Macs For Dummies, 13th Edition

Chapter 18

Networking Madness

In This Chapter

Understanding wired and wireless networks

Getting a handle on sharing basics

Brushing up on Bluetooth

In some ways, a treasured Mac is like a baby. The machine is loved, pampered, even spoiled. But the reality for most of us is that our chosen computer is but one among many. It may very well have siblings … um, other computers in the house. Or your Mac may reside in a company or dormitory, where it almost certainly has to get along with other computers. If you’ve bitten into one Apple, you’ve perhaps bitten into others. For that matter, chances are quite good that the Mac must share quarters with a Windows machine. It’s such a brave new world that your Mac may even sit next to a computer that runs the operating system known as Linux.

In the ideal computing environment, the various machines can share files, data, music, printers, an Internet connection, and other resources. That’s what networking, or the practice of connecting multiple computers, is all about. Although networking topics are as geeky as any you’ll come across, Apple, in customary fashion, simplifies them as much as possible.

Networking Done Right

You have many right ways ...