Wiley QuickBooks 2007 All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies
Contents
1. you won t need access to the hub unless you experience a problem with the network Most hubs have small LEDs on the front of the case that indicate network activity and it can be comforting to glance across at them to see that the network is still running 5 Connect one end of the cable to the NIC and connect the other end of the cable to the hub starting with the first connection Do this for each computer on the network Both ends of the cable are identical so it doesn t matter which end you connect to the computer or the hub 6 Turn on the hub and all connected computers You ll see a light or LED on the hub for each connected computer That s it Now you re ready to configure your network software Honestly just between you me and the piano connecting the hardware isn t that tough I m with you Networking computer hardware just ain t that tough any more Configuring Vour Host Computer After you connect all your hardware you need to give Windows XP some Gener information about the network that you ve just set up Before you start an OD though you need to decide which of the computers on your network will 5 host Internet Connection Sharing ICS With ICS turned on all the computers 2s on the network can access the Internet even though they don t have direct gt connections The host computer must meet the following requirements Zo Run Windows XP Be turned on at all times so that the other2. Workgroup name MSHOME 2 E Network To apply these settings click Next p i Settings we i 2 screen lt Back Next gt Cancel v e as ary 8 Review the selections that you have made and click Next if those set tings are correct The wizard will apply these settings when you click Next After the process starts don t interrupt it You ll see a progress indicator If you need to change any settings click Back to return to the screen that you want to change After the wizard has done its work the You re Almost Done screen appears see Figure 1 4 9 Optional In the You re Almost Done screen see Figure 1 4 you can create a Network Setup Disk with which to configure the other com puters on your network 458 Configuring Other Windows Computers on the Network Network Setup Wizard You re almost done You need to run the Network Setup Wizard once on each of the computers on your J network To run the wizard on computers that are not unning Windows XP you can use the Windows XP CD o a Network Setup Disk What do you want to do Create a Network Setup Disk Use the Network Setup Disk already have O Use my Windows XP CD Figure 1 4 i Just finish the wizard don t need to run the wizard on other computers The You re Almost Done screen Next gt If the other computers that you are networking are running a version of Windows earlier than XP you ll need th
3. button and open Help and Support Click Fixing a Problem and then choose Networking Problems You ll find the usual question and answer screens
4. computers on the network can access the Internet If one of your networked computers has an existing DSL hookup or a cable modem that computer is an excellent choice to be the ICS host To configure your network be sure that you re logged on as Computer Administrator and then at the computer that will host ICS follow these steps 1 Choose Start gt All Programs Accessories gt Communications Network Setup Wizard to start the Network Setup Wizard The Welcome screen appears 2 Click Next 45 6 Configuring Your Host Computer Figure 1 1 Selecting an Internet connection 3 Click Checklist for Creating a Network to display a help page summa rizing the steps in network planning that I discuss earlier in this chap ter or click Next The Select Connection Method screen appears see Figure 1 1 Network Setup Wizard Select a connection method Select the statement that best describes this computer This computer connects directly to the Intemet The other computers on my network connect to the Intemet through this computer This computer connects to the Intemet through another computer on my network or through a residential gateway Other Learn more about lt Back J __ Next gt l Cancel 4 Select This Computer Connects Directly to the Internet and then click Next The Select Your Internet Connection screen appears 5 Select the connection that you want to use when you co
5. has enough connections for the number of computers that you want to connect Cables are the physical connection between the computers on the network and the hub The cable or more specifically Ethernet cable attaches to the network hardware with RJ 45 jacks which are snap connectors that look like a wider version of the plastic jacks used by your landline phone system Cables are commonly available in lengths of 10 15 20 25 and 50 feet 45 4 Connecting Vour Network Hardware WING SS P A NIC goes into each computer on the network and connects to one of the slots on the computer s motherboard The motherboard is the main printed circuit board in a computer Most computers on the market today come with NICs already installed but if you are networking older computers you will probably need to buy NICs If you have older computers that you want to network be sure to check them for two things before you purchase any NICs First verify that the motherboard has an empty slot and second verify that the slots are of the Peripheral Component Interconnect PCI type Some older computers use Industry Standard Architecture ISA slots and it s just about impossible to find an ISA NIC these days You can shop for these items at your local electronics store or on the Internet Another option is to buy a starter kit that contains everything that you need to connect a couple of computers NICs cable and a hub from companie
