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To: SamAdams76
There are a few routers out there that would work fine, but I got my Linksys running in about two minutes.

It is also a 4 port switch, which is better than a hub - with a switch, each computer has full LAN bandwidth (100 Mbps), while with a hub, all the computers in the network have to share the 100 Mbps among them. (In practice, it doesn't matter much, especially in sharing a broadband connection, but switches now are so cheap its a no brainer.)

What took me longer to get working was getting our computers to see each other. I had to fiddle with the firewalls (ZoneAlarm and Norton Internet Security, which have different methods of allowing local network access - ZoneAlarm is easier to configure), and got things running, but then as I looked into it more, I found out that the Linksys router gives each computer IP addresses that are basically invisible to the rest of the Internet. (Check out ShieldsUp at grc.com after setting things up and you'll see what I mean.)

Broadband and a router are the way to go. I'll never go back to dialup.

44 posted on 01/07/2002 4:55:21 PM PST by michaelt
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To: michaelt; SamAdams76
An important point: XP's built-in software firewall would prevent your 98 from seeing XP. It's made for just a standalone system.
46 posted on 01/07/2002 4:57:44 PM PST by Cultural Jihad
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