How to get Peer-to-Peer File Sharing to Work with Windows 7

By Dave Peiser

While the advanced security capabilities of Windows 7 are great for keeping bad guys from seeing your data, there are many home and office situations where you really don't care about this threat, and just want a simple solution for sharing files and folders. Also, if you are adding a Windows 7 PC that shares folders, but your other systems are Macs or different versions of Windows, the advanced security can get in the way. Here is what you need to do if you are not concerned with advanced security, and just want to give access to certain folders to everyone on your network :

First, turn off the advanced security by doing this:

  1. Go to Control Panel
  2. Under the heading "Network and Internet" Click on "Choose Home Group and Sharing Options"
  3. Click on "Change advanced sharing settings…"
  4. There are six items where settings can be changed. Make sure the following are selected:
  • Turn on network discovery
  • Turn on file and printer sharing
  • Turn on sharing so anyone with network access can read and write files in the Public folders
  • Enable file sharing for devices that use 40- or 56-bit encryption
  • Turn off password protected sharing
  • Allow Windows to manage homegroup connections (recommended)
  1. Click "Save changes"
  2. Close any open windows

Share a folder so Everyone can see it

  1. Go to "Computer" and navigate to the folder listing where the folder you want to share is listed.
  2. Right-click on the folder, then left click on "Share with … Specific People"
  3. Here you will see one or two usernames listed, but what you want is the "Everyone" username to be added. In the empty box above the username list, click on the arrow (down-facing carrot) at the right side of the empty box, and this will display a drop-down list with several usernames. Select the one called "Everyone"
  4. Click "Add"
  5. If you would like users on the network to be able to edit the files in your shared folder, click the word "Read" and change it to "Read/Write"
  6. Click "Share"  (Depending on how many files and subfolders you have, this step may take a little while to complete)
  7. Click "Done"

Now go to one of your other computers. If it's running Windows XP, go to "My Network Places", and your shared folder should be listed and available.

How to archive all messages sent and received in Microsoft Exchange 2000 and 2003 and Small Business Server 2000 and 2003

By Dave Peiser
Have you ever wanted to be able to store everything sent to or received by an Exchange server without spending a bundle on archiving software? You can accomplish this easily by using the Message Archive feature in Exchange 2000 and 2003. Message archiving retains a copy of all messages sent or received by a mailbox store, placing the copies in a designated mailbox or public folder.
Here are instructions for setting up a mailbox to receive all incoming and outgoing emails:

1. Create a new exchange account. Name it “Email Archive” or something similar

2. In Exchange System Manager, right-click on the mailbox store where the accounts are located that you want to archive. Select Properties, and then check the box that says “Archive all messages sent or received by mailboxes on this store”. Click on the “Browse” button and select the “Email Archive” account. That’s it!
Something to note about this – Since you are now sending all email to one mailbox, this account can become quite large quickly. Make sure the drive where you are storing the Exchange database is large enough to handle this and that you have increased the size of the exchange database. Here are instructions for increasing the size of the exchange database past the 18 GB limit: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/912375
If you decide you need a more robust solution for email archiving, take a look at the following list of potential products: http://www.slipstick.com/exs/archive.asp