Open the Windows Explorer, My Computer, or Network NeighborhoodMy Network

Part III ✦ Working with Networked Computers On the other hand, if you’ve added Macs or Linux machines to your network, you need some extra help to share printers. Both Macs and Linux computers enable sharing with Windows networks; it just takes a little work and sometimes help from a third-party company to com- plete the task. Printing between Windows computers All Windows 98 computers print easily between each other. Few restrictions and less secu- rity exist on the earlier Windows operating systems. When you start working with Windows 2000 and XP, however, you can find problems with sharing resources. One of the major issues you need to remember is to install the appropriate driver for the Windows operating system you are using. If you have Windows XP Home Edition, install the driver made for the XP Home Edition. If you’re using Windows Me, use the Me driver for the printer. Installing the appropriate software makes a difference to printing and to connecting to another printer on the network. You cannot fix some problems between operating systems. Microsoft calls them bugs and is working on fixes for the bugs. If you have trouble with printing, and you don’t see any infor- mation in this chapter about that problem, look on the Microsoft help site: www.support. microsoft.com. Windows 2000 and XP have security issues of sharing files and printers, sharing users, and so on. One problem you might run into is when a Windows XP computer cannot print to a Windows 98 or Windows Me computer. XP issues an Unable to Print error. The reason is most likely that XP cannot verify that the other computer is a secure environment. Windows 98 and Me cannot supply a secure domain environment for Windows XP, and there’s nothing much you can do about that. One solution you can try is a print server between the computers. Windows XP can print to a print server. Another common Windows 2000XP error you get when trying to print from a Windows 98Me computer is an IPC error. If you receive an IPC dialog box whenever you try to access a printer’s share from Windows 98 or Me, then you can make a change to the configuration of your Windows 2000 or XP computer and stop that problem. Add the exact username that you logged on to the Windows 98Me computer with to the users of the Windows 2000 or XP computer. Allow the user to share the printer, and you won’t receive that dialog box again. If you find you have a problem printing between Windows 2000 andor XP, make sure you check the Microsoft site for patches, service releases, or hot fixes. Patches can fix other prob- lems you might be having as well. Printing between Windows and Mac computers You’ll most likely have the most difficulty printing between any Windows operating system and your Mac, no matter which operating system you use on the Mac. The Mac OS X, for example, wants to print to an IP address. It doesn’t enable you to browse the printers on the network and just print to one, like Windows OSs do. Although the Mac OS X supplies built-in support for many USB and network printers, you’ll most likely need a print server or third- party software for most printing from the Mac to Windows. Tip