Windows 7: The Complete Guide - HomeGroup

Although the painful process became quite a bit easier in XP and even easier in Vista, setting up a network at home can be quite complex. I currently have five computers in my house and home networking has become a necessity of modern life alongside refrigeration and hot water.

HomeGroup is Windows 7's new implementation of a networking setup wizard, and it's nothing short of amazing. No matter what you have on your network that you want to access and share, HomeGroup makes it so easy you wonder why it took so long to bring this feature to the world!

All you have to do is to set up your HomeGroup as Home, just like you did in Vista. However, HomeGroup will now automatically modify the settings to enable the sharing of the resources on the network.

Once that is set up, Windows 7 asks you what you want to share on the network. You can choose from Printers, Documents, Pictures, Videos and Music. When you have made your selections, just click on Create Now and it will all be configured just the way you specified it.

Windows 7 takes a few moments to set up the network, but it's remarably fast.

The only step left is to take note of the HomeGroup password which will allow other computers running Windows 7 on your network to connect to the HomeGroup in the way you have specified. You can always access this password through the Network and Sharing Center if you like.

Now that the HomeGroup is all set up and humming smoothly, you can join as many other computers on your home network as you want. Just go to any other computer on the network and connect to the same network that the HomeGroup is running on, whether wired or wireless. Click Join Now.

Simply type in the HomeGroup password that Windows 7 provided for you.

At this point you can choose what data is on the computer you're currently using that you would like to share with the entire HomeGroup network.

You're done! If setting up home networking gets any easier than this, it will have to be done via mind reading!

With Windows 7 phenomenal HomeGroup process you can now forever forget the hair-pulling unsolvable problems and their puzzling error announcements that almost everyone has encountered in setting up a home network under previous operating systems:

• Access methods, access rights or passwords not properly set
• Adapters are set to full duplex, although the connection cannot perform full duplex
• Advanced tab missing in firewall - Network Bridge used unnecessarily
• Cannot add WebDAV server to My Network Places
• Cannot browse some web sites
• Computer and share name limitations
• DNS Client service running in a workgroup
• Faulty or obsolete drivers, drivers that are not fully compatible
• Firewall blocks Intranet/LAN connection
• Inappropriate DNS or WINS settings
• IP address setup
• Machines mistakenly set for domain access
• Network path not found
• Shared folder name does not appear on mapped network drive
• Slow browsing due to inappropriate computer names or passwords
• Spooler SubSystem App encountered a problem
• TCP/IP not working
• Transport protocols
• VPN policy active
• Winsock corruption

This is nothing short of fantastic! Windows 7 HomeGroup rules!

Read The Entire Windows 7 Complete Guide!

Windows 7: The Complete Guide
Windows 7: The Complete Guide - Getting Started
Windows 7: The Complete Guide - Backup & Restore
Windows 7: The Complete Guide - Security & Privacy
Windows 7: The Complete Guide - Encryption
Windows 7: The Complete Guide - Aero & Libraries
Windows 7: The Complete Guide - HomeGroup
Windows 7: The Complete Guide - Tips & Tricks
Windows 7: The Complete Guide - Turn Off The Junk & Crank Up The Speed