At my school,all of the school's comptuers are connected to a network. When i was using the computers, i was wondering how they connect to the internet.By the way, I never log on to the network at the start because i forget my password for my username.Anyways i i checked Network, which is in Control Panel, and it lists the clients, Ethernet adapter and other stuff.There is nothing configured in there like IP Address,Subnet address, any numbers nor there is anything put in LAN Settings. So i guess probably all of the computers are easily connected to the internet by connecting the UTP cable wire into the Ethernet NIC without configuring users,groups and resources.So how do they connect to the internet?

Your Pc will be logged onto the network using dhcp i.e. the Computer will be told its ip address, subnet mask, default gateway, dns server etc. etc. automatically rather than having to set it up manually. If you go to http://www.wown.com/j_helmig/basics.htm It will tell you the basics of networking etc.

your school prob has either isdn,dsl,or t1 through an isp....the isp(internet service provider) provides your school with a static ip address(one that no one else uses) lots of schools are using t1 now days so in that case a designated line is coming from the isp to your school and connected to a device called a csu/dsu. which devides of up the channels and all that good stuff....then from the csu/dsu it is connected to a device called a router....which the internet is configured in there and allows the networks to communicated with one another....the other guy was right about the dhcp....anymore questions just email me!