I have one Win XP Home, one Win XP pro, one LinkSys router. And I use Dial up. I am beginner to set up an home network. Can you show me step by step how to set up the network so as sharing files and internet? Thank you so much. Best,

quoted form http://www.ChicagoTech.net How to Setup Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) Windows 2000 supports both Network Address Translation (NAT) and Internet Confection Shading (ICS) al1ow workgroup users to access to the Internet.. Windows 2000/XP Professional support only ICS. Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) enables a Windows (Win98SE, Win2K and XP) computer to share its Internet connection with computers on local area networks. The computer connecting directly to the Internet and shares its connection with the rest of the computers on the network called the ICS host. In addition, the ICS host provides DHCP to ICS clients. Client computers are protected because they cannot be seen from outside the network. Only the computer running ICS is seen from the public side. We assume you have all computers physically connected, and the ICS host have two network connections: one (for example Internet in our case) for the Internet such as a dial-up (PPP or ISDN), cable modem, DSL, or other broadband Ethernet connection, and another one (LAN) , for the local area network. Things you should know about ICS 1. When you enable Internet Connection Sharing, IP address of the Interne NIC in the ICS server is always 192.168.0.1. All clients will be assigned other IP addresses in the 192.168.0.x range. 2. You should not enable ICS on the computer as a domain controller, DHCP server, or DNS server. 3. To enable ICS, you must be logged on as a member of the Administrators 4. You may experience some problems if you use NetMeeting and VPN in your ICS network. Enabling Host ICS - WinXP To configure a WinXP ICS host, go to Start>Control Panel>Network Connation. Highline the Internet which connecting to a cable modem in our case. Under Network Tasks, click Change settings of this connection. On the Advanced tab, select the Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection check box. Configuring ICS Client To setup a win9x (in our case) as ICS client to access the internet, you need to do two things. network settings and internet option settings. 1. Network settings must be set Obtain IP Address Automatically - to do this, go to Network>Properties of TCP/IP. 2. The Internet browser should se set never dial a connection and no proxy server - go to Internet Options>Connection and LAN settings. For more tips or information, go to http://www.ChicagoTech.net Robert, MS-MVP/MCSE and CNE Networking, Internet, routing & VPN Support, Tips and FAQs on http://www.ChicagoTech.net

Net For 2 http://www.it-mate.co.uk/main_content/internet.asp#bgone http://www.netfor2.com/ NetFor2 enables two computers to share the same telephone line, cable or DSL connection without the need for a computer network. You don't have to install any new hardware in your computers. All you need is a serial cable connecting your two PC's. You will pay just one ISP subscription fee, one telephone bill, and no concurrent hours cost. Supports Internet Explorer, Netscape, AOL and users with a TCP/IP connection.

Thank you all