Quick Links

If you’re looking for a great book to help you learn more about Windows home networking, there’s a new book on the market by our good friend Ciprian, and published by none other than Microsoft Press. Note: our friend Ciprian has been a guest contributor here on How-To Geek in the past, and he’s not only a geek that knows what he’s talking about, he’s also one of the more honest and decent people I’ve worked with. In his spare time, he runs the 7 Tutorials web site.

The Book

One of the great things about this book is that you aren’t limited to just Windows networking—it also explains how to connect Windows 7, XP, Vista, Mac OS X, and even Linux on the same network and share folders and devices between them. Everything in the book is written in a typical How-To Geek step-by-step format, with plenty of screenshots and pictures to help you through the process.

Book Outline

If you’re going to be spending some money on the book, you probably want to know what it’s all about, and since the Amazon page doesn’t give, well, much information at all, here’s the entire outline for you:

  • Setting Up a Router and Devices
  • Setting User Account on All Computers
  • Setting Up Your Libraries on All Windows 7 Computers
  • Creating the Network
  • Customizing Network Sharing Settings in Windows 7
  • Creating the Homegroup and Joining Windows 7 Computers
  • Sharing Libraries and Folders
  • Sharing and Working with Devices
  • Streaming Media Over the Network and the Internet
  • Sharing Between Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 Computers
  • Sharing Between Mac OS X and Windows 7 Computers
  • Sharing Between Ubuntu Linux and Windows 7 Computers
  • Keeping the Network Secure
  • Setting Up Parental Controls
  • Troubleshooting Network and Internet Problems

It’s a great book, with loads of information, and compared to most tech books isn’t very expensive—only $19.79 for the paperback and $9.99 for the Kindle version. Well worth it, and hey, it’s an official Microsoft Press book—written by a How-To Geek guest author. Network Your Computers & Devices Step by Step [Amazon]