6. Chapter 1 Setting Up a Peer to Peer Network In This Chapter Figuring out the business benefits of a network Finding out about a peer to peer network Getting a handle on hardware requirements Connecting your network hardware 1 Configuring your network Installing and using a networked printer v Sharing resources on the network T subject of setting up a peer to peer network may seem off point Isn t this book supposed to be about QuickBooks Well my friend you re right on both accounts Networking is a little off point and this book is about QuickBooks However I want to provide you with this quick overview of setting up your network anyway For one thing in many small business settings you ll find it extremely useful to set up a network A network is simply a group of com puters that are connected and that can communicate and share resources For another thing if you want to let more than one person work with the QuickBooks data file you can do so simply by setting up a network and then installing QuickBooks on each computer Therefore in this chapter I explain how to set up a small Windows XP network just the kind that you may want to use in a business witha handful of computer users working in the office In Book VII Chapter 2 I explain how to administer a QuickBooks accounting system including the stuff that you need to do in order to have several different people working on different computers on a netw
7. The next screen asks if you want to restart your computer Click Yes After the restart the wizard displays the Welcome to the Network Setup Wizard screen Follow the instructions in the wizard and Using a Networked Printer One of the most common reasons for setting up a network is to share a printer You can physically connect a printer to your network in a couple of ways If your printer doesn t have a NIC in it connect the printer to one of the computers on the network and turn on the printer This is more common in a small network and is the kind of printer described in this section If your printer has a NIC in it you can connect it directly by running a cable to the network hub This configuration is found more commonly in a corporate environment This section doesn t cover this kind of setup Before you can set up a shared printer you must install it as a local printer If you ve already installed a local printer skip to the section Sharing Resources on the Network later in this chapter If you haven t set up a local printer connect the printer to the computer turn it on log on to that computer as Computer Administrator and then follow these steps 1 2 Choose Start Control Panel Printers and Faxes to open the Printers and Faxes folder Click the Add a Printer button to start the Add Printer Wizard The Welcome screen appears Click Next In the next Add Printer Wizard screen sele
8. ct Local Printer Attached To This Computer and click Next YJOMJO 199 0 433d 2 dn Guiyas 46 0 Sharing Resources on the Network ar 5 In the next Add Printer Wizard screen that appears enter a name for the printer and click Next 6 Click Yes if you want this printer set as the default 7 Click Next review your choices and then click Finish to close the wizard Now you are ready to share this printer with other users on the network Follow these steps 1 In the Printers and Faxes folder accessed by choosing Start gt Control Panel Printers and Faxes right click the icon for your printer and choose Sharing from the shortcut menu This opens the Properties dialog box at the Sharing tab for that printer If you will be sharing a printer with users who are running a different version of Windows click the Additional Drivers button on the Sharing tab to open the Additional Drivers dialog box Select the check boxes for all the versions of Windows that will be sharing this printer and then click OK 2 Accept the name that is generated in the Share Name field or enter a new name and then click OK Click the General tab if you want to enter a description of this printer in the Comment field Sometimes you use this field to describe the printer s location Click Apply You now see a hand under the icon for this printer in the Printer and Faxes folder indicating that this printer is shared One final task re
9. e comput ers on the network communicate through a hub actually called a wireless router but who cares using radio waves In fact in a wireless network no kid ding little radio antennas often stick out the back of computers and the hub A wireless network is very convenient in a peer to peer setting because you don t have to worry about tripping over network cabling However a wireless network requires a bit more fiddling in order to get your network secure If you re not careful anyone else with one of those little antennas on the back of his computer can sneak into your network For this reason I m not going to discuss the wireless option here If you re interested in going wireless find a local networking consultant and ask her to make your network wireless air Book VII Chapter 1 Hardware Requirements ae nL You need three essential components to set up your wired network S E 25 The hub or a router Zo u Some cable SS A network interface card NIC in each computer A hub is the central device that connects all the computers on the network and it is slightly smaller than the size of this book The hub itself doesn t require any software or configuration it is simply the device that allows all the computers to communicate The number of connections on the hub or the number of places to which you can connect determines the number of computers that can be on the network Be sure to buy a hub that
