How a Media Center PC Works as a Family Organizational Tool

Published: January 25, 2005

By Joli Ballew

How to Share Family Information

I started by creating a Family account that anyone can log on to on our Media Center. If you're going to use a Media Center in this manner, make sure your Media Center PC is placed in a central location like your family room or living room and configured for all to use.

In the Family account I have a calendar, to-do list, wish list, grocery list, and shared folders filled with data, including spreadsheets of phone numbers and addresses, scanned class schedules, and ongoing grocery and hardware lists. It's the refrigerator, address book, and junk drawer all in one!

Because anyone can log on, everyone can add to the calendar and lists. Everyone in the family knows what's happening at any given moment. Other information is also available: doctor's names and numbers, lunch menus, and soccer game schedules and locations. I've even uploaded the calendar and other information to my family's personal Web site, so anyone in the family can access it from anywhere, anytime. I have to synchronize it a few times a week to keep the Web information up-to-date. Incorporating our Media Center into the family has really improved communication, and we're all much more organized.

Create the Family Account

Creating the family account takes a little more thought than just adding a new account named Family. There are a few more things to consider. First, you should turn on Fast User Switching, so the account can run in the background while others are logged on. Using this configuration, the account can be accessed quickly by anyone, even if someone else is using the computer.

You're not going to set up this account for e-mail, just sharing the calendar. Users will log on to their personal accounts to send and receive e-mail. Full shared-calendar functionality, where users can access and change calendar data, is only available when there is an Exchange Server (or third party software) on the network. For more information about Exchange Server, read the Exchange Server 2003 Product Overview.

Because the account will be running in the background, make sure you don't install and/or run unnecessary services and programs on that account. Refrain from using the account for anything other than its intended use—a family organization tool. If you leave the account running in the background when it's using unnecessary system resources, others who are logged on may notice a performance hit.

To create the account and turn on Fast User Switching:

1.	Click Start, click Control Panel, click User Accounts, and under Pick a Task, click Create a New Account.
2.	In the Name the New Account window, under Type a Name for the New Account, type Family, and then click Next.
3.	On the Pick an Account Type page, under Pick an Account Type, click Computer Administrator. After the account is set up and configured for sharing, you can change this to Limited if desired.
4.	Click Create Account.
5.	On the Pick a Task page, select Change the Way Users Log On or Off.
6.	On the Select Logon and Logoff Options page, select both Use the Welcome Screen and Use Fast User Switching.
7.	Click Apply Options and close the User Accounts window.

The accounts I've created on my Media Center.

You should now click Start, click Log Off, click Switch User, and log on to the Family account to verify it has been created correctly.

You'll notice that no password is required to log on. You may want to change this behavior later if your computer is not physically secure or if anyone other than family members has access to it. Once logged on as an administrator, you can begin the configuration process.

Configure Outlook Calendar, Notes, and Tasks Lists

I use Microsoft Outlook 2003 as my personal information manager and communications program. I like its Calendar feature, Tasks list, and Notes, all of which are perfect for the job at hand. (I'll use Outlook as an example, but you can perform the same tasks with other calendar or organizational programs.)

To open Microsoft Outlook and configure it for your family's use, log on to the Family account and then follow these steps:

1.	Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft Office, and then click Microsoft Office Outlook 2003. Wait while the program configures itself for first-time use on this account.
2.	Click Next to start the Outlook 2003 Startup Wizard.
3.	On the E-Mail Accounts page, click No when asked to create an e-mail account or connect to an Exchange server. Click Finish.
4.	In Outlook, click the Calendar icon and a calendar page for the day opens. Figure 2 shows an example.

The Family calendar page opens.

Note that you can also select the Tasks icon or the Notes icon to view and configure those items.

Configure Outlook and Family Folders to Open Automatically at Logon

You can configure the Family account so that when it is accessed after the initial startup, Microsoft Outlook and your organizational folders automatically open. This will allow those folders to be open all the time and easily accessible by members of the family who aren't computer-savvy. First make sure dragging and dropping is enabled for the Windows Start menu, by following these steps:

1.	Right-click Start, and then click Properties.
2.	In the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box, click the Start Menu tab.
3.	Click Customize.
4.	In the Customize Start Menu dialog box, click the Advanced tab, and then select the Enable dragging and dropping check box in the Start menu items list.

