Introduction

Overview

Welcome to the eighth edition of Networking For Dummies, the book that's written especially for people who have this nagging feeling in the back of their minds that they should network their computers but haven't a clue about how to start or where to begin.

Do you often burn a spreadsheet file to a CD-R disc just so you can give it to someone else in your office? Are you frustrated because you can't use the fancy color laser printer that's on the financial secretary's computer? Do you wait in line to use the computer that has the customer database? You need a network!

Or maybe you already have a network, but you have just one problem: They promised that the network would make your life easier, but instead it has turned your computing life upside down. Just when you had this computer thing figured out, someone popped into your office, hooked up a cable, and said, "Happy networking!" Makes you want to scream.

Either way, you've found the right book. Help is here, within these humble pages.

This book talks about networks in everyday-and often irreverent-terms. The language is friendly; you don't need a graduate education to get through it. And the occasional potshot helps unseat the hallowed and sacred traditions of networkdom, bringing just a bit of fun to an otherwise dry subject. The goal is to bring the lofty precepts of networking down to earth, where you can touch them and squeeze them and say, "What's the big deal? I can do this!"