Managing Wireless Network Connections
Most small networks use just a single wireless connection-the connection to your network's wireless access point. However, it's no longer unusual to have multiple wireless networks configured on your computer. For example, you might have two or more wireless gateways in your home or office; you might have a wireless hot spot nearby; and as you see in this section, Windows 7 also enables you to set up computer-to-computer wireless connections to share files or an Internet connection without going through a wireless access point.
Windows 7 comes with a Manage Wireless Networks feature that lists your saved wireless networks and enables you to add new wireless connections, reorder the connections, and remove existing connections. This section shows you how to perform these and other wireless networking tasks.
In this tutorial:
- Setting a Small Network
- Setting Up a Peer-to-Peer Network
- Changing the Computer and Workgroup Name
- Connecting to a Wireless Network
- Working with Windows 7's Basic Network Tools and Tasks
- Accessing the Network and Sharing Center
- Setting Up a Homegroup
- Activating Homegroup Connections
- Creating a Homegroup
- Joining a Homegroup
- Accessing the Homegroup
- Changing Homegroup Settings
- Turning Off Homegroup Connections
- Viewing Network Computers and Devices
- Displaying a Network Map
- Viewing Network Status Details
- Customizing Your Network
- Managing Network Connections
- Opening the Network Connections Window
- Renaming a Network Connection
- Enabling Automatic IP Addressing
- Confirming That Windows 7 Is Configured for Dynamic IP Addressing
- Displaying the Computer's Current IP Address
- Setting Up a Static IP Address
- Displaying the Current DNS Addresses
- Specifying the Static IP Address
- Using a Network Connection to Wake Up a Sleeping Computer
- Disabling a Network Connection
- Managing Wireless Network Connections
- Opening the Manage Wireless Networks Window
- Creating an Ad Hoc Wireless Network
- Working with Wireless Connection Properties
- Modifying Connection Properties
- Modifying Security Properties
- Renaming Wireless Connections
- Reordering Wireless Connections
- Creating User-Specific Wireless Connections
- Removing Wireless Connections