[DarkFoss]

I've done some forum hopping reading up a bit and managed to confuse meself

Whats the advantage of setting up a wireless router over just hooking up mine and my daughters comp via a second ethernet card and running xp's network wizard and internet connection sharing? If I went ics would her connection be protected by the nortons internet securities on my comp since her connection would come from mine? If I went wireless could the router be the dhcp server for both or will I have to contact att and pay 5$ more for a second ip address. Last who makes the best and or easiest to configure in xp home Linksys,D-Link or Netgear ? Sorry if the questions seem noobish but will networking is to me

[Vampyromaniac]

I think the main advantage of having a router would be that your computer wouldn't have to be turned on for your daughter to use the Internet. Whereas with ICS, it would need to be on.
If you went with a router, you would both be protected by the router, because it would assign you private IP's. If you went with ICS, your daughter would be protected the same way as with a router (basically your computer would be a router for her), but YOU would need a firewall, which you said you already have Norton's.
Yes, with the router, you would both be assigned private IP's like I said, from the router's DHCP function. No need to pay for another IP.
I personally have a D-Link, and it works great. I've heard very good things about Netgear, and I think Linksys is good, too. As for ease of use, there's really not much to it, so I think all the brands would be about the same in that respect.
Everyone was once a newbie

[DarkFoss]

Thanks for your response Vampyromaniac,

Hmm I think I'll go network and ICS for now. While I wouldn't mind having a hardware firewall as well as Nortons I'd rather have her protected with Nortons Parental control(she's 8) without having to buy a second copy as well as the router/wireless card then.The cash saved could buy me something more fun like Ps2/X-Box/Gamecube...or an XP2600 Subject to change if the wife strenously objects to me drillin some holes

[Necrosis]

I've used Netgear, Linksys and D-Link. All of them have been pretty easy to setup with the exception of the D-Link needing a firmware upgrade to work correctly.

DarkFoss.

If you have dial up the ICS way will be alright but pickup a switch over a hub since they are faster.

However, if you do have broadband the router deal is the way to go. To keep costs down don't worry about a wirless setup and pickup a nice 4 port rouer/switch. You can find them pretty cheap now. ICS I've noticed does tend to bog down broadband when it's shared unless it's running on a beefy computer.

[DarkFoss]

Well I tried ics and got the connection shared but couldn't get the comps networked They refused to show up in networked workgroups and I got some administrator error basically saying I'm not authorized
I went out and bought the linksys router/switch hoping to correct the problem. First run cd fails to configure the router and the error message tells me to call linksys tech support . I tried using the quick start guide then, everything seemed to setup correctly the leds all the show that I'm getting all the proper connections. However I'm unable to connect to the internet and network the comps. I saw there's a firmware upgrade but that utility also gives an error about not being able to find a router Reset button changes nothing . Should I have uninstalled Nortons Internet first ? I ran the norton firewall network wizard but that didn't change anything. Could it be blocking the nesessary ports preventing set-up?

[DarkFoss]

After 2 days of trying it turns out the first router I bought was defective I'm finally networked, printer and cable connections shared. All I have left to do is figure out how to share just her folders on my c drive without giving her full access to it. Getting admin errors from her comp shared folders are fine.
Thanks for your suggestions Vampyromaniac and Necrosis
1 question though

1 Any tips/links for tweaking the nat firewall built into the router? I've yet to find any. I know I have to change the default password from admin but other than that I'm unsure of the other settings.

[Vampyromaniac]

About sharing folders, I'm not familiar with XP, but I can tell you how it's done in 98, and maybe there are some parallels . . .

To share a couple folders on YOUR comp, so your daughter can access them . . .
First I'd to go the Network Control Panel, and make sure "File and Print Sharing" is installed. If it isn't, I'd hit the Add button, choose Service, and finally File and Printer sharing for Microsoft Networks.

Then after a save and a reboot (you may need to insert your CD), any folder can be right-clicked, and a new item is in the context menu called Sharing. Click that, and you get to the new Sharing tab of the folder's properties box. In there, you can choose to share that folder, and choose whether it is read-only or full access, set a name for the share, and set an password if you wish.

Then your daughter would be able to go to Network Nwighborhood, find your computer there, and open it to find the share(s).
Alternatively, you can set up her computer to map your shared folder to a drive letter. Such as your "C:\Daughter" folder will show up as "K:\" on her comp. You can set any letter that's not already taken. And you can set her comp to always look for that folder on start-up, and automatically map it to that letter, to be always available.

As for the configuring the NAT, there's not much to do, unless one of the programs you use doesn't function properly. If that happens, just say what it is, and we'll try to help.

[Ripcord]

to share folders in xp right click the folder then chose sharing(or word or words to that affect) then tick the box for sharing the folder with other computers on your network

i think thats how it goes

[ToshiroOC]

Oh, jeez, here it goes - another thread revival. DriveEuro, we need to perform some serious thread slaughter before they continue to revive! Come, there is still yet time! But seriously people - if they thread hasn't been posted in for about a week or so and whatever you have to say won't really help much compared to what has already been posted, don't post - it doesn't do much good for anything but your post count...

[Ripcord]

muhahahahhaahaha

some threads were never ment to die