To set Outlook to open automatically the first time the Family account is accessed after start up:

1.	Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft Office, and right-click and hold Microsoft Office Outlook 2003.
2.	Drag the selection to the Startup folder (located in the All Programs menu).
3.	Release the mouse button, and then click Copy Here.
4.	The icon and selection for Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 will now be listed in the Startup folder.

From now on, every time the computer is restarted and a user accesses the Family account for the first time after the restart, Outlook will start automatically. The user will not have to click Start, point to All Programs, and locate the program manually.

Besides having programs automatically start when the computer is started and the Family account is first accessed, you can also have any folder you've created open automatically too. To make this happen, perform the steps described above, except drag the folder you've created and want to add instead of the program. The folder may be located on the Desktop, in Windows Explorer, or inside another folder, but the process is the same:

•	Right-click the folder, drag and hold over the Start menu, then the All Programs menu, and then drop it into the Startup folder.

You should also share the folder, so network users have access to it from their personal computers.

Configure the Family Calendar to Open First

When Outlook opens, it automatically opens to the e-mail Inbox. Because Outlook will not be used to send and receive e-mail on the Family account, and only the Calendar will be used, you can change Outlook's default behavior to open directly to the Calendar, saving you the trouble of clicking the Calendar icon. Here's how:

1.	Open Outlook, and on the Tools menu, click Options.
2.	On the Other tab, click Advanced Options.
3.	Under General Settings, next to the Startup in this folder box, click Browse.
4.	In the Select Folder dialog box, select the folder you want to appear when you start Microsoft Outlook. In this case, select Calendar.

Share with Others on Your Local Network

You can share your family's calendar on your own network, so it can be accessed by all network users from any networked computer. You can also share the folders you've created to store your important phone numbers, physicians names and address, the local pizza parlor, and similar data. As detailed above, you can configure these folders to automatically open at startup, just as you can with Outlook. To learn to share folders you've created, read How to Share and Set Permissions for Folders and Files Using Windows XP. It's a pretty simple task, assuming your network is set up and running properly.

The easiest way to share Outlook's Calendar on your personal network is to publish it as a Web page. As with any Web page, you'll have to republish the information often so it's up to date, and users won't be able to make changes to it from the network.

To publish your calendar as a Web page by following these steps:

1.	Open Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, and then open your family's calendar.
2.	On the File menu, click Save as Web Page.
3.	In the Save as Web Page dialog box, under Duration, configure the Start date and End date. Configure other preferences, including a background graphic, if desired.
4.	Under Save As, click Browse, and browse to the location to share the calendar pages and other information. Create a new folder if necessary.
5.	Use the mouse and the arrow keys on the computer to place the cursor at the beginning of the file name in File Name. Type http://. Figure 3 shows an example. The Calendar File Name dialog box lists where the shared calendar is located.
6.	Verify that Open Saved Web Page in Browser is selected and that you're connected to the Internet. Then click Save.

The saved calendar will open in Internet Explorer. To view calendar content when you've installed Service Pack 2, click Allow Blocked Content on the Information Bar. Figure 4 shows a sample calendar saved as a Web page.

The family calendar for November when saved as a Web page.

Additional Ways to Access Family Data

There are lots of ways to view a shared calendar once it's available on the local network. The same is true of any shared folder. Simply open My Network Places, and choose the available shared folder, or click Add a Network Place if it isn't available and browse to it.

You can also take the data with you or access the information remotely. The Outlook Calendar can be synchronized with the calendar on your Pocket PC or laptop. And if your computer is set up for Remote Desktop, you can access the information from your local coffee house, school, a work computer, and soon, from a from a myriad of new wireless gadgets you'll be able to wear on your wrist or carry in your pocket.

You can also access data that isn't shared on a network. For instance, if Mom has a Smart Display, she can view what's on the Media Center screen from any room in the house. Once a calendar is saved as a Web page, you can use Display Properties and the Desktop tab to browse to the saved calendar pages and choose one to use as the Desktop image. You can even connect your computer to a television set and show the calendar there.

Of course, you can always publish the calendar pages and other data to a Web site hosted by your ISP, but remember to assign a password and configure other security features so the information is available only to family members. Whatever you do, remember—you purchased your Media Center to have fun. Make sure you spend more time playing than organizing your family and friends!

Joli Ballew is the author of over a dozen books, including Microsoft Windows XP: Do Amazing Things (Microsoft Press, 2003) and she maintains a Web site at http://www.joliballew.com.

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