94 JANUARY2020|COMPUTERSHOPPER|ISSUE383
J
ustbecauseWindows7isno
longersupported,itdoesn’t
meanthatyourhardwareis
completelyuseless.Whenthetimecomes
foryoutomoveawayfromtheoperating
system,youhaveseveralchoicesonwhat
todowithyouroldcomputer.Here,we
lookattheoptionsandwhatyoucando.
TURN WINDOWS 7INTO
AFILE OR PRINT SERVER
PROS
Youstill have your old computer
if you needit
CONS
Youuse acomparatively large
amount of power
Printersmay still
not work
Oneofthebiggestissuesaboutmoving
awayfromWindows7isthatsomeof
youroldhardwaremaynothavedrivers
availableinanewoperatingsystem.
Forexample,manyolderprinterswillnot
workwithWindows10.
Ratherthanhavingtoupgradeyour
printertousewithanewoperatingsystem
andcomputer,youcouldinsteadturnyour
Windows7PCintoafileserver. To dothis,
bootupyourWindows7computerand
logintogettothedesktop.
SharingafolderinWindowsisvery
easy.Allyouhavetodoisfindthefolder
youwanttoshareinWindowsExplorer,
right-clickitandselectProperties,then
clicktheSharingtab.Youcannowclickthe
Sharebuttontomakethefolderavailable
onthenetwork.However, notethatsome
systemfolders,suchastheWindows
directory,cannotbesharedandwillhave
thenecessarybuttongreyedout.
To shareafolderinWindows7,you
needtoselectwhichuserswillhave
accesstothefolderoverthenetwork.
ForWindows7,thedefaultshare
usernameyou’reusingwillbelistedin
themainwindowwithaPermissionLevel
ofOwner.Youshouldleavethissetting
alone,andchooseadditionalusersthat
willhaveaccesstothisfolder.
Ifyouturnedoffpassword-protected
sharing,youshouldselecttheGuest
accountfromthedrop-downmenu
andclickAdd.Ifyou’reusingpassword-
protectedsharing,selecttheuser
accountsthatyouwanttogiveaccess
andclickAdd(repeatforasmanyuser
accountsasyouneed).To givealluser
accountsaccess,simplyselectEveryone
fromthedrop-downmenu.
Next,foreachaccountyou’veselected,
youcanchoosethePermissionLevel.Read
letsthoseuserslookat,butnotmodify,
filesstoredinthisfolder,andRead/Write
letsusersviewandmodifyfilesstoredin
thefolder.Forhomeuse,it’sbesttoset
Read/Writeasthepermissionlevelforall
users,unlessyouspecificallydon’twant
networkusersbeingabletomodifyfiles.
Sharingaprinterisjustaseasy.Onthe
computerthathastheprinterinstalled,
gotothePrinterssectionoftheControl
Panel.Right-clicktheprinteryouwant
toshareandselectPrinterProperties.
ClicktheSharingtabandselectShare
thisprinter.Youcanchangethename
oftheprinterifyoulike.ClickOKto
sharetheprinter.
Onceyou’vedonethis,youcanfind
theprinteronthenetworkinExplorerby
selectingyourWindows7computer.
However,installinganetworkprinter
requiresyoutohavethedriversforthe
printer,whichmaynotbepossibleon
yournewcomputer.Ourguideto
ABOVE:Youcan
choose the level of
accessfor each user
RIGHT:Sharing aprinter over the network is
simple, butyou’ll still need printer drivers
REPURPOSE AN OLD
WINDOWS 7 PC
