Turning on network discovery

To ensure that your PC is fully able and willing to go out slumming it on the network, you must activate network discovery. Here's what to do:

1. Open the Network and Sharing Center window.
   To get there, you can click the Network and Sharing Center toolbar button in the Network window
2. From the left side of the window, choose the task Change Advanced Sharing Settings.
   In Windows Vista, you might need to click the downward-pointing arrow to reveal the Network Discovery area of the window.
3. Choose Turn On Network Discovery, if it isn't on already.
4. Click the Save Changes button.
   In Windows Vista, click the Apply button. Further, you must enter the administrator password or click the Continue button to proceed.

Viewing the network map

Windows enables you to view a graphical image of your computer network - a map. To do so, open the Network and Sharing Center window and click the See Full Map link near the upper right corner. (The link is titled View Full Map in Windows Vista.)

The graphical network map illustrates various gizmos attached to the network. Older Windows computers, as well as some network-independent devices (hard drives and printers), may not show up on the map, but appear at the bottom.

When your PC has more than one way to access the network, you can choose the network to map from a menu button found at the top of the Network Map window.