In previous versions of Windows, a My Network Places icon used to appear on everybody's desktop. Of course, for the millions of non-networked PC users in their home offices and bedrooms, it never made much sense. In Windows XP Professional, in fact, My Network Places appears only when your PC joins a network ”and then only in the Start menu. (You can also put its icon on the desktop yourself, as described in Section 9.7.3.1.)
In any case, once it's there, choosing this command opens the My Network Places window, which displays icons for the computer, disks and folders other people on the office network have made available for rummaging. (Much more on this topic in Chapter 20.)
My Network Places 