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!

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 4 Ratings

You will learn a lot more about your Vista system - 2008-02-01
Reviewer Rating:
With 479 pages of information not counting the glossary, I can see why the cover calls this the most comprehensive windows networking book you will find. Kudos to the author, McFedries, the language is approachable, lots of pictures and charts; thank you for that! I did not feel dumb at any point reading the book. The title is a bit misleading, I imagine the author/editor team went back and forth on that more than once. There is a bunch of general networking information. If you look at the Contents at a Glance ( nice feature ) you can see that immediately, but this is not a complaint, if you need to know what PPoE is because you are trying to set up your ISP account, you need to know and you would be angry if the book did not cover it. All that said you are to page 121 before you really start talking about Vista. But then, we start talking about more Vista than I ever knew existed!

There is some really good information in the book, I learned how to change my network icon, enjoyed the wake on lan discussion, wish I had read the book before my last job when I spent over ten minutes figuring out how to connect to a wireless network that did not advertise its SSID ( page 159). The calendar discussion was interesting, my Vista box doesn't work exactly like the book says, but it gives me some guidance to play around and learn more. I was really glad to see the security discussions. Chapter 18, troubleshooting, if done a bit better, would be worth the price of the book. If this goes to second edition, I recommend this chapter be restructured so that you list the problem and then the steps to evaluate. The material from chapter 19 on was remarkable, essentially bonus material, I had no idea my Vista box could be a server, but I do not think I am going to activate that. I figure my system is too likely to get hacked as it is.

Bottom line, you could benefit from this book if you have a technical bent and want to know more about your Windows operating system. Every help desk should probably invest in a copy. If your organization has not yet deployed Vista, I think only 5 - 6% of computers are Vista at this point, the team researching the build should be aware of this book. The balance of the book is more how to do things that about things and I like that.

VERY VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!! - 2008-01-24
Reviewer Rating:
Are you having a problem in getting the right networking equipment? If you are, then this book is for you. Author Paul McFedries, has done an outstanding job of putting together a complete beginner's guide to creating, configuring, administering and using a small network using Windows Vista computers.

McFedries, begins by giving you a complete look at the hardware side of networking, with a focus on networking for homes and small offices. Then, the author explores the real meat and potatoes of Windows Vista networking. The author also shows you how to secure each Vista Computer; how to use the techniques for general network security; and, how to use specific techniques to enhance wireless security. Finally, the author concludes by showing you how to take your networking skills to a higher level.

This most excellent book includes comprehensive coverage of networking hardware, including both wired and wireless devices. Perhaps more importantly, when you have your networking hardware in hand, this book shows you how to put everything together, including installing the devices, laying the cable, and connecting all the pieces.

Fine guide to creating, configuring and administering a small network using Windows Vista - 2008-04-03
Reviewer Rating:
Computer libraries strong on Windows Vista networking for beginners will relish this fine guide to creating, configuring and administering a small network using Windows Vista computers, making it a pick capable of crossing boundaries into the small library's reference holding as well. From how to assess and purchase network hardware to putting routers, cable and connections to work, Networking with Microsoft Windows Vista holds everything needed to create a secure computer network, and includes intermediate networking tasks from making remote connections to troubleshooting typical problems.

information overload - 2009-01-12
Reviewer Rating:
I consider myself very capable when it comes to computers. However, this book goes in to every tiny detail about how everything works, why it works that way, why it doesn't work another way, why it will do this and won't do that. I just want to get the network up and running! I don't care about the entire history of why the yellow wire is yellow. Way too much information. I gave up on the book and figured it out on my own.

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