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Windows 95 has far more built-in communications features than its predecessor. HyperTerminal, which installs with Windows 95, lets you hook up with text-based bulletin boards or online services. Other Win95 communications features provide local and remote PC-to-PC connections. You can, for example, connect a notebook PC directly to a desktop machine, or gain access to networks remotely over dial-up connections.
When you're away from the office, dial-up networking can put those distant resources at your fingertips. Click on Dial-Up Networking in Accessories to set up your dial-up client. You need Dial-Up Networking installed to use Windows 95's built-in Direct-Cable Connection as well. These can be used in lieu of remote-access programs such as LapLink.
You can define multiple connections for a Dial-Up Networking client. Click on the Make New Connection icon, and follow the New Connection Wizard's prompts to step through the process. Multiple connections come in handy if you need to connect at different speeds, use different modems for different connections, or if you want to network to the office *and* to your home PC from a notebook.
With Dial-Up networking installed, your computer will search automatically for files or programs across the remote network if you want it to. But this can be a hindrance if you're in the midst of work and inadvertently requested a resource that's unavailable. To avoid waiting while your system searches for something that's not there, click on Connections/Settings in the Dial-Up Networking dialog and then click on Prompt for Dial-Up Networking. With this option set, Windows 95 will ask you if you *really* want to make a remote connection before it initiates it.
If your network administrator hasn't set you up with a remote LAN access server connection for your Win95 client, you can do it yourself--with some help from Microsoft Plus. First, enable file and printer sharing on a Win95 computer you set up to act as your network server. You can turn on file and printer sharing from the Networks Control Panel item, or by right-clicking on Network Neighborhood and then choosing Properties. While still in the Properties dialog, select the Access Control tab and choose either "Share-level access control" or "User-level access control" (one may be grayed-out, depending on the type network you're connected to). Now install the Plus Pack, open the Dial-Up Networking client and click on Connections. Click on Dial-Up Server, and a tabbed dialog will appear with the name of the installed modem on the tab. If you have more than one modem installed, there will be multiple tabs. Click on the "Allow caller access" button, and you'll see either a list of people to whom you can allow access, or you'll be prompted for a password for remote callers to use, depending on whether you selected User or Share-level access control in the Properties box.
Dial-Up Networking is not for the faint-of-heart. A relatively easy way to check your setup is to try establishing a Direct-Cable Connection between your notebook and desktop workstation before you try anything else. If it works, it means that your passwords are all correct--often a stumbling block in making a Dial-Up Networking connection.
A wizard will help you set up a Direct-Cable Connection. When you click on the Direct-Cable Connection icon in the Accessories group, a wizard is available to make sure you get through each setup step successfully. Be sure to use the right kind of cable for the physical connection. A LapLink cable will work fine.
For a direct connection, a parallel port is faster than even the fastest serial port. A parallel port sends data 8 bits at a time, while a serial port doles out bits one at a time. Whenever it's feasible, use a parallel port for a Direct-Cable Connection.
If you can't set up a parallel-port connection for a Direct-Cable Connection, then make sure your serial port is pumping as fast as it can. Check your system's BIOS setup to make sure the serial port is in high-speed mode. If there's no option for high speed, or no reference to a 16550 UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter) then consider buying a high-speed serial -port add-in card. They cost about $60--a small price to pay for a quicker connection.
Test your Dial-Up Networking setup using a phone line as close to your server as possible. This will make troubleshooting your connection much easier. And don't wait until you need the hookup to try it out. You may have to make adjustments to settings on both the server and the client machine.
Troubleshooting a remote connection isn't hard, but you have to approach it methodically. Make sure each part of the connection is working before moving on to the next. For example, use Direct-Cable Connection to ensure that passwords are all OK before testing a phone connection. Check to make sure that all the networking protocols have been bound properly before you adjust settings in the protocols' properties tabs. Once you install Dial-Up Networking, a software device called the Dial-Up Adapter will be installed and all the protocols (NETBEUI, IPX/SPX, e.g.) should be bound to the Dial-Up Adapter. You can check this in the Network Properties dialog. If they're not properly bound, go to Control Panel and click on the Add/Remove Programs, and then click on Windows Setup. You can uncheck the boxes for portions of the communications component to uninstall them, and then you can reinstall them. Reinstalling should properly bind the protocols to the Dial-Up Adapter.
You don't have to have the exact same settings for a remote client that you have for a local client. However, troubleshooting will be easier if the settings on your remote client are the same as on an office client. After you establish a connection, you can always experiment with other settings.
You may make a connection--Direct-Cable or Dial-Up Networking--and then find that a whole class of resources isn't available. Invalid passwords may be the cause of this problem, because Windows 95 has trouble propagating passwords across server boundaries, as from an NT server to a NetWare server. If this happens, delete your password list file or files (*.PWL) on the client, and then attempt to make your connection. Windows 95 will prompt for new passwords and put them into the appropriate places, which should solve the problem.
The password you use to login from a remote client *must* be the same one you use to login from your office client machine.
You will not be able to access remote NetWare servers if your client has file and printer sharing for NetWare networks enabled. Disable file and printer sharing for NetWare networks *on the client* (not on the remote server) to gain access to remote NetWare servers.
When using a Direct-Cable Connection--between a notebook and desktop system, for example--make sure that you *enable* file and print sharing for Microsoft networks. On the desktop computer (the server for the Direct Cable Connection) right-click on Network Neighborhood, or double click on Network in Control Panel, then click on Add. In the dialog box that appears, click on Service and then Add. A display with manufacturers on the left and services on the right will appear. Click on Microsoft, "File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks" and OK. Windows 95 may ask for its CD or one of its diskettes to install the appropriate files.
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