How to set up a cross-platform network

If you need additional wired connections, you'll have to purchase an additional Ethernet switch that you can set up between the router and the clients to increase the number of available ports. Most routers can assign addresses to up to 254 devices (wireless and wired), though some of them top out at 20 or so wireless clients.

Still, even the fastest wireless routers may show signs of bogging down when hosting 10 or more active users, depending on the bandwidth demands of each. Alternatively, you can opt for a wired router (with lots of ports, of course) and a separate wireless access point that connects to it. Walls, masonry, metal cabinets and other structures can interfere with the radio signal used by wireless Ethernet, so a wired router plus wireless access point is a good option if your network wiring hub is fairly distant from your wireless workers.

For optimum performance, position your wireless router or access point as close as possible to the wireless work areas. Upgrading to the latest wireless technology -- the Draft 802.11n specification -- can significantly speed up your wireless connections as well. Sometimes draft or nonstandard wireless technology delivers its best results when you purchase the router or access point and the wireless client hardware from the same manufacturer. Read the manual before installing a router, and be sure to heed its urgent warning to change the router's default password before connecting it to the Internet.

Hooking up printers

One great reason to network your business PCs is to share printers. Printers that connect directly to the network via Ethernet constitute one of the most brilliant innovations ever. Simply plug a printer in and turn it on, and soon it is available to every computer on the network.

To find and install a network printer in Windows, go to Control Panel, open Printers and Faxes (just plain Printers in Vista), click Add a printer and use the network printer option in the resulting dialog box to browse for the printer on the network. Windows Vista will detect and install a driver for it, if one is available online; Windows XP offers a list of available drivers. Network printers may not show up in Windows XP if your Workgroup name differs from the one that the printer belongs to (often, "WORKGROUP"). To locate the printer, temporarily join its workgroup (click Change in the Computer Name tab of Control Panel's System Properties) before browsing for the printer. In general, it is much easier to share resources between computers if all of them are configured with the same Workgroup name.