Re: Answer found re failure of NET USE LPT1 to redirect LPT1

[flash@xxxxxxxx]

≪"Client for Microsoft Networks"? And what exactly is that?≫

This the way the GUI calls the MS proprietary networking protocol, called SMB (server message
block), which runs on top of NetBIOS as a transport protocol (which MS took over from IBM in the
last mellennium).

Deactivating it cuts a MS machine off from the usual browsing functions (I do not mean Internet
browsing, like HTTP). MS-browsing is what you trigger when you doubleclick on the 'my network
neighborhood' icon and a little flashlight appears and then little icons appear representing other
MS machines (shared printers, and so on) in the local workgropup/domain.

Even without SMB (client for MS networks), you can still run TCP/IP and go surfing on the Internet,
and use other applications such as FTP for file transfer, emails, etc. Deactivating it deactivates
only the MS proprietary functions.