I am buying a second computer for my daughter for Xmas and we want to connect both computers to our ntl cable modem, at the moment our Emachines 760 is connected. NTL will not give me any help how to do this can some help with clear basic instructions for a non hardware expert???

This can get tricky although XP has a 'LAN Networking Setup Wizard' that takes the pain out of it...well supposed to anyway. Control Panel/Network and Internet Connections...Good Luck. http://www.practicallynetworked.com/networking/ or, http://www.lpt.com/Networking_Help/networking_help.htm or here, http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;q308007&

What you really need is a hub like SOHOware makes. This is an external hub like a USB hub whose input is the cable modem and has receptors for each of your computers. This will cost about $30 and as soon as you connect them WinXP will sense them. Of course, you need to connect each of your computers one at a time directly to your ISP to make sure they connect and the IP addresses etc. have been established. There are several "watchouts" here: Does your ISP support multiple computers on the same cable modem? Not all cable modem hubs are compatible with the brand of cable modem you may have or the ISP protocols. In my case I purchased the hub reccommended by the ISP. Since your ISP will not provide any help, this could get tricky.

Try a router, Connect Cable to router, pc's to router. PC--> Router--> Cable-->internet.

A router is by far the easiest and most effective method. You won't have to worry about whether your ISP supports multiple IP addresses, because to your ISP, it looks as though you only have one computer connected. As Roberto said, it's very straight forward. Using Harry's method of just networking the two computers, you must then enable Internet connection sharing. Also, both computers must be on for Internet Connection Sharing to work. With a router, it doesn't matter, because the connection is going straight from the router to the PC. It doesn't go through the main PC first. -=Bryan=-

Iff oyu don't know what is a SWITCH, ROUTER or HUB then all this good information is confusing. HUB connects several PCs together using ethernet cards in PCs [or USB to ethernet adapter]: SWITCH does the same, but allows more than one simultaneous link between any of the devices attached. ROUTER manages IP addresses for several devices sharing one external device, such as ADSL modem [external] and 2 or more PCs. HUB is cheap and will serve your purpose, SWITCH is 20 -30% more. ROUTER can be up to 10 times more. Best to view www.ozcableguy.com Find out exactly how to set up and connect the network you desire: plus help to determine which is best for your needs and budget.