Teenagers and technology

[coriolis]

Our boys are 17, 16, 14, and 13. Between them, there are three ipods or other music players, 3 digital cameras, a couple thumb drives, and a handheld game that also plays music. All of them plug into a computer, and each of them has it's own computer software, add to that i-tunes, and I forget what other software to support all this. someone keeps unplugging the printer from its USB port, and all the computers always get turned around backwards to access the ports. Last night we had to delete about 20 GB of duplicate copies of music and movies just to get some free space on a hard drive. Next I'm afraid I'm going to have to impose some organization on the digital photos. What a headache.

[lurkey]

Our boys are 17, 16, 14, and 13. Between them, there are three ipods or other music players, 3 digital cameras, a couple thumb drives, and a handheld game that also plays music. All of them plug into a computer, and each of them has it's own computer software, add to that i-tunes, and I forget what other software to support all this. someone keeps unplugging the printer from its USB port, and all the computers always get turned around backwards to access the ports. Last night we had to delete about 20 GB of duplicate copies of music and movies just to get some free space on a hard drive. Next I'm afraid I'm going to have to impose some organization on the digital photos. What a headache.

Why don't you turn the printer into a network printer and invest in a NAS (network-attached storage) hard drive for shared music and photos? Just remember to back-up, back-up....

[coriolis]

Network printer? Right now it's attached to one computer, but all 4 computers are networked thru a network hub and all can "see" the printer. Are you suggesting that the printer could connect to the network independently of a computer? The hub is behind a router which I'm told acts as a firewall. I know that I had trouble networking through the router. I would probably have to configure the router which seemed like too much work at the time. The hub is completely transparent.

I'm afraid that a NAS would eventually get filled up too. These guys are downloading fools. Once they realize how much storage is available, we'd have dozens or hundreds of movies too. Also, how do you scan a NAS for spyware and virus's?

I backup my documents onto a CD monthly. The music? eh, it's replacable.

Oh and I forgot... Camera phones too.

[lurkey]

Network printer? Right now it's attached to one computer, but all 4 computers are networked thru a network hub and all can "see" the printer. Are you suggesting that the printer could connect to the network independently of a computer? The hub is behind a router which I'm told acts as a firewall. I know that I had trouble networking through the router. I would probably have to configure the router which seemed like too much work at the time. The hub is completely transparent.

I'm afraid that a NAS would eventually get filled up too. These guys are downloading fools. Once they realize how much storage is available, we'd have dozens or hundreds of movies too. Also, how do you scan a NAS for spyware and virus's?

I backup my documents onto a CD monthly. The music? eh, it's replacable.

Oh and I forgot... Camera phones too.

Right now, my printer is connected to a hub (ie independent of any computer) that connects wirelessly to the network (the printer is the office, I don't have any desktop PCs, only laptops and small media server that all connect wirelessly to network and are different rooms). You might to check to if the antivirus programs on one of computers can include a NAS drive in the scan job.