Windows 8 & Networking Help!

[Uppie1414]

Hey everybody,

1st off, I want to thank everyone on the site for all of help I've received over the years. I really do appreciate it.

Now, back to my obvious lack of computer knowledge.

I recently installed Windows 8 on my new computer in my home office. I want to be able to be share only a couple of files with another computer on our network...but I don't want that computer or anyone else on our network (or wireless) to be able to tap into mine.

So, I guess I need help A: setting up the network and B: making sure I have the control/etc.

Thoughts?
Dane

*it's a couple of xcel spreadsheets. I wouldn't mind letting the other user make changes, but I want it to prompt me to confirm before anything is actually changed. Not necessarily needed (or he can just put notes--I'd be fine with that).

 

[Savatar]

Just setting up a basic read-only share on a folder with those files in it sounds like what you'd want to do. There's no mechanism to alert you when changes are made, which is why I would suggest a read-only share. That way they can always copy the file locally and then make changes on their local copy, and send it to you for review, or something like that. To set up the share, right-click a folder, select properties, then the sharing tab, then "Advanced Sharing...", select "Share this folder", and in the permissions menu select everyone and check read access (or restrict it to specific people). You may want to give your user account full control, so you can modify the files remotely if you want. To connect to the share, other users would then go to "My Computer" > Map Network Drive > select the drive to map to, and enter \\ipaddress\sharename (where ipaddress is the IP of the computer hosting the share, and sharename is ... the share name).

As far as preventing people from accessing the wireless connection, make sure you configure your wireless router use WPA2 Personal, set up a secure key, and DO NOT broadcast the SSID. While WPA2 is pretty much the best option out there for personal use (WPA2 Enterprise for businesses), WPA2 Personal is still not completely secure, so you may not want to broadcast your SSID. This will make it a little harder to connect to because the computers won't 'automatically' detect/see that wireless network, but I think it'll be somewhat safer.

Is this what you needed?

 

[Ketchup]

I think Savatar has a good suggestion. I was thinking of something a little simpler. Create a folder with only the spreadsheet in it (and whatever else you want to share). Put a password on the spreadsheet. Share the folder as you would any other folder. Others will be able to view the spreadsheet, but can only write to it with your password.

Do you need any assistance getting the file/folder sharing set up?

Just remember that if you don't want other computers on the network to access your shares at all, make sure they are on a different workgroup, or have file/folder sharing turned off.

 

[piasabird]

This is a lot easier to control with an actual network and a server. However, if you share a folder you may be able to password protect the file and share it only with one computer or ip address. You almost need some kind of application to be able to control specific changes. Batch processing might be nice. Just put it in a separate folder and only share that folder with a specific computer. Someone may have something more specific. We only share what we put on a file server here.

I would keep a backup.

 

[Ketchup]

Just to follow up, Uppie1414 got the Windows 8 homegroup working, and it seems to be doing what he was looking for.

 

[corkyg]

That's good. My question is, why was this thread not posted in Networking?

 

[Ketchup]

I can see 'computer help' as being an all-encompassing category, but that is just a guess.

 

[Uppie1414]

I was looking for some other Win8 items, but I focused on this. Honestly, my fault.

Thanks again everyone. I really appreciate the help.