All versions of Windows 7 can participate in a HomeGroup, but Windows 7 Starter and Windows 7 Home Basic versions cannot create a HomeGroup on their own. Unfortunately, HomeGroup does not work with prior versions of Windows, so any Windows XP or Windows Vista systems will be unable to participate.

Though HomeGroup takes the headache out of sharing resources, the really cool network sharing feature in Windows 7 is the OS's ability to share music between devices and to stream media to any connected device on the network.

You can turn on the media-streaming functionality through Windows Media Player. Click Stream and choose from the options available in the drop-down menu. In this menu you can allow other devices to play media from your computer, permit other devices to control your Windows Media Player remotely, or allow streaming of media to and from the Internet, making your music available from anywhere.

This interconnected media network, which can also include devices such as Zune media players or the Xbox 360 game console, enables you to share and access all of your media from virtually anywhere on the network, as if it were all part of a common pool.