File & Printer Sharing
Home networks whether wired or wireless, have a number of benefits which make them ideal for any family. Of all the benefits, one can be said to be the fact that they allow users to share with each other. Sharing has always been an age-old family value and nothing teaches this value better than a home network. Important devices  such as printers connected to the network can easily be shared,and a number of other resources like your Internet connection can be shared as well. This reduces the need for separate access to the Internet for all members of the family.

One often overlooked sharing advantage of home networks is the ability to share files. Files which are shared may include music, video, pictures, documents, programs and a number of others.  All your family pictures can easily be uploaded to a single computer and shared by people over the house simply by accessing that single computer. The same thing applies to music as well, there's no need to fight over who gets the chance to play that CD when the music can easily be enjoyed by all by accessing a single computer where the CD is loaded.

Expensive programs which allow you to share their functionality on a network can be stored on one computer and used by several other members of the home as well instead of installing separate versions of the software which may prove costly.  Various innovations such as the use of VPN technology can allow people to access necessary files on their home networks from their offices. While this may seem unlikely to happen, there are many times when you remember you need an important file on your home computer and you can't afford to drive back home to get it. In such situations file sharing on home networks can prove rather convenient and cost effective.

Of course in all these situations, security is an important consideration as well. This is in order to make sure that outsiders don't penetrate your home network. However with the use of hardware or software firewalls you can easily prevent this from happening. Sometimes the standard security packages installed on your computer come with software firewalls or other forms of protection and at other times they do not. Assessing the situation of your computers and your home network will give you a better picture of what you need in order to benefit from file sharing.