Just wondering, can i hook a cable modem to a hob or swith, then a router to the switch, and pc's into either the hub (no firewall) or the router (firewall)? I have machines i dont want on a router and other that i do. i know medem to router to hub will work, jsut wondering about modem to hub to router.

You can hook your cable directly into some hub's, others you can't.........but even if you could, you create a very serious security risk in that every PC on your network is exposed to the internet (and hackers) The best solution is plug the cable into the router into hub. To be honest, I can't think of any reason for doing it the other way except curiosity......and we all know what curiosity did to the cat....

ok.. here's the logic. i have 2 macines that use netmeeting. if the hub is infront of the router, it would sem just switching from the router to the hub is simpler than using the dmz which is only availabel to one machine at a time. i could have the hub for open access and at the same time have the router for secuirty of the ftp and mail server. i know the safest way is the modem to router, but it's not the most flexible.

yes you can do what you are trying to do, but if you go to the hub first from the cable modem you will need to buy more IP's from your ISP so the other computers and get to the net. or if possible you can setup a server to have every computer gain access through. good luck

Andy, Curt and Adam are on track here... Pay attention... My home LAN comes from the cable and is hooked up like this...Cable to cable modem, to cable router, to hub, to computers... I have one NT server, 1 iMac, 2 W98 and 1 W2K box hooked up... I have been hacked... Use NAT on the router, this will be the "default" condition...you can use the 192.168.0.x ip address scheme... Then put Zone Alarm, or similiar on EACH computer... You will only need ONE ip address from your ISP... You do NOT want ANY of your machines open to the internet and susecptible to hacking... Set up print and file sharing on all your computers and you will be able to "talk" to everyone and everyone can use the internet, and you will be fairly safe... Good luck Steve