3. Why network computers cont.

Sharing printers and other peripheral devices is a great reason for networking computers. However, there are plenty of other reasons.

Log onto any workstation

At home, when you save your work, it usually gets saved onto the hard disk of the computer that you are actually working on. When you want to access this document again, you can only open it by using the same computer. If you try to use your brother's computer in the next room, you usually won't be able to see the document.

With a network, have you ever thought about how you can log onto any computer, anywhere in the school and still get all of your files and folders?

That is because they aren't saved on the computer that you are working on. Instead, everyone's work is saved on a file server. When you log onto the network, you type in your user name and password. Your user name tells the network who you are and the file server finds your files and makes them available to you.

Central backups

You know how important it is to backup your files regularly. Imagine how much work it would be for the network manager if they had to backup every students' work individually each day. Computer networks make this an easy task. All of the files and folders can be backed up centrally from the file server each evening after the school closes.

Installation of software

Most schools have hundreds of computers. It would be a very time consuming task if the network manager had to install a new piece of software onto every computer on the network. Instead, a lot of software can be installed centrally just once and then made available to each workstation.

This also means that software licences can be checked to ensure that all of the software installed on the network is a legal copy.

Virus checks

Anti-virus software can also be run centrally and can check every workstation on the network at the same time.

Security

If you had to save your documents onto one of the computer's hard drives in the school, not only would you be tied to always having to log onto that computer, it would mean that anyone else going onto that computer could also see all of your work and perhaps alter, delete or copy it. With a network, each person can only see their own files and folders, so this helps to keep your work safe.