1. Click the + next to My Computer in the Folders pane of Windows Explorer.
2. Click once on Control Panel.
3. Click the View menu and click Details.

1. Double-click the Network control panel.
   If the computer has tight security you may receive a warning about being unable to make changes.

1. Click the Configuration tab.
2. Look at the network components to see which are installed. 
   Scroll down to see them all.
3. Click the Add button. 
   You will see Client, Protocol and Service. Click one of them.
   Click a manufacturer to view the clients (or protocols/services) that you can install. 
   Click Cancel two times.
4. For each installed network component, click it and click Properties.
   Which icons represent clients, protocols, and services? 
5. Click the TCP/IP protocol icon for your Ethernet adapter.
   What is your computer's IP address? Subnet mask?
   What is the IP address of the gateway your computer is using?
   What is the IP address of the WINS server?
   What are the IP addresses of the DNS servers? 
   What are the DNS host and domain?
6. Look at the Primary Network Logon.
   What is your primary network logon? What other options are available?
7. Click File and Print Sharing.
   Is your computer sharing files? Printers?

1. Click the Identification tab.
   What is your computer name and workgroup?

1. Double-click the System Control Panel
2. Click the Network Identification (Windows 2000) or Computer Name (Windows XP) tab.

1. Click the Access Control tab.
   Does your computer have share-level or user-level access control?
2. Click Cancel to close the Networking control panel.

1. Double-click the Network (and Dial-up) Connections control panel folder.
2. Double-click the Local Area Connection.
   You can see whether and how long the computer is connected, and the connection speed (10 or 100 Mbps).
3. Click the Properties button.
   You can see your network card and a list of clients, services and protocols.
4. Click the Configure button.
   You can see details of your network card, including driver files, I/O, memory and IRQ settings.
   This may be disabled by the administrator.
5. Select a client, service or protocol (e.g. TCP/IP) and click Properties.
   You can see information similar to the Configuration tab for Windows 98 described above.
   This may be disabled by the administrator.
6. In Windows XP, click the Support tab to see IP address, subnet mask and default gateway. Click the Details button to see physical (Ethernet MAC) address, DNS and WINS servers.

1. Double-click the Internet Options control panel
   OR: Start Internet Explorer, click the Tools menu and click Internet Options
2. Click the Connections tab
3. Click the LAN Settings button
   What is the IP address and port of the proxy server?
4. Click the Advanced button
   What addresses should not use a proxy server? Why?
5. Click Cancel three times to close the dialog boxes.

1. Double-click the Dial-up Networking control panel (Windows 98)
   or double-click Dial-up Connection in the Network (and Dial-up) Connections folder.
2. If there is no connection, double-click Make New Connection
3. Type the name of a connection 
4. Select a device to use and click Configure. 
   (Note: Your system may not have any modem or dial-up device.)
5. Click the General tab.
   View settings like speaker volume and maximum computer-modem connection speed.
6. Click the Connection tab.
   Connection preferences might be 8 data bits, no parity bits, and one stop bit.
   Call preferences allow you to wait for a dial tone, cancel or disconnect calls.
7. Click the Port Settings button.
   You will see receive and transmit settings.
8. Click the Advanced button. You will see other options:
   Error control and compression, hardware/software flow control, modulation type

1. Double-click the Dial-up Networking control panel (Windows 98)
2. Double-click one of the connections and click Properties.
3. Click the General tab.
   You will see phone number including area and country codes, and modem.
4. Click the Networking tab.
   You will see Type of Dial-Up Server, probably set to PPP.
   Advanced options include software connection and log file.
   You can also choose NetBEUI, IPX/SPX and/or TCP/IP protocols.
5. Click the Security tab.
   You will see username, password and domain, and other security options.
6. Click the Dialing tab.
   You will see options about when to dial, redial and disconnect.

1. Click Start and move to Programs, Accessories, System Tools

1. Open the Add/Remove Programs control panel
2. Choose Windows Components
3. Click the System Tools component and click Details
4. Put a tick in the box of any component you want to install
5. Click OK

Notes:

1. On Windows 98 you might be asked to insert the Windows 98 CD 
   (if the installation of Windows was not done over the network)
2. On Windows 2000/XP you might not be allowed to install programs

1. Select System Information from the System Tools menu
2. Under Components, under Network, click Adapter.
   Which adapters do you see? You should see at least one for your Ethernet card.
   Which driver files is your Ethernet card using?
3. Under Components, under Network, click Protocol.
   What features are listed for each protocol?
4. Under Components, under Ports, click Serial and Parallel.
   What DMA and IRQ channels, I/O ports and driver files are each using?
5. Under Software Environment view the Network Connections.
6. Under Internet Explorer click Connectivity.
   What is the IP address and port of the proxy server?
   What other networking information do you recognise/understand?

1. In System Information, click the Tools menu and click Network Diagnostics
2. Click +/- to show/hide a category or Expand All to view all the information. 

1. Select System Monitor from the System Tools menu
2. Click Edit, Add Item
3. Select a networking category from the category menu
   (e.g. Microsoft Network Client)
4. Select an item within the selected category and click OK
   (e.g. open files, bytes read per second)
   You will see a graph of the selected property
5. Open a file on another computer using the Network Neighborhood.
   View the effect on the graph.

1. Select Net Watcher from the System Tools menu
2. If you are not sharing any folders, click Administer and click Add Shared Folder
3. Tell someone on another computer to open a file in one of your shared folders
4. Click the View menu and click by Connections, by Shared Folders, by Open Files
5. Sort by the different columns by clicking on the column headers
   (by Connections: User, Computer, Shares, Open Files, Connected Time, Idle Time)
   (by Shared Folders: Shared Folder, Shared As, Access Type, Read Only)
   (by Open Files: Open File, Via Share, Accessed By, Open Mode)
6. Click Administer and click Close File to close the file of a connected user
7. Click Administer and click Disconnect User

Note: Windows XP uses the Shared Folders system tool instead.

1. Click Start, move to Programs, move to Accessories and click MS-DOS prompt or Command Prompt.
   (Technically Windows NT/2000/XP uses DOS-like commands instead of DOS.)

1. Type NET HELP
2. Type NET /?
3. Type NET command /?
4. Type NET HELP command

Note:
The list of available commands is much longer for servers than for clients.
Also compare Windows 98 and 2000.

1. Type NET CONFIG
2. Type NET VER

1. Type NET VIEW
2. Type NET VIEW /WORKGROUP:wgname

1. Type NET VIEW \\computer

1. Type NET USE

1. Type NET USE x: \\computer\folder

1. Type NET USE * \\computer\folder

1. Type NET USE LPT1: \\computer\printer

1. Type NET USE * /DELETE

1. Type NET PRINT \\computer

1. Type NET LOGON
2. Type your username and password when prompted
3. Type NET LOGOFF

1. Add to the autoexec batch file a line containing the text NET START