Setting Up a Homegroup

One of the major innovations that Windows 7 brings to the networking table is the idea of a homegroup. This is a collection of computers on a peer-to-peer network that use a single password to share data between them. The idea is that once you join a homegroup by entering the homegroup password, you never need to worry about networking again because Windows 7 handles all the connections for you automatically. This is in contrast with the more traditional way of managing networking connections and sharing resources, which is by setting up user accounts and passwords and then assigning user permissions for each shared resource.

In other words, homegroups are designed to make networking easier and less problematic for new and inexperienced users. Of course, any Windows feature aimed at making life easier for novices is almost always worse for experienced or power users, because simpler always means fewer features, options, and settings.