Have you heard all the talk about file sharing and still wondering if there are any advantages for you to enable file sharing? If you are anything like me, it takes a lot to change what works just the way it is. But I must say, once I took the plunge, the advantages of file sharing have proven to be worth it!

Advantages of Files Sharing

When you turn on file sharing on your computer, you can share your computers resources with others connected to your network and the best part of all; you determine what resources are available to the computer network.

So once you enable files sharing, all the computers on the network can use the resources that you enable for sharing. For example, you can enable the following resources for sharing:

- Folders

- Files (documents, picture, music and data file in your folders)

- Hard Drives

- CD-Rom Drive

- Printers

- Internet access

Best of all, you stay in control!

You can choose to allow your files to be seen but keep as "read only"; another way of saying you can't edit my documents! You can also choose to keep certain files and folder completely private, keeping them secure and hidden from the rest of the computer network.

Personally, I find many advantages to sharing devices and files on my home network, here are a few:

- You can easily copy or move files from one computer to another on the network.

- You can share and work on files using different computers on the network.

- You can access hardware devices, such as a printer or a ZIP drive, from any computer on the network.

- You can even share your Internet connection!

How To Enable File Sharing in 5 Steps

Step 1 - Locate the folder you want to enable on the computer.

Step 2 - Right-click the folder/file that you want to share, from the sub menu opens click "Sharing and Security" to view the settings available for files sharing.

Step 3 - The next two windows only appear when you are setting up your first shared item. Windows warns you of certain security risks associated with enabling files sharing. Therefore, remote access is turned off by default. Click the Security warning message, Just enable file sharing, and then click OK.

Step 4 - Click Share this folder on the network, and then type a share name. This is the name that other on your network will identify the fold with. The share name can be different than the current folder name.

Step 5 - Select whether or not you want to allow the data that is accessed over the network to be changed or read only and then click OK.

That is it! Go to "My Network Places" and you will see the folder with the share name you just gave it and it will also be identified as a shared folder because the folder icon will have a picture of a hand in the icon.

I could just keep going on and on of the wonders of file sharing, but I don't have the room here! So if you need more, just stop by my website at http://www.best-home-networking-solutions.com. There are a lot of simple instructions there to help you set up and maintain your home network, deal with firewalls and more benefits of home networking.
About the Author

Rudy Paredes an ex-teacher of computer science at a college in Tucson AZ now maintains a website dedicated to teaching the home user how to set up their home network in simple down-to-earth instructions. You are welcome to stop by and visit at http://www.best-home-networking-solutions.com