You might find yourself in a strange situation: You have a wireless network, each machine sharing lots of documents. It gets harder and harder to keep track of where different files are at.
Different users notice that when they share directories, their machines bog down a little when many other users start using files. This might happen if you're sharing a lot of music files.

The answer to this problem is setting up a simple file server on your network. A file server is a dedicated machine that holds files and other data needed by a group of network users. Although it may seem like a pain in the neck to buy, install, and set up a separate system, in some cases (such as doing periodic backups) it gets easier to work with just one system.
Several options exist for setting up a file server on your home wireless network, including the following:

1. Keep your old laptop or desktop that has been replaced by a newer model.
2. Take out all the applications and programs, and leave just the operating system.
3. If it's a Windows machine, add it to the network, share the My Documents folder, and allow all users to make changes to this folder.
4. You can install the Linux operating system on a machine and then set up an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) area. FTP directories on a Linux machine usually require usernames and passwords every time you want to upload or download files, so they're more secure.

Another easy way to set up a file server is to buy an USB (universal serial bus) 2.0 external hard drive and share it from one of the systems already on the network. Although not quite as fast as having a separate file server, it does provide a place to store and retrieve valuable or much-needed information. Many models come in 20, 40, 60, 80, and even 100 GB storage capacities and can be connected to create larger storage areas.