ICS ( Internet connection sharing ) is then enabled and then the Internet connection is shared.

Regardless of which type of network you are using So if you need security please read our windows security fact sheet and our windows Antispyware guide to make sure your computer is secure and has no spyware installed,

if you are using the Ad-Hoc network setup this is doubly important, the computer sharing the internet connection is your first line of defense, so it must be the most secure.

The only advantage of using an Ad Hoc setup would be the cost, you don't have to purchase a wireless router/modem, but like I said this is the only advantage, please note your pc sharing the Internet will have to be running Windows XP.

The advantages of a router/modem in my opinion far out weigh this, firstly if you use Ad Hoc the connection will only be 802.11b (we can bump this up to 54mbps but it's still not a true 802.11g connection, the next point is the security, any wireless router/modem worth it's salt will come with a hardware firewall built in, it will also give you a far greater range.

It's very easy to connect new machines to if you need to use a cable type connection, if you want to surf the web on any machine, of course the pc sharing the connection will have to be on.

Do you need a Wireless router or Wireless Modem/router, which one to go for really depends on your type of Internet connection, there are really only two types the first is a DSL Wireless Router, and it works with Cable Type Internet connections.

The other type is called an ADSL wireless Modem/Router this will work with Phone line type Broadband connections.

Both types of wireless devices normally come with around four RJ45 network ports on the rear, in case you want to you can connect maybe a pc or a printer via a cable type connection.

Note-the ADSL or cable router connects to your existing Internet box. The ADSL type completely replaces your existing box.

So it's really like this

The ADSL connection can share the phone socket, you are still able to browse and use the phone to make and receive calls at the same time

The DSL or cable type connection uses a completely different connection the phone, sometimes if you are renting a property the owner may not be too happy with Cable type connections as it requires a hole to be drilled in the wall and a cable running outside.

The next step is to get the network cards for the computer's if you've got a desktop pc you want to connect via Wireless Networking Communication wireless you'll need to get a PCI type card (PCI means Peripheral Connect Interface, this is the name given to a type of port inside your pc, which enables you to add such things as network cards, modems, sounds cards).

If your looking for a wireless card for a laptop, you have three choices, the first is the PCMCIA type card, make sure your laptop has a PCMCIA interface it's a long vertical slot in the side of the laptop. The next choice is the built in Wireless network card, if your laptop already has one built in great, but if not check around and see if your Laptop supports this. The other type of connection is the USB Wireless Dongle, any laptop or pc with a USB card can use one of these, as long as it has USB ports of course.

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The advantages and disadvantages of the network card types are as follows.

Built in WIFI connector, this is really the best of the three; it does not use any other ports, cannot be seen or does not have to be removed when transporting the laptop. Downside if your laptop does have the ability to have one of these installed, unless you are pretty confident about opening your laptop, might be worth getting your local pc store to install it,

some of the easy ones just require removal of a rear panel,

which is an easy job, but some others such as Dell D400's require you to remove the keyboard to install them.

The USB type WIFI dongle, these are quick and easy to install, downside they use a USB port, not good if you only have one on your laptop or your laptop only has USB 1 type connections (USB type connections come in two flavors USB 1 & USB 2, USB 1 was ok when it was first brought out, but now it is considered very slow,

it's maximum transmission rate is only twelve megabits per second, USB 2 on the other hand has a maximum speed of four hundred and eighty megabits per second), another downside of USB is the fact that it takes more of the processors time than the other connections, so if you have a slow laptop I'd recommend one of the other two.

The third type of connection is the PCMCIA type, make sure your laptop has one of these before though, most laptops do, as I specified above it's a long horizontal type port usually in one of the sides of your laptop, PCMCIA cards are quite cheap,

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not as obtrusive as the USB type connections, most people never use these type of connections for anything else, unless it's a modem or a network card anyway. The only downside you will probably find will the card itself it may protrude a little from the port; due to the wireless aerial.

The last kind which is only suitable for desktop computers is the PCI type wireless card, you'll need to open your pc up to install this one, it's not difficult though, once install you fit it's aerial onto the card at the rear of the case.

Onwards to security, the main thing to consider at this point is SECURITY.

If you have a wireless network, the last thing you want is someone else connecting to it without your permission, so we have four kinds of security here.

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Mac Address security
A Mac (media access control) address is the name given to the address of a network card it usually looks something like this 44-45-53-21-37-00, every network card regardless of whether it's wireless or hard wired has a Mac address. Every Mac address is unique, no two networks can have the same address or you get a conflict.