10. e setup disk If the other comput ers are running Windows XP you won t need the setup disk If you choose the Create a Network Setup Disk option follow the instructions on the screen and click Next 10 Close the Network Setup Wizard by clicking Finish After you ve configured your host computer you re ready to configure the rest of the computers on your network Configuring Other Windows Computers on the Network You can use the Network Setup Wizard to configure other computers on the network if they are running any of the following Windows XP Windows 98 Windows 98 Second Edition Windows 2000 Windows Millennium Edition On other computers running Windows XP configure the network connection by running the Network Setup Wizard as directed in the previous section Configuring Your Host Computer On computers running the other versions of Windows listed here you also use the Network Setup Wizard but you have to first insert the Network Setup Disk Follow these steps w Installing Installing and Using a Networked Printer 45 9 Insert the Network Setup Disk in the floppy drive Open Windows Explorer to the floppy drive and double click the Netsetup or Netsetup exe file This launches the Network Setup Wizard In the first screen of the wizard click Yes when asked if you want to install network support files on your system At the next screen remove the floppy disk and click OK
11. escription 7 Close the Properties dialog box by clicking OK Accessing Shaved Resources To access a shared resource on the network open Explorer and click the plus sign next to My Network Places to display a list of all the shared computers hard drives and folders Simply navigate to the resource that you want to access and open it as you would any resource on your own computer If you frequently use a particular network resource you can access it quickly by mapping a network drive to it That resource then appears in Explorer as though it were a drive on your own computer To map a drive follow these steps 1 Click the Start button right click My Network Places and choose Map Network Drive from the shortcut menu to open the Map Network Drive dialog box In the Drive drop down list box click the down arrow and select an unused letter The default is the next drive in sequence Tell Windows whether you want to map to this drive whenever you log on Windows automatically remaps drives for you each time you log on If you don t want to reconnect to this drive the next time you log on deselect the Reconnect at Logon check box In the Folder drop down list enter the path to the share or click Browse to locate it Click Finish Now the mapped drive appears just like any other drive in Explorer You can use the Windows Troubleshooters to track down problems with your network Click the Start
12. j Book VII 3 Select the Share This Folder radio button Chapter 1 In the Share Name box accept the name that Windows suggests or enter se another name oe Oo a Oren oc This name must be unique on this computer and it is the name that others on the network will see when they browse this computer A z a u 4 Enter a comment by briefly describing the share in the Comment box ap A I Users will also use this information when browsing the network 5 In the User Limit area select either the Maximum Allowed or Allow This Number of Users radio button to specify the maximum number of simultaneous users Windows allows a maximum of ten users When the eleventh user tries to log on she will see this message No more connections can be made to this remote computer at this time because there are already as many connections as the computer allows 6 To specify the kind of access that users have to this resource click the Permissions button to open the Permissions dialog box for this resource To set a permission select its check box After you re fin ished click OK 462 Accessing Shared Resources For an explanation of the types of permissions see the Help and Support Center Note that you can set permissions for a resource only if you are using the NTFS file system which is Windows high security file system Note that you can check whether your disk uses NTFS by clicking on the General tab and looking at the d
13. mains and that is to run the Add Printer Wizard on the other computers on the network so that each can access the shared printer In the Local or Network Printer screen select the A Network Printer or A Printer Attached To Another Computer radio button click Next and then follow the remainder of the wizard s instructions Sharing Resources on the Network Before users on your network can share resources drives files folders applications and so on the resources must be enabled for sharing Each user at each workstation must specifically share the resources on that com puter To mark resources as shared follow these steps 1 Right click the Start button and then click Explore to open Explorer Sharing Resources on the Network 46 1 2 Navigate to the resource that you want to share right click it and choose Sharing from the shortcut menu to open a Properties dialog box at the Sharing tab see Figure 1 5 Local Disk C Properties we General Tools Hardware Sharing Security Quota You can share this folder with other users on your be network To enable sharing for this folder click Share this folder Do net share this folder Share this folder Share name C v Comment Defaut share A User limit Maximum allowed Figure 1 5 Allow this number of users a Tei rA e Ponies Te ponas settings for offline access click Caching dialog box haac atthe Sharing tan toes S
