Complex Distress: Home Networking with a LAN

Home Networking with a LAN

- Friday, July 09, 2004

Over the last couple of weeks I've been doing some research on Windows networking. If you're a reader, you'll know I'm a freak about security, and opening file shares to the internet scares the crap out of me. Since I had only one machine, the simple solution was to turn file sharing off completely. Problem solved.

But now, I've got a second machine, and I naturally want to easily move files between them. Getting the network running wasn't a problem (see tutorial below), but making sure it's secure is proving more difficult. I've had to dive head first into things like NetBIOS, NetBEUI, Group Policy Editor, WINS, Zone Alarm trusted networks, and even Scheduled Tasks and Printers. I now have more passwords and user accounts on my machines than I know what to do with.

Here then are the two best pages on the internet I found for helping you set up your own LAN at home:

TCP/IP Home Networking and File Sharing Tutorial - If you've been following along with me, you should have a Broadband Router, not a network hub.

File And Printer Sharing And The Internet - Somewhat out of date, but still in plain English!