Multimedia
The Multimedia applet, an expanded version of the Devices applet from Windows 3.x and Windows for Workgroups, is used to configure all aspects of the multimedia features of your Windows NT system. Windows NT 4.0, like previous versions of Windows, supports a wide variety of multimedia devices and technologies.
The Multimedia applet (shown in Figure 5.29) has five tabbed sections:
Audio: The Audio tab is used to configure various audio-related options, such as output and recording volume, preferred audio input/output devices, and whether to display the volume control icon on the taskbar. Setting this last option on lets you click an icon on the taskbar to access Windows NT’s volume control utility.
Video: The Video tab lets you configure video-playback options in Windows NT 4.0. By default, Windows NT supports playback in the AVI (Audio Video Interleave) format using Microsoft Video for Windows. Among the options configurable for video playback are full-screen or windowed playback of videos (windowed option has a variety of choices for the playback window’s size). The Advanced button lets you tell Windows NT to use 16-bit code instead of 32-bit code for video playback. This option provides maximum compatibility for 16-bit video applications, but should be used only if you are experiencing problems with video playback.
MIDI: The MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) tab lets you configure MIDI-related options for Windows NT 4.0. The screen lets you set which MIDI instrument should be used for MIDI playback, customize MIDI output configurations, and add new MIDI instrument definitions via the Add New Instrument button.
CD Music: The CD Music tab lets you configure audio options for your CD-ROM drive(s). The top-most scroll box lets you choose which CD-ROM to configure, and the “Headphone” option lets you control the audio output level for devices connected to the CD-ROM drive’s headphone jack (usually located on the front of the drive).
Devices: The Devices tab displays a list of all installed multimedia drivers in Windows NT 4.0. It also lets you add, remove, and configure multimedia drivers. The multimedia drivers are displayed in an Explorer-like tree, with categories for each type of multimedia device. To view the installed devices of that type, double-click the category name to expand the tree. To configure the properties of a particular multimedia device, highlight the device and choose Properties.
Network
The Network applet is the key to one of Windows NT’s most important (and complex) features: its advanced networking capabilities. Windows NT 4.0 provides an enormous array of network-related features, virtually all of which are configured via the Network applet.
The Network applet (shown in Figure 5.30) has five tabbed sections: Identification, Services, Protocols, Adapters, and Bindings. Each of these is described in detail below.
Identification
The Identification tab is used to identify both the Windows NT computer’s network name and the name of the workgroup or domain to which the computer belongs. You are also prompted for this information the first time you set up any networking components on your Windows NT system. To change the computer’s name, workgroup name, or domain name, choose the Changes button. This will bring up the Identification Changes dialog box (shown in Figure 5.31).
You can now change the affiliation of the Windows NT computer to a workgroup or domain, or change the name of the workgroup or domain the computer will participate in. To change the computer name, type the name (up to 15 characters long) in the Computer Name box. The name cannot be the same as another computer in the domain or workgroup, and it cannot be the same name as the domain or workgroup itself.
For More Information: For more information about workgroups and domains, see “Workgroups and Domains,” Chapter 8.
If you are a domain administrator and want to add a computer to the domain at the same time you are changing the computer to a domain configuration, check the Create a Computer Account in the Domain box and then enter the user name and password of your domain administrator-level account.
Tip: When you join a Windows NT Domain, don’t forget to add (or have your domain administrator add) your computer to the domain using Server Manager on a Windows NT Server domain controller. If you are the domain network administrator, you have the option of adding the computer while making the change in the Identification section of the Network applet using the Create a Computer section of the dialog box. Otherwise, you will receive an error message and will not be able to successfully join the domain.
Caution: When you change from a standalone or workgroup membership to participation in a domain, the account you’ll use to log on to the domain will be a new account, different from the one you used before. As a result, your Windows NT computer’s personal group folders and desktop settings will not appear when you log on with the domain account. These groups folders and icons, as well as desktop configuration settings, will need to be re-created either by you or the domain administrator once you’ve joined the domain.
There are three primary components in Windows NT networking (in lowest- to highest-level order): adapters, protocols, and services. A fourth component, bindings, is a collection of settings defining the various relationships between the other three network components.
Adapters are hardware devices installed on your system. Protocols are standards or procedures used for communicating over the adapters. Services (more specifically Network Services) are Windows NT software components that let your Windows NT system communicate with a wide variety of different computer systems using protocols (also called transport protocols). For your Windows NT system to work properly on your network, you must have the correct adapters, protocols, and services installed.
Special Note: Don’t confuse the Services discussed here with the Services described in the Service applet section later in this chapter. The Services described here are Network Software Services, and the Services managed by the Services applet pertain to a specific type of Windows NT application that runs in the background. There is not a one-to-one relationship between the Services installed via the Network applet and those listed in the Services applet.
Adapters
Adapters are the hardware devices (such as network adapter cards, ISDN terminal adapters, or modems configured for dial-up networking) that physically connect your computer to a network. For your Windows NT computer to participate in a network, it must have one or more network adapters installed or the Remote Access Service (RAS). The Adapters tab lists the adapters currently installed on your computer (shown in Figure 5.32).
