Hey, me and my 2 flatmates have just got the internet installed at our house (ISP - Virgin Media) my computer went through the setup which u have to do to register with them and is connected directly to the modem so i have the internet no probs.....we got a switch in order for my flatmates to be able to share the internet connection but when we set it all up they have limited or no connectivity, they can see my comp on the network but there is just no action from the internet, any help would be greatly appreciated! thanks Theres only 10 people that understand binary, those who do and those who don't.

You cannot share the Internet with a switch, you need a router. A router will translate the public IP address that you get from the router into two private IP addresses so each computer can use the Internet together. A switch cant do that. You can share the Internet with the switch if you set up Internet Connection Sharing on the computer with the MODEM connected. That computer then behaves like a router but a router is a more reliable solution. Stuart

i forgot to say previously, that my machine runs XP, and there is another XP macine and the other runs Vista! yeh we have set up ICS, but we can't get that to work still! what should the ip addresses/DNS of the other machines be...should it be set to automatically obtain or should one be set in the TCP/IP settings?? i dunno if this info helps: C:\Documents and Settings\Ben McIntosh>ipconfig/all Windows IP Configuration Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : flawless Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Marvell Yukon 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-11-09-D6-9F-0F Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 86.6.169.229 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.252.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 86.6.168.1 DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 62.254.0.20 DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 194.168.4.100 194.168.8.100 NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 17 October 2007 10:21:45 Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 21 October 2007 11:30:12 Theres only 10 people that understand binary, those who do and those who don't.

Setting up ICS "Computer security." — Oxymoron

To set up ICS you connect the host PC directly to the modem through a LAN card, install a 2nd LAN card in the host PC, connect the switch to that, then network your other PCs through the switch. Set their TCP/IP properties to "Assign IP Address Automatically" and "Use DHCP Server for WINS Resolution". Disable the clients' firealls (if any), run the ICS wizard on the host PC, and your LAN should be set up.