Home networking guide Security and sharing
Sharing a PC and a printer: video guide
Watch the Which? video guide for practical tips on sharing your PC's files or a printer on your home network.
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Securing your network
If you don't implement proper security measures, anyone within range (such as neighbours and passersby) who has a wireless-enabled device could piggyback your broadband internet connection – or possibly gain access to your PCs. So don't forget to enable encryption when you install your network.
There are two main kinds of encryption: WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) or WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access). Both use a system that prevents any wireless device without the correct authentication key from accessing the network.
WPA is newer and slightly stronger, as it scrambles the encryption key, but check first that all the devices on your network can use it before choosing this option.
The first step is to turn on encryption on your wireless router by going to the configuration utility (see step 2 in 'First steps'), locating the wireless security settings and following the instructions there.
Once you’ve done this, make a note of the authorisation key and type this in when asked during the set-up for each of your other wireless devices.
For more on keeping your computer secure, see our free advice guide to understanding PC security terms.
Sharing your printer
There are several ways to network a printer. Some have ethernet ports, so you can connect them directly to a network. However, most home printers use a USB or parallel connection, which means you can network them in one of two ways. You can buy a USB print server that allows wireless access to your printer from any computer on your network, but these cost about £100.
A cheaper option is to share your printer on the network via the PC it’s attached to. The downside is that this PC has to be switched on whenever you want to print.
To set up the second option in Windows XP:
Go to Start > Printers and Faxes, right-click on the icon for your printer and select Sharing. In the Window that appears, tick Share this Printer and give it a name in the box below.
Now, on each of the other PCs on your network, go to Printers and Faxes, click Add a Printer on the taskbar on the left. The Add Printer Wizard will start. Follow the steps, ticking the A network printer or printer attached to another computer option on the second page.
On the third page, tick Browse and click Next. Locate your printer on the file-tree view you see on the next page. Continue with the wizard until setup is complete. On Windows 98 or Me PCs, the process will be similar but you may have to install the correct drivers for your printer.
Sharing your files
Once your network is set up, you’ll need to set all your computers to share their files and folders. Here’s how to do this in Windows XP.
Go to Start > My Computer. Right-click on the folder containing the files you want to share, and select Sharing and Security. You’ll see a security warning, but if your network is encrypted your data will be safe so click on the ‘If you understand…’ message to continue.
Under the ‘Network sharing and security’ heading, tick Share this folder on the network. This gives the other PCs read-only access to the contents of your folder. If you want the ability to edit and change photos and files from other computers on your network, also tick Allow network users to change my files.
It’s possible to allow access to a whole drive but we don't recommend it for security reasons. To do so, browse My Computer, right-click on the drive and follow the same process as above.