an administrator account.
Learn how to change the account type on page ... 236
4 . How do I adjust the pointer sensitivity on the mouse?
Drag and drop yourself over to page ... 241
5 . Is there any way to make the mouse pointers bigger?
You betcha. Make them easier to see by seeing page... 242
6 . Windows thinks I’m in a different time zone than I actually am, and it keeps trying to change to the wrong time.
Tell it what zone you’re actually in. See page ... 243
7 . My monitor turns itself off when I’m gone for a few minutes.
Please make it stop doing that!
It’s all about the power plan. See page ... 245
W ith Windows 8, each person can make the Windows environ- ment his or her own. You can create multiple user accounts, each one with its own private areas for documents, music, videos, and so on, and each with its own customized user settings.
In this lesson, you’ll find out how to set up new user accounts as well as how to protect a user account with a password. You’ll also learn how to adjust Windows settings that affect basic usability, such as mouse sensitivity, region, date and time, and power management.
Managing Accounts
Windows 8 supports multiple user accounts, so each person who uses your computer can have his or her own login. Windows remembers the desktop preferences for each user account so that you don’t have to adjust the color scheme, font sizes, or any of those other settings just because someone else has been using your PC. Each user account also has its own separate libraries for data files: Documents, Music, Videos, and Pictures.
When you install Windows, or when you buy a new computer with it pre- loaded and start it up for the first time, you’re prompted to create a user account, so you already have one. Need more than one? You’re in the right place; see the following sections.
Understanding account types
In Windows 8, the default Windows account type is a Microsoft account, which is a Windows account that has an e-mail address associated with it. The first time you sign into Windows with that account, that e-mail address is regis- tered with Microsoft’s servers via the Internet.
LINGO
A Microsoft account is a Windows account that’s linked to an e-mail address. A local account is a Windows account that isn’t linked to an email address.
When you sign into Windows 8 with a Microsoft account, you get all kinds of benefits, such as the ability to access your SkyDrive without having to per- form a separate login. Your desktop preferences and settings also synchro- nize from one PC to another.
The alternative to that is to create a local account, which exists only on that specific PC. It isn’t linked to anything. You don’t need a Microsoft account for it.
Separate from the preceding choice, you also have a choice of making a particular account either standard or administrator in terms of its privileges. A standard account can use most software and change system settings that don’t affect other users or the security of the PC. An administrator account has complete control over the computer — meaning that, with an administrator account, you can change any settings and access all of the files and programs stored on the PC.
The first user account created on a PC is automatically set up as an admin- istrator, because there needs to be at least one administrator account at all times. Subsequent accounts are set up as standard users by default, but you can change an account to administrator status after creating it. Microsoft recommends that everyone use standard accounts as they do their daily work, and that they log into an administrator account only to make specific changes as needed. That’s because a user logged in with a standard account can’t make system changes that will negatively impact other users.
Enabling the guest account
Every person who uses your computer doesn’t necessarily have to have her own user account. If someone is a guest in your home, for example, and just wants to get online for a few minutes to look something up on a website, you wouldn’t go to the trou- ble of setting her up with a separate account for the short time she’s there.
Windows 8 includes a guest account, which is an account with limited security privi-
leges. The guest account isn’t enabled by default, but you can easily enable it so that it shows up as one of the account choices when you log in.
LINGO
A standard account can use most programs on the PC, but can’t make changes that affect other users, or the security of the PC. An administrator account can make all kinds of changes to the PC’s configuration.
LINGO
The guest account is a limited- access account that anyone may use to log into the computer. The guest account typically doesn’t have access to apps that indi- vidual users have installed, but its users can use the desktop and Internet Explorer.
Managing Accounts
In the following exercise, you will enable the guest account.