How to Convert Your Old PC Into a File Server

You ever wonder what to do with that old desktop pc that hasn't been used since everybody in the family now have there own laptop. This article will show you "How To Convert Your PC Into A File Server."

Instructions

1. Select the type of connection to the file server do you want to make:

   There are three basic types of connection that you can make to your file server. Choose the one that best fit your needs. Those chooses are:

   1. Local Area Network (LAN) or Wireless Local Area Connection (WLAN).
   You will be hardwire to the file server or without 300 feet of the
   router in the case of a wireless connection.

   2. Wide Area Network (WAN).
   This connection is made through a dial-up connection, pretty much
   like the old bulletin board service (bbs) that were popular before
   the popularity of the world wide web (www).

   3. Virtual Private Network (VPN).
   This connection will use the internet to establish a connection to
   the network.

   Note: Each have their advantages and limitations. A comparison of the
   three is beyond the scope of this article, but for best efficiency, I
   a combination of two, if not, all three.

2. Decide on the nature of the network.

   The network can be setup as a BBS (bulletin board service), where all files are available to everybody allowed on the network. Or, it can be setup where everybody have their own space on the network and access is only available to the person that the particular space is assigned to.

3. Setup up your network.

   For setting up the LAN and WLAN network you simply follow the instructions listed in Windows Help area.

   For Wan and VPN network setup instructions can be found through Google.com search engine.

4. Maintenance of your network.

   This mainly include providing disk space as needed, maintaining a anti-virus solution on the computer and keep the hard disks defragmented so that the network is moving at top speed.

Tips & Warnings

• In the next articles I will describe in detail how to setup each form of

• network or you can search on Google at http://www.google.com for

• instructions.