You can click an adapter and then choose one of the buttons below the list of adapters to view or change the adapter’s properties, add or remove adapters, or update an adapter’s driver (e.g., if you obtained an updated driver from the device manufacturer). When adding an adapter, you will be asked to insert the Windows NT 4.0 CD-ROM. If the adapter is not supported by Windows NT 4.0 but you have an updated driver from the adapter’s manufacturer, you can also use the Have Disk option to tell Windows NT to load the driver from the disk.
Special Note: Although they don’t appear in the list of adapters, modems or other dial-up adapters used for dial-up networking (a.k.a. Remote Access Service (RAS)) are also considered network adapters. They are like virtual network adapters and have protocol bindings, protocols, and so on. Any references to “Remote Access WAN Wrapper” that appear in various tab windows in the Network applet refer to dial-up networking (RAS) adapters.
Protocols
Protocols are standards or procedures used by one party to communicate and cooperate with another. Computer protocols are very similar: they are the “languages” computers speak (over adapters) on a network to communicate with one another. Computers must have at least one protocol in common to communicate over a network.
Windows NT 4.0 is capable of “speaking” more than one protocol over the same network adapter. When a protocol is loaded and configured for use with a particular network adapter, it is said to be bound to that adapter. To configure protocols in Windows NT 4.0, you use the Protocols tab in the Network applet (shown in Figure 5.33).
Several different protocols are available in Windows NT 4.0, but only a few are used for most networking applications. For a protocol to be useful for file- and print-sharing in Windows NT, it must support the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol, the core protocol used by all Windows NT, Windows 95, Windows for Workgroups, and Microsoft LAN Manager servers. There are three such protocols available in Windows NT: NetBEUI, NWLink IPX/SPX, and Microsoft TCP/IP. The other protocols provided are for specialized connections with other types of computers and network environments.
The protocols supported by Windows NT 4.0 and their descriptions are listed in Table 5.1.
Caution: If you are unsure about which protocols to use on your Windows NT system, ask your network administrator for help. Network protocols are a complex subject, and installing the wrong protocols can prevent your system from being able to communicate with other computers on your network.
For More Information: For more information about networks and making network connections, see Chapter 9.
When you configure the TCP/IP protocol on your Windows NT computer, you need to know how TCP/IP has been configured on your LAN and how your adapter(s) will obtain their IP addresses (TCP/IP uses 32-bit numeric addresses instead of names). Check with your network administrator before you install TCP/IP on your system. Dial-up networking users should get their TCP/IP configuration information from their Internet Service Provider (ISP).
Services
Services are high-level software components that let Windows NT perform a variety of networking tasks. As mentioned previously, Windows NT services use the adapters and network protocols installed on your system to communicate with other systems on the network. When networking is installed in Windows NT, a default set of services is automatically installed, including the ability to act as both a server (share files and printers) and a workstation (share the files and printers on other servers). Depending on your network configuration, you may also need to install additional services on your Windows NT 4.0 system.
The Services tab of the Network applet (shown in Figure 5.34) lets you view the installed network services and add or remove services from your network configuration.
To install a new network service, choose the Add button and select the desired service from the displayed list. To remove a service, choose Remove. To configure a service already installed, highlight the service name in the display and choose the Properties button. (Note that some services are not configurable via Properties and will trigger an error message when you attempt to configure them.)
Table 5.2 provides a partial list of Windows NT network services and their functions.
Special Note: Most additions, removals, or reconfigurations of network services require a reboot of the system to take effect (Windows NT will notify you of this). Therefore, it is important that you fully shutdown and restart your system before you try to use any newly installed service.
Bindings
The Bindings tab (shown in Figure 5.35) lets you view the current bindings (relationships) between all currently installed network adapters, network services, and protocols. It also lets you enable and disable individual bindings on a case-by-case basis.
Although ideally you would have only those bindings enabled that you will actually require in your network environment, for most configurations you should leave all bindings enabled (see “Caution” below). Under certain circumstances, however, specific bindings should be disabled, either for performance or security reasons.
Performance: Let’s say that your system has both an Ethernet network adapter card (for a LAN) and Remote Access Services (for dial-up networking) installed, and you have installed both the NetBEUI and TCP/IP protocols via the Protocols tab. If you do not require the use of the TCP/IP protocol for your LAN, you might consider disabling the bindings that let TCP/IP operate over the network adapter card and leave only the TCP/IP bindings related to Remote Access Services (i.e., those listed under entries beginning with Remote WAN Wrapper). Because each binding requires additional overhead and slows an adapter’s performance, disabling these bindings helps your system run more efficiently.
Security: Let’s say that your system is connected to the Internet (via dial-up networking) but doesn’t use TCP/IP on the LAN. In this case, you would disable bindings for all entries that bind the Windows NT network services (such as Workstation, Server, and WINS client services) to the TCP/IP protocol. Disabling these bindings prevents local Windows NT-related traffic from that workstation from being exposed to the global Internet.
Caution: Do not disable a network binding unless you know what effect it will have. Disabling a network binding may cause certain networking functions in Windows NT to stop working properly. The rule of thumb is “when in doubt, leave it enabled.”
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