Taking Stock


One of the most challenging parts of planning a network is figuring out how to work with the computers you already have-how do you get from here to there? Before you can plan how to get "there," you have to know where "here" is: Take a thorough inventory of your current computers.

What you need to know

You need to know the following information about each of your computers:

  • The processor type and, if possible, its clock speed: Hope that all your computers are 2GHz Pentium 4s or better. But in most cases, you find a mixture of computers-some new, some old, some borrowed, some blue. You may even find a few archaic pre-Pentium computers, which should be converted to beehives as soon as possible.

    You can't usually tell what kind of processor a computer has just by looking at the computer's case. Most computers, however, display the processor type when you turn them on or reboot them. If the information on the startup screen scrolls too quickly for you to read it, try pressing the Pause key to freeze the information. After you finish reading it, press the Pause key again so that your computer can continue booting.

  • The size of the hard drive and the arrangement of its partitions: In Windows, you can find out the size of your computer's hard drive by opening the My Computer window, right-clicking the drive icon, and choosing the Properties command from the shortcut menu that appears. Figure 4-1 shows the Properties dialog box for a 149GB hard drive that has 137GB of free space.

    image from book
    Figure 4-1: The Properties dialog box for a hard drive shows the drive's total capacity and the amount of free space available on the drive.

    If your computer has more than one hard drive or partition, Windows lists an icon for each drive or partition in the My Computer window. Jot down the size and amount of free space available on each of the drives. (A partition is a section of a hard drive that's treated as though it were a separate drive. But that won't be on the test.)

  • The amount of memory: In Windows, you can find out this information easily enough by right-clicking the My Computer desktop icon and choosing the Properties command. The amount of memory on your computer appears in the dialog box that appears. For example, Figure 4-2 shows the System Properties dialog box for a computer running Windows XP Professional with 2GB of RAM.

    image from book
    Figure 4-2: The System Properties dialog box for a computer running Windows Vista with 2GB of RAM.

  • The version of the operating system that's installed: You can determine the version by checking the System Properties dialog box. For example, Figure 4-2 shows the System Properties dialog box for a computer running Windows Vista Business Edition.

  • The type of network interface installed in the computer: To find out the exact name of the network interface, open the Control Panel and double-click the System icon. Then click the Hardware tab and click the Device Manager button. This action opens the Device Manager dialog box, as shown in Figure 4-3. In this case, you can see that the computer's network interface is an Intel(R) Pro/100 VE Network Connection.

    image from book
    Figure 4-3: Using the Device Manager to probe for hardware devices.

    Tip 

    The Device Manager is also useful for tracking down other hardware devices attached to the computer or for checking which device drivers are being used for the computer's devices.

  • The network protocols that are in use: To determine this information, open the Control Panel, double-click the Network Connections icon to open the Network Connections dialog box, and then right-click the network connection and choose the Properties command.

  • The kind of printer, if any, that's attached to the computer: Usually, you can tell just by looking at the printer itself. You can also tell by examining the Printers and Faxes folder.

  • Any other devices connected to the computer: A CD, DVD, or CD-RW drive? Scanner? Zip or Jaz drive? Tape drive? Video camera? Battle droid? Hot tub?

  • Whether driver and installation disks are available: Hopefully, you can locate the disks or CDs required by hardware devices, such as the network card, printers, and scanners. If not, you may be able to locate the drivers on the Internet.

  • Which software is used on the computer: Microsoft Office? QuickBooks? AutoCAD? Make a complete list and include version numbers.

Programs that gather information for you

Gathering information about your computers is a lot of work if you have more than a few computers to network. Fortunately, several available software programs can automatically gather the information for you. These programs inspect various aspects of a computer, such as the CPU type and speed, amount of RAM, and size of the computer's hard drives. Then they show the information on the screen and give you the option of saving the information to a hard drive file or printing it.

Windows comes with just such a program: Microsoft System Information. This program gathers and prints information about your computer. You can start Microsoft System Information by choosing Start image from book Programs image from book Accessories image from book System Tools image from book System Information.

When you fire up Microsoft System Information, you see the window shown in Figure 4-4, which displays basic information about your computer, such as your version of Microsoft Windows, the processor type, the amount of memory on the computer, and the free space on each of the computer's hard drives. You can obtain more detailed information by clicking any of the following options on the left side of the window: Hardware Resources, Components, Software Environment, or Applications.

image from book
Figure 4-4: Displaying system information.




Networking For Dummies
Networking For Dummies
ISBN: 0470534052
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 254
Authors: Doug Lowe

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