It appears that the workgroup name is ignored in both Windows 7 and Windows 8. I have two Windows 7 (one of which dual boots Win8CP) machines and am connecting them using 'Workgroups' rather than the HomeGroup networking feature new in windows 7 and carried forward to Windows 8. This morning, I decided to change my Workgroup name from "WORKGROUP" to "SOMETHINGELSE." I did this on both Win7 computers. Works fine. I booted Win8CP on one of them and the two computers are still Workgroup networking with each other, even though the other machine's Workgroup is "SOMETHINGELSE" and the Win8CP machine is still "WORKGROUP." It seems that the Workgroup name is ignored. This isn't terribly important, but perhaps you (Microsoft) may want to update your documentation. I have a friend who is networking an XP SP3 machine with his new Win7 machine, using Workgroups, the more modern HomeGroup option being unavailable to him. I'll test this Workgroup name anomaly on his system later today when I see him. I rely on user names and passwords for security when networking these two computers, anyway. I don't use the 'Everyone' user. By the way, I cannot see a difference in behavior no matter what the "Password Protected Sharing" option is set to (on or off) in the "Advanced Sharing Settings" Control Panel screen. This setting seems to be ignored. This is all the more interesting given that it ("Password Protected Sharing") has been removed as an option from the "Advanced Sharing Settings" Control Panel screen in Windows 8... This also isn't important as the behavior seems to be logical in any event: If I have included a user in the Sharing Dialog's Advanced | Permissions dialog, and the UserName and Password are the same on both computers, then I get access to the share without having to enter User and PW. If there is a difference in either, then a nifty login dialog pops up. If negotiated accurately, access is granted. All this seems to be as it should be! My point is that a difference in Workgroup name and/or the state of "Password Protected Sharing" option do not alter in any way this behavior. I am only posting this because it seems that the documentation could use a cleanup. A much simpler explanation would be both easier to understand and would have the additional virtue of being accurate. The current documentation is not accurate and fails to impart to the reader how simple it is to set up secure, workgroup-based networking. On the other hand, the state of the "Password Protected Sharing" setting on the Windows 7 machine does have a critical impact upon the network containing both the XP and Win7 machines. When off, the XP machine simply is told it is not authorized to access the network share. When on, it receives the same (very similar) popup asking for the Username and password, which if negotiated accurately, grants access, just as we would expect. All I have to figure out now for my friend is how to eliminate the need to login to the share folder (only once for each windows login), either by setting the User and PW to be the same as on the Win7 machine and then setting something on the XP machine telling it to try the local User and PW first when connecting to the other computer on the network, or by using some script running on the XP machine to perform the share login to be executed at XP User login time. As I never had an XP machine myself, having gone straight from Win2K to Win7, I don't have a clue how to do either. By the way, I noticed that, in Windows 8, the caption text in Desktop applications is centered, just like it was in Windows 3.1. As the new application paradigm for windows 8 is 'Metro', maybe legacy desktop applications should be referred to as 'Retro Apps' ... Perhaps this was the intent. Charles S. Cotton

Basically the concept of workgroup is "very old" one. Administrator of every computer in workgroup is responsible for security. Users can reach resources in another computers when they use credentials that are local to the remote computer. Accessibility is "covered" by port 445, while visibility comprise ports 137-139 (This is simplified view) Windows 7 (and Vista) can transfer file more efficiently by using higher version of SMB, namely 2.1. Window Vista, 7 and 8 belongs to the same family 6.x. Because of the version 8 is not final, it is not easy to judge anout the final behaviour. Regards Milos

Basically the concept of workgroup is "very old" one. Administrator of every computer in workgroup is responsible for security. Users can reach resources in another computers when they use credentials that are local to the remote computer. Accessibility is "covered" by port 445, while visibility comprise ports 137-139 (This is simplified view) Windows 7 (and Vista) can transfer file more efficiently by using higher version of SMB, namely 2.1. Window Vista, 7 and 8 belongs to the same family 6.x. Because of the version 8 is not final, it is not easy to judge anout the final behaviour. Regards Milos

Thanks Milos, What is SMB?Charles S. Cotton

Thanks Milos, What is SMB?Charles S. Cotton

SMB is the Microsoft network protocol, also known as CIFS. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_Message_Block  -- pa

SMB is the Microsoft network protocol, also known as CIFS. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_Message_Block  -- pa