For this kind of security you setup an access list on your router, you enter the Mac addresses of all pc's you want to allow access into this list. Any computer trying to connect to your network with a Mac address not on the list, will be denied access.

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Wep 64 bit security Wep ( wireless Equivalent Privacy ) is the name given to a protection type for wireless technology, with this you specify a 64 bit key, the same number has to be implemented onto any computer wishing to connect to your network, "no number = no entry" Web 128 bit security Same as Wep 64 bit apart from it uses a 128 bit key

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WPA WPA (wireless protected access) is the latest wireless security protection, this uses unique encryption keys for each client, and these keys are updated periodically.

So as far as security goes WPA is indeed far more secure than WEP, but if you can only use WEP it is still very secure but most standards today.

Connect your Router/Modem as per the diagrams above, it should have come with a RJ45 LAN cable, connect you computer to the Router with this. You will need to initially configure it this way to begin with.

Launch Internet explorer, type the address listed in the Routers manual, it will be something along the lines of http://192.168.2.1

This will take you to the routers configuration screen As a default the Wireless may be disabled Enter a default password, again this will be found in the manual.

You should then see the menu tabs, select the wireless section, and enable it, click the security tab, select which type of security you will use, enter a number into this, be sure to make a note of the number, you will need this again when you give other computers wireless access.

" better still if you have a pen drive create a text file and copy it here " One of the Options also gives you the choice of renaming your wireless network

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, you could always leave it as a default, but if you have another wireless network in your area, and the other network still has it's default name, it could be a little confusing.

The next step is to get the other computers that need Wireless Networking Communication connected

As long as you've got the WIFI network card installed, go into Network connections "start menu", "control panel", " network connections " you will see the name of your wireless connection here, right click on this and you will see the option " view available wireless networks " from here you should be able to see your wireless network, high light it and click connect, after a few seconds it will ask you for the security key,

type in the key, or copy and paste from the pen drive "one of the main reasons for network problems is when the key is entered incorrectly.

Once you've entered the key it will connect you, from here you have Internet/network access

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ADSL Phone line type Broadband If your Broadband connection is ADSL or phone line based, select the WAN tab next and enter your network credentials (you should have received these from your Internet service provider)

DSL cable based connections If the connection is Cable based the configuration will be slightly different, you don't need to add any login credentials like the ADSL/Modem configurations.

What you may need to do is to clone the Mac address of the pc that was originally connected to the cable box.

From the original connected pc go to the start menu, run type "cmd" Click ok, now type "ipconfig /all" This will then give you the Mac address On the Router config screen you should see an option to clone the Mac address; this is where you need to enter the Mac address from the computer.

The reason for this some service providers remember the Mac address of the machine connected, and will only allow a device with the same address to connect, so by cloning the Mac address you kinda fool it into thinking the original machine is connected.

Only if you have an Ad Hoc Network use the following

If you've gone the Ad Hoc route the configuration here is a little different. Firstly we need to enable ICS "Internet connection sharing" Go to the "Start menu", "control panel", "network connections" select your Internet network connection that you wish to share " this will be the connection running from the router or modem labeled something like local area connection, or if you have a connection icon such as AT&T or BT select this one", right click on this, select properties, select the "advanced" tab ,

make sure "Allow other network users to connect through this computers Internet connection" is ticked, also make sure "Establish a dial-up connection whenever a computer on my network attempts to access the Internet" is also ticked, Select a network connection " this will be the wireless connection"

The choice is yours whether you wish to select the other tab to allow all other users to enable to disable the Internet connection.

Ok your Internet should now be shared

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From the pc connected to the Internet, go to control panels and select " Network Connections " right click on the wireless connection select "properties" click the " wireless networks " tab, click "advanced" and now select "computer to computer Ad Hoc" , close the window, so your back at the " wireless network connection properties screen " click add Give your network a name Select Network Authentication type "Open" Choose data encryption "if you're not sure read the sections above on security" Choose a network key and confirm it, " make a note of it, you'll have to enter this on any computers requiring wireless access.

Choose a key index " does not make a difference, but it has to be the same on all computers" And you finished, the settings you have just implemented have to be added, exactly the same to any other machines you need connected. You should now have a working WIFI network , if you wish to test the security from the internet checkout our Computer Security Test , you’ll be able to see if your computers have any security problems from the web

Wireless Networking Communication

We hope you’ve found the above document useful, I wrote it after I had problems implementing Wireless Networking Communication , so hopefully you’ll have an easier time than I did.

Why not read some