Your Guide to Easy and Secure Windows Vista Networking is a complete beginner's guide to creating, configuring, administering, and using a small network using Windows Vista computers. Inside you'll find comprehensive coverage of networking hardware, including Ethernet (wired) hardware (from NICs to cables to switches to routers) and wireless Hardware--from wireless NICs to access points to range extenders. We include handy "buyer's guides" that tell you how to make smart choices when purchasing network hardware. With hardware in hand, we then show you how to roll up your shirtsleeves and put everything together, including configuring a router, laying cable, and connecting the devices. Next, we then show you how to wrangle with Windows Vista's networking features. These techniques include using the Network and Sharing Center, managing wired and wireless connections, accessing shared network resources, sharing local resources on the network, and working with network files offline. And if you are a music and video aficionado, we've got you covered with a special chapter that shows you just how to set up a networked Vista PC as your digital media hub! No networking book would be complete without extensive coverage of security issues that affect anyone connected to the Internet. We show you how to secure each computer, secure your global networking settings, and batten down your wireless connections. The last part of the book includes intermediate networking tasks such as making remote connections, monitoring the network, troubleshooting network problems, and setting up Vista's built-in web server and FTP server. * No longer is networking a topic that only geeks need to understand. If you have even one computer on the Internet or if you use wireless in your home or office, you need this book! * Extensive hardware coverage that shows you what equipment to buy and how to set it up! * Easy to follow buyer's guides that enable anyone to make smart and informed choices when purchasing networking hardware. * Complete and comprehensive coverage of Windows Vista's networking features. * Thwart hackers, crackers, thieves and other Internet malefactors by following our easy to understand chapters on security! * Loaded with tips, tricks, and shortcuts to make networking easier and more secure. * Chock full of real-world examples and network configurations that you can put to work today!