In Windows 7, 8 and Windows 10 all the configuration settings of the network and internet connection are contained in the Network and Sharing Center, one of the most important sections of the Control Panel. You can access this Connection Center, as well as from the Control Panel in the Network and Internet section, also by right-clicking on the network icon next to the clock at the bottom right of the screen or from the command prompt, by running: control. exe / name Microsoft.NetworkAndSharingCenter .
Knowing the meaning of the main options in the Network Connection Center is useful not only to optimize the computer's internet connection, share a printer and protect it from intrusion, but also and above all to know where and how to intervene in case of problems .
1) To start the guide to the network and sharing center, you need to talk immediately about public and private networks .
The first thing you notice in the network settings screen is the list of active networks where, for each of them, it is written if there is internet access, some network card is used and if it is a private network or publish .
Information on internet access is the first indication that you need to look out for connection problems.
The fact that the network is private makes the information circulating inside protected from the outside.
However, if the network is public, all connected computers see each other.
Windows automatically assigns public or private status to the networks you connect to.
In general, the home network is private while a wifi network to which you connect around is public .
For example, if you go to a friend's house or an office with many people and connect to the available network to access the internet, this network must be set as public, so as to prevent anyone from being able to browse the files. of our shared folders.
Sometimes Windows will ask if you want to enable file and printer sharing and to find other computers on the network; answering YES, the network is set as private, otherwise answering NO, the network is set as public.
If you want to change, for a network, the public or private setting in Windows 7 just click on the writing under the name of the network directly from the connection center.
READ HERE to set up the private network at home and publish for all the others in Windows 10
2) Sharing configurations are not fixed and can also be changed .
To do this, in the network connection center, click on the link on the left, " Change advanced sharing settings ".
The window that opens allows you to specify whether to enable sharing on the public network, on the private network and on all networks.
All settings are the same and repeated for each profile.
The sections of this window are:
- Network discovery : if when you open Windows Explorer, you can see the name of another computer connected to the network under the Network section and, therefore, that the computer can be seen by other computers and vice versa.
By default, this setting is active for private networks.
- File and printer sharing: if you want other computers to have access to shared folders and printers connected to the computer.
Generally speaking, you can also keep it disabled for all networks, unless you want to keep files shared with other computers in your home or office or if you have a printer in your home that you want to use with all computers.
I refer to another article regarding the procedure to follow to share files between PCs and access shared folders.
- Home group connections : another way to share files and folders, simpler, safer and more immediate.
In our Network and Sharing Center, we see, next to the name of the active networks, the link to create a Home group.
Of how to use this feature I had already written a guide with the procedure to share files with the Home group in Windows or disable it.
In Windows 8 or Windows 10 there are also other options including:
- multimedia streams, useful for transforming the computer into a DLNA server and transmitting music, films and images with other devices on the network.
- Public folder sharing that is best turned off.
- Connections File sharing set up with 128-bit encryption, unless you need to share files with Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows 2000.
- Password protected sharing, absolutely to be activated, to force anyone trying to explore the resources on the network to enter a username and password of a computer account to access the data.
These configurations are automatic, but very important to check to avoid what is described in an old but always current article that describes how easy it is to enter the PC and see the shared folders of other computers .
3) Next to Connections: you can click on the name of the WiFi or Ethernet network card to quickly open the details window on the connection status .
In this window you can see all the connection parameters, the signal quality for Wi-Fi networks, the speed of the network, how long we have been connected etc.
You can also click the Disable button to disconnect the PC from the network, the Diagnosis button to try to identify a problem and the Properties button, to manually change the various parameters.
You can therefore set a fixed IP address and, above all, you can change DNS on the PC.
If the network is wifi, there is also a Wireless Properties button, which allows you to configure the automatic connection to that network and to see the type of wifi security, including the password that you can see in the clear here.
4) To create a new PPPoE internet connection there is a button in the center of the Network Connection Center.
Networks are actually seen and managed automatically by Windows.
Adding a network manually is only necessary when you need to make a VPN connection or a Wifi connection whose name is not visible in the list of networks.
From here you can also create an ad hoc network, which in Windows 10 no longer exists.
5) The Troubleshooting section is all a list of links to guide the user to diagnose and understand any problems with the internet, with the network card, with the Home Group, with the sharing of folders and printers etc.
The most useful part of the various guides is related to Internet connections and the network card.
In general, however, I recommend reading the brief guide on Navigaweb.net on how to solve internet connection problems
6) To finish, let's click on the link on the left Change adapter settings which is important for troubleshooting network problems.
The list of network cards on your computer also includes any virtual networks, Ethernet ports, and Wifi cards.
For each network you can see the details of the connections and the parameters as seen in point 4.
7) The links at the bottom left of the Network and Sharing Center refer to the configuration of the Windows Firewall and the Internet Options, which however refer to Internet Explorer.
For any doubt or question or addition to the article, please leave a comment
