Home Networking Basics

Why should I network the computers in my home?

• Convenience, so you can share files and/or printers and/or the Internet connection
• Backup, so you can copy critical data files (e.g., your Quicken data) to the other machine for backup
• Computer access, so you can surf the Web while your spouse or kids are doing email or playing games

Basic Networking Questions

Can I use dialup for Internet access and share it with my network?

• Yes. I networked my computer and my son’s for over a year using two network cards and a "crossover cable."
• My computer had the modem that dialed out to our ISP. It dialed automatically when either his computer or mine needed Internet access.
• We could share files and we could both print to one printer.
• Windows 98/Me/XP comes with Microsoft’s "Internet Connection Sharing" (ICS) which you can turn on. There are also third-party products designed to do this with more fine-tuning capabilities – e.g., Sygate and Wingate.

Impact on connection speed

the Internet activity of the two computers will affect each other’s apparent speed, since the dialup connection will be the bottleneck.

Can I network and use a cable modem or a DSL phone’line connection?

Of course. One computer will hardly notice the other’s activity.

Home Networking Basics, part 1 |  2 |  3 |  4 |  5 |  6

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