Windows Vista -> Control Panel-> Network and Internet
Windows Vista -> Control Panel -> Network and Internet
My mission on this page is to acquaint you with what's new underneath Vista's Networking
and Internet
Icon.
New versions of Microsoft operating systems always have more places. That is
more menus, more sub-menus and more buttons. The law of inertia says that at first, people rarely like these extra options. I have to give it to Microsoft, they always perform the same trick, within a
short period you too believe that the new way is better, and if you go back to XP, all the menus seem so clunky.
Six areas of Vista Network and Internet (Control Panel)
(Click on the screenshot for an even bigger picture of: Control Panel -> Network and Internet)
Vista
Network and Sharing Center
A great place to learn about your network settings and also to troubleshoot with Windows Network Diagnostics. See more here.
Internet Options
This is where you can configure the Internet Explore 7 (IE7) settings. It's the same menu as you see with Internet Explorer, Tools and Options. See more here
Guy Recommends: SolarWinds LANSurveyor
LANSurveyor will produce a neat diagram of your network topology. But that's
just the start;
LANSurveyor can
create an inventory of the hardware and software
of your machines and network devices. Other neat features include dynamic
update for when you add new devices to your network. I also love the ability to export
the diagrams
to Microsoft Visio.
Finally, Guy bets that if you take a free trial of LANSurveyor then you will
find a device on your network that you had forgotten about, or someone else
installed without you realizing!
The principle of Offline Files is the same as for XP, users can take away copies of their documents. Offline File settings are useful for laptop uses to
synchronize files when they return to their office network.
No significant changes from XP's, the Windows Firewall icon is still in the same part of
the Control Panel. It strikes me that this a setting for home uses, or small offices rather
than for regular domain users where the corporate.
For large networks where it's beneficial to contact a subset of the users. People Near Me is
designed for a new program called Windows Collaboration. Rather like Net Meeting, the idea with Windows Collaboration is that up to ten people can share a desktop and exchange ideas via notes.
This new center provides the technology to create links with other computers device and network locations. Once created you can manage and troubleshoot synchronization. When users have multiple
devices, they need a mechanism to ensure then when files change on one device, they Synchronize with older versions of the same file held on a different device. See more on Sync
Center
Monitor Your Vista Network with the Real-time Traffic Analyzer
The main reason to monitor your network is to check at a glance that
your computers are available. If there is a network problem you
want an interface to show the scope of the problem instantly.
Even when all servers and routers are available, sooner or later you will be curious to
know who, or what, is hogging the precious network's bandwidth. A GUI
showing the top 10 users makes interesting reading.
Another reason to monitor network traffic is to learn more about your
server's response times and the use of resources. To take the pain out of
capturing frames and analysing the raw data, Guy recommends that you download a copy of
the SolarWinds
free Real-time NetFlow Analyzer.
Network and Internet Detractors
Some people find Vista's networking harder to perform old tricks in the
new menus, there is a feeling that it now requires more steps to carry out the same actions as before, for example changing an IP address requires more clicks than in XP. My view is simply that this is the price to
pay for the Vista Network and Internet supporting more features. Microsoft decided to expand the control panel and consequently has added an extra layer just to organize all the networking areas; the
result is that some tasks take more mouse clicks to drill down to the action points.
Summary of the Vista Network and Internet
The old XP network icon has expanded into eight areas. All the old
XP control panel settings are still there it's just
that Vista has extra levels of menus. Watch out for new diagnostic troubleshooting tools, one day they will help you solve a network problem.
Windows Vista Training
Train
Signal have an excellent
Windows Vista Training Course. As an MCT
trainer, I am a huge advocate of Train Signal’s products. What impresses is me is that they demonstrate everything that they teach and they stay away from traditional 'lecture-style' training. If
you are looking for a complete DETAILED coverage of Windows Vista, then I highly recommend that you give this course a try. I have reviewed their 18 hours of videos myself, and I guarantee that you will
not be disappointed!
This ebook will explain the workings of the registry. I thoroughly enjoy tweaking the registry, and I want to distill the best of my experiences and pass them on to you.
Each registry tweak has two aims; to solve a specific problem, and to provide general learning points, which help you to master regedit.
Over 60 pages ebook and PDF format
*
Guy
Recommends: WMI Monitor and It's Free!
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is one of the hidden
treasures of Microsoft operating systems.
Fortunately, Solarwinds
have created the
WMI Monitor so that you can examine these gems of
performance information for free. Take the guess work out of which
WMI counters to use for applications like Microsoft Active Directory,
SQL or Exchange Server.