How to Launch It
- Open the traditional Control Panel through the Start Screen or using the Run Windows command “control”.
- Select “Category” view for Control Panel.
- Select “Network and Internet” category. This opens a new page containing the subcategories.
- Select “Network and Sharing Center”. This will launch the applet on the same control panel page.
- The type of network – private or public.
- Access type – LAN, intranet, internet, etc.
- Details of the HomeGroup that you may have joined on that network. If you haven’t joined any, then it gives you option to create one.
- The adapter through which your machine is connected to the network– Ethernet, Wi-Fi, etc.
New Connection Wizard
It may happen that Windows doesn’t detect a network around your machine. This is specially the case for hidden networks. Alternately, you may want to create an ad-hoc network to share your internet with other machines. You can create or connect to such a connection through this applet. Click on “Set up a new connection or new network”. The applet will launch a wizard which will guide you through the necessary steps.
Network Adapters
A computer doesn’t know by itself how to connect to a network; it requires a special hardware called network adapter for that. The adapter acts as an interface for the computer to connect to the network. The computer basically sends data to the adapter, which determines how to send it through the network. Adapters differ by the medium of data transfer – Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc. Through this applet, you can view and customize the properties of the network adapters connected (or built-in) to your computer. Click on “Change adapter settings” located on the main page of the applet. It launches a new window, which lists all the adapters that your system has.
You can view properties of each adapter, like its drivers, whether the adapter should share the connection with other computers, etc.
You can also customize what components the driver should use in a network connection.]]>