14. nnect to the Internet modem local area connection and so on and click Next The dialog box lists connections that are already set up so what you see here will make sense to you when you do this 6 In the Give This Computer a Description and Name screen see Figure 1 2 enter a short text description for the computer in the Computer Description field and then click Next The Name Your Network screen appears The Computer Name box holds the name that you gave to this com puter when you installed Windows XP It s best to retain this name 7 Enter a Workgroup name and then click Next The Ready to Apply Network Settings screen appears as shown in Figure 1 3 Configuring Vour Host Computer 45 7 Network Setup Wizard Give this computer a description and name Computer description Wriind Examples Fami Room Computer or Monica s Computer Computer name STEVE2 Examples FAMILY or MONICA The cunent computer name is STEVE Figure 1 2 Learn more about nd descript Providing a description lt Back _ __ Next gt Cancel Network Setup Wizard Ready to apply network settings The weard wil apply the folowing settings This process may take a few minutes to complete and cannot be interrupted Settings Intemet connection settings 2 Book VII Connecting through another device or computes Chapter 1 Figure 1 3 Network settings The Ready Compiler eet Sever se to Apply
15. ork and with the same QuickBooks data Can I share an opinion These days a computer network in a business is not just something that s nice to have it s a necessity if you have more than one computer A network will save you time and therefore save you money No kidding 45 2 What Is a Peer to Peer Network Can Vour Business Benefit from a Network Should you set up your own network How do you know if a network can benefit your business To consider this question take a look at some of the things that even a small network makes possible You can open files folders and applications on one computer while you re sitting at another computer You can share a single printer among several computers You can share an Internet connection You can back up important files and folders to another computer You can communicate with other users on the network via e mail and conferencing applications Not to beat a dead horse but truly after you set up your network you ll wonder how you ever got along without it What Is a Peer to Peer Network Networks are of two basic types client server and peer to peer In a client server network one or more computer stores resources and sup plies it serves those resources to the other computers All the other comput ers are connected to this central computer s which manages applications files printers and so on In general big monster corporate networks are client ser
16. s such as Intel www intel com Linksys www Linksys com products 3Com www 3com com or Netgear www netgear com If you need to connect more than two computers however you ll probably save money if you buy the parts separately rather than buying multiple kits Before you buy your NICs and hub be sure that the packaging explicitly states that the hardware has been certified by Microsoft as being suitable for Windows XP If you are in doubt check Microsoft s Hardware Compatibility List at www microsoft com whdc hcl Connecting Vour Network Hardware Setting up your network hardware is easy Get yourself the appropriate screwdriver and follow these steps 1 Turn off all computers and peripherals and unplug them 2 For each computer open the case this is likely to be the most difficult step remove the slot cover from a free expansion slot and insert the NIC in the empty slot according to the manufacturer s instructions Would it be terribly redundant if I repeated that last bit of information You need to follow the manufacturer s instructions Seriously Also be sure that the card bracket is sitting snugly in the case and secure it with the screw that originally held the slot cover 3 Replace the case 4 Find a good central location for the hub and plug the power adapter into a power socket Configuring Vour Host Computer 455 A central location helps to keep cable lengths short and most of the time
17. ver networks and are managed by a system administrator In a peer to peer network all computers are equals Each computer has its own hard drive and can see and talk to all the other computers on the net work In addition each computer can share its resources such as a CD ROM drive a printer files folders applications and so on A peer to peer network is ideal if you have no more than say ten people in the office working on a computer On a peer to peer network all users decide which of their files and folders they want to share and with whom You can connect the computers in a peer to peer network in several ways Use the electrical or telephone wiring already installed in your office Install a wireless system Connect each computer on the network to a central hub Connecting to a central hub is the easiest configuration and it s also inexpensive In this chapter therefore I walk you through the process of Hardware Requirements 453 connecting a network of computers to a central hub The process consists of three basic steps Connecting all the necessary hardware Configuring your host computer Configuring all the other computers on your network Throughout this chapter I show you how Just for the sake of thoroughness let me also say that you can create a simple wireless peer to peer network too With a wireless network you don t cable your computers together using wires and a central hub Instead th
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