Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional in 10 Minutes

By Dorothy Burke and Jane Calabria

• Table of Contents
  • Copyright
  • Tell Us What You Think!
  • About the Authors
  • Introduction
  • Conventions Used in This Book
  • Lesson 1. Navigating Windows 2000 Professional
  • Lesson 2. Working with a Window
  • Lesson 3. Using Menus
  • Lesson 4. Using Windows 2000 Professional Help
  • Lesson 5. Using Dialog Boxes
  • Lesson 6. Working with Multiple Windows and Applications
  • Lesson 7. Copying, Moving, and Linking Between Windows and Applications
  • Lesson 8. Using My Computer
  • Lesson 9. Managing Files with My Computer
  • Lesson 10. Using WordPad
  • Lesson 11. Understanding File Properties and the Recycle Bin
  • Lesson 12. Printing
  • Lesson 13. Using My Network Places
    • What Is a Network?
    • About Clients and Servers
    • What Is My Network Places?
    • Logging On to a Network
    • Accessing My Network Places
    • Logging Off a Network
  • Lesson 14. Using the Control Panel
  • Lesson 15. Using Outlook Express Mail
  • Lesson 16. Sharing Workstations and Setting Passwords
  • Lesson 17. Using Internet Explorer 5
  • Lesson 18. Web Site and Document Searching
  • Lesson 19. Troubleshooting, Restarting, and Disaster Planning
  • Lesson 20. Customizing the Windows 2000 Environment

Accessing My Network Places

When you connect to a network drive, you add a whole new set of folders and files—not to mention other resources—to your working environment. After connecting, you can remain connected to that network while you work and can even access other servers and resources if required.

To open My Network Places, click the My Network Places icon on your desktop (see Figure 13.3). If the My Network Places icon does not appear, your computer is not configured for networking. You should contact your Network Administrator.

Figure 13.3 Computers are identified by their names. In this example when you double-click a computer, you can see which (if any) resources are shared and available.

If you click My Network Places and do not see your network in the My Network Places window, double-click the Entire Network icon. The Entire Network window opens, displaying the networks and domains available to you. If the My Network Places icon does not appear on your desktop, your PC is not configured for the network.

Understanding the My Network Places Window

Figure 13.3 shows the My Network Places window displaying several computers. Your display will differ from the one shown in this figure and may show more or fewer computers, as well as their names. But the features of My Network Places and the practice of using it are the same as we describe here.

The My Network Places window contains only one Contents pane, unlike the Windows Explorer window, which is divided into two parts—drives and folders on the left, and the content of the selected drive or folder on the right.

If your Toolbar is not showing, choose View, Toolbars from the menu.

If you don't see the status bar on your window, choose View, Status Bar from the menu. The status bar displays the number of objects (files and folders) in the window and the number of bytes they take up in memory space when an object is selected. If you select one or more files, the Status Bar changes to display the number of selected files and how many bytes of memory they total.

To open any server, computer, or folder, simply double-click the icon representing the resource. Items that appear in My Network Places are items that you have permission to access. Figure 13.4 displays the resulting window when a computer icon representing computer Tweety is clicked. This computer has six shared folders. To learn more about sharing your computer, see Lesson 16, "Sharing Workstations and Setting Passwords."

Figure 13.4 Drives are represented by file folder icons, printers by printer icons.

Creating Shortcuts to Network Resources

You can create shortcuts to computers found in My Network Places on your desktop, saving you from opening My Network Places. You might want to do this if you access a computer or file server frequently. We don't recommend that you create shortcuts for everything in My Network Places, or your desktop can become quite cluttered.

To create a shortcut, open My Network Places, locate the resource you want to create a shortcut to, and right-click it with the mouse. Next, drag (with the right mouse button) and drop the resource onto your desktop, and select Create Shortcut(s) Here from the context menu that is displayed. Click the shortcut to access the resource. Remember though, if you log off or the computer that contains the resource is disconnected from the network, the shortcut will not work.

Closing My Network Places

You close My Network Places just as you close any other window in Windows 2000, by selecting File, Close from the window menu or by clicking the Close button (X) in the upper-right corner of the My Network Places window. Closing My Network Places does not log you off of the network.

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