Networking

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I prefer Ethernet networks to use due to its high speed ,low cost & easy installation.

Step	Reference
1.	Sketch out your network: draw a diagram of your house or office where each computer and printer is located. Or, you can create a table that lists the hardware on each computer.
2.	Next to each computer, note the hardware, such as modems and network adapters, each computer has.

Hardware	How many?	Comment
Ethernet network adapter	One adapter for each computer on your network	If you have an internal modem, you only need one network adapter.
Hub or switch	One	The hub or the switch should have enough jacks to accommodate all the computers on your network.
RJ-45 network cables	One for each computer that is connected to the network hub or switch	These look like standard phone cables, only larger. It should appear like this.

Using Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)

To take advantage of the security features of Windows XP, it is recommended that you use a configuration like this illustration of an Ethernet network. In this network configuration, one computer is the ICS (Internet Sharing Connection) host computer and shares its Internet connection. Internet communication to and from the computers in your network go through the ICS host computer.

The advantages of this type of network configuration are:

Sharing one Internet connection with all the computers on your network can reduce the cost of connecting to the Internet and allows all the computers on your network to be online at the same time.
Windows XP Internet Connection Sharing provides one point of security for your network. Your home or small office network is protected from intrusions from the Internet.

Individual Internet connections

If you have an external DSL or cable modem, you can connect it to an Ethernet network hub or switch and also connect your computers to the Ethernet hub or switch as this illustration shows. Each computer in the network has a direct connection to the Internet through the network hub or switch.

The advantages of setting up your network in this configuration are:

Does not require one computer to be on all the time to access the Internet.

The disadvantages of setting up your network using this network configuration are:

Security must be maintained on each computer in your network. The computers on the network running Windows XP can enable Internet Connection Firewall on each connection to the network hub. For computers running earlier versions of Windows, another firewall is recommended.
If Internet Connection Firewall or another firewall is not enabled on each Internet connection, files and folders that are shared can be seen on the Internet.
If you are using Windows XP Internet Connection Firewall or another firewall on each Internet connection, it might block file and printer sharing between each computer in your network.
Other computers and devices that utilize Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) cannot be used on the network.