Networking/LAN

I really don't know much about this, apparently my father does. He wants to network our two computers so we can be online at the same time. I see this as a problem because we use dial-up but okay...

He read somewhere that you only need a LAN cable to connect them and then do something with the LAN settings or whatever, but he can't get it to work. Do we need a port-hub box thing? I really don't know and he's rather frustrated that he can't get it to work. He asked me to ask you guys so here I am...

Help? :confused:

Adding this because I'm downloading something and it's too slow to Edit...

I'm running on Win XP Home Edition on this computer, but the other computer's on XP Pro and it's been formatted up to that. It's originally a Windows ME (ahh, the horrible times with that POS), and it still freezes up and for lack of a better word, sucks. It's only got the 64 RAM so I dunno...Will it work?

easiest thing would be to get a router then network cards for the pcs. Now this set up is usually for broadband but with xp it has a wizard for internet connection sharing so you can use that. but with 2 pc's sharing a dialup it is going to be terribly slow.
then the other way is to use a network cable called a crossover cable that will allow you to connect the 2 pcs with the cable and not going thru a router.

Set up step by step
1. Connect 2 pcs with crossover cable - assuming both pcs have working ethernet cards.
2. On PC with internet connection go into Control Panel>Network and Internet connections>Network Connections.
3. Right click your internet connection and select properties, advanced tab.
4. Enable Internet Connection Sharing with whichever options you like the look of.
5. Reboot both pcs for luck.
6. It all works.

Thanks, both of you.

I know it's gonna be slow, I've been after him to get DSL, at the least, for the last year and a half. Blah. Oh, well.

Thanks for the advice. I'll get back to you and let you know if it works...

Btw- you guys are great. I'd be up a creek without some of you, seeing as how I've no common sense sometimes. :-D Later

Well since nobody else mentioned this...The XP Help files really do have a good bit of info on what you need to set this up. Also a good online resource is WWW.WOWN.COM.

Oh,and please upgrade your ram to at least 128mb but 512mb is standard these days with XP. :D

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Originally Posted by zipp51

Oh,and please upgrade your ram to at least 128mb but 512mb is standard these days with XP. :D

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I think XP recommends 256mb as the minimum.

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I think XP recommends 256mb as the minimum.

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I think you're right.

And we're working on it. Been lookin' for the upgrade. But...Yeah. We're workin' on it.

Oh, Dad said he still couldn't get it to work. I have a feeling he'll give up soon.