Hi all, Can anybody please tell me how I go about hooking up 2 computers together. I'm wanting to hook these to together so I can back my files up on his hard drive. Then I'm going to load Windows 2000 on my machine & then hook up the 2 pcs again to retrieve my files. Do we need the same NIC cards? What cable to I use exactly? Is there anything else I should be aware of? A step-by-step would be great. Thank you so much for your help! Steve :)

Go to www.makeitsimple.com

Each PC should have a NIC card (brand doesn't matter, they don't have to be the same) and you'll need what is called a crossover cable. A crossover cable is a CAT5 networking cable that is wired slightly different than normal and is used to go from one computer directly to another (normally there is a hub or switch in between). Best Buy and other computer stores carry them. Or search the web for "crossover cable" to learn how to make them yourself. Your can search for "how to build a network" and you'll find plenty of sites. I didn't see one that went into detail about how to set up the NIC cards. But if you find one that you like, just leave out the hub or switch and use a crossover cable instead of a normal CAT 5 cable. Or if you don't mind spending $70, just get a networking starter kit. That will have a hub, 2 nic cards, cables and INSTRUCTIONS!! Plus, you'll be ready when you decide that you like having this network available.

Great...thx Don! Have a good one.

Found this page on the makeitsimple site. It goes into more detail. Don't worry if you don't have the same NIC as mentioned. Everything else should be the same. http://www.makeitsimple.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=7

HI ALL OK- my first time here. I am also trying to connect 2 computers _ a laptop and desktop. I followed all the steps above and on the Makeitsimple.com site for CrossOver Cable connection w/o hub. The notebook has an USB Ethernet Adapter and the desktop has Linksys Fast Ethernet 10/100 NIC. I connect the cable and ping the other computer.. it goes thru the motions and returns time values of 0 ms. I cheched and rechecked everything and now i am stuck.. I am not even sure how to access the other computer's files from the other computer. What do I do now and how do i access the each computer from the desktop? HELP

Try the step-by-step Visual Guide at www.techtony.com