NWA-PCUG Newsletter Article, March 2011
Discovering Windows 7 – Part 12
By Neil Stahfest, Vice President, Tacoma Area PC User Group,
Washington January 2011 issue, the Data Line

http://www.tapcug.org
NCStahfest (at) msn.com (click to email author)

The Black Friday sales were too tempting this year and I decided it was time to treat myself to a new laptop computer. When selecting a new computer you need to determine what your requirements are. I wanted something powerful enough to run my current software plus what I would probably need a year or two from now. I don’t consider myself to be a “gamer” but I do use some flight simulation software which has some pretty intensive graphics requirements. I decided to look for a computer with an Intel Core i7 processor plus with a lot of RAM and a good graphics card. I wanted a laptop computer so I could demonstrate software at S.I.G. meetings. After checking the Internet to find the best candidates that meet my requirements, I made my selection and placed an order. Getting a new computer is exciting and, while the experience is fresh in my mind, this is probably a good time to talk about setting up a new computer.

If you bought your computer from one of the major manufacturers or a store it probably arrived packed in a box with its accessories. When I opened my box and found a large folded sheet of paper labeled “START HERE.” (Can anyone remember the last time they got a printed manual with a new computer?) Unfolding it, on the front side I found two illustrated columns. One was labeled “QUICK SETUP” and the other “AFTER SETUP.” Because I’ve learned the hard way, I took a moment to turn the paper over. Printed on the backside of the paper was “GET MORE FROM YOUR PC” with pictures of my computer showing the top and sides with everything labeled. There was also a section showing how the TouchPad works. I’ve used a number of computers with TouchPads and it seems like they are all a little different. If your computer comes with a TouchPad, I advise you to look this section over. You should at least find out how to turn the TouchPad on and off or you may wonder why it doesn’t work. ;-)

Having studied (well at least glanced at) how the controls on my computer are laid out, I flipped the paper over to get back to “QUICK SETUP”. Following the illustrated instructions, I removed everything from the box, noting that I seemed to have everything shown in the picture. I started by installing my laptop’s battery (as shown in an illustration). I connected external power, turned on the computer and prepared to follow on-screen instructions. Nothing to it really. For a few minutes, the computer seemed to be doing internal things and small lights flashed. Then it asked me for my name, a password (which I had to enter twice) and I had to accept the license agreement. A clock appeared and I had to reset the computer’s clock to my local time zone and time. Then it was time to connect to the Internet!

I could have used a cable to my Internet modem but I elected to go wireless (that’s what I use most of the time anyway). The setup program included a “wizard” to help me here. The wizard wanted some information about my wireless network. A list of available local networks appeared (well, only mine really) and I clicked on it. It only took a few seconds for the wizard to figure out that I have an encrypted wireless network and a security key code was needed. Since I’m so well organized (not really) it only took me a minute to find the book where I wrote it down when I created the key code. A dozen or two key strokes and the code was entered. Now it wanted to know what kind of network I was using. Was it a Home network, a Public network or Work network? They have different security settings. I selected “Home.”

Next, the installer wanted to know about my “Homegroup.” The Homegroup is a new feature of Windows 7. It is basically a private network that allows secure access to selected files and printers on the Homegroup network without a complicated process of configuring the computer with various network settings. In a Homegroup network, each Homegroup member is a computer not a specific user. In other words, if I add my laptop computer to my Homegroup, which includes a desktop computer running Windows 7, anyone using my laptop will have the same access to files and printers attached to my desktop computer. In a home setting this can make it very easy to share files and printers between computers. I can print documents and pictures from my laptop computer on the laser printer attached to my desktop computer.

So after asking me if I wanted to use a Homegroup, the installer program asked me to select what I wanted to share including pictures, music, videos, documents and printers. I selected all of them. Then it asked for my Workgroup password. This password encrypts the information passing between the computers on the your Homegroup so, even if you are using a wireless network connection, if someone in your neighborhood were to intercept the information passing between your computers they wouldn’t be able to read the information.

Duh, I didn’t have that written down. Luckily, the installer program told me how to find it on my other Homegroup computer. All I needed to do was to go to my other computer, click on the Windows “Start” button, type “Homegroup” in the search box and, when the Homegroup window appeared, locate where it says “View or print the Homegroup password” and click on it. I decided to print it. After entering the password on my laptop computer, I placed the printout in my book with the Internet security key code for future reference.

At this point the computer restarted, using Windows 7. Since this was the first time Windows 7 was running on this computer, it gave me an opportunity to register the computer with the manufacturer and then gave me a tour of Windows 7. After the tour, now that my new computer was working, I make a system image backup (as described in this column in “Discovering Windows – Part 3”). Now all I have to do is figure out what programs I want to install on my new computer! :^)

Setting up a new computer will probably never be as easy as setting up a new bread toaster but, as you can see from the above description, it’s not very difficult. I could have saved a few steps if I had plugged the computer directly into my hi-speed modem with a cable before I started the installation. That would have avoided the need to setup the wireless connection, but I wanted my computer to be portable. If I only had one computer then I wouldn’t have needed to configure a Homegroup but even that was no real challenge. If you setup a Homegroup just remember that all the computers connected to the same Homegroup must use the same Homegroup password.

So to all of you who got a new computer over the holidays, or in the January sales, HAPPY COMPUTING!

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