Network Places -- whatizit?

[alexy]

Network Places seems to be a collection of shortcuts to folders shared
on the local workgroup (from my perspective of running on a workgroup
with simplified file sharing). But I can't figure out when they are
created and updated. It appears that this folder is populated when the
network is initially set up, and seems to be updated on a very
hit-or-miss basis as additional folders are shared or shares are
removed.

I would have thought that "refresh" would have refreshed the list of
available "network places", but I haven't had any luck with that. How
does one get an up-to-date list of resources in this folder?

PS: When did "network neighborhood" become "network places"?

 

[Guest]

Network Places is updated slowly. Unfortunately their is no manual way to
update it. You may delete all current contents of the Network Places folder.
These are just shortcuts that auto-populate via NETBIOS. Usually, depending
on network resources that are shared, it will populate within 10-15 minutes.

 

[Steve Winograd [MVP]]

Network Places seems to be a collection of shortcuts to folders shared
on the local workgroup (from my perspective of running on a workgroup
with simplified file sharing). But I can't figure out when they are
created and updated. It appears that this folder is populated when the
network is initially set up, and seems to be updated on a very
hit-or-miss basis as additional folders are shared or shares are
removed.

Yes, I agree that it's hit-or-miss. In fact, I find "My Network
Places" to be so unreliable that I don't use it.

To see the shared resources on a particular computer, type that
computer's name in the Start | Run box in this format:

\\computer

I would have thought that "refresh" would have refreshed the list of
available "network places", but I haven't had any luck with that. How
does one get an up-to-date list of resources in this folder?

In my experience, automatic refreshing is slow and unreliable.

You can click "Add a network place" and browse to a network resource,
which will be added to the folder. You can drag/drop shared resources
into "My Network Places" from the Window opened by using "\\computer".
You can right-click and delete network resources that are no longer
shared.

PS: When did "network neighborhood" become "network places"?

Windows 95 and 98 have "Network Neighborhood". Windows Me, 2000, and
XP have "My Network Places". In Windows Vista Beta 2, it's just
"Network", and it only shows computer names.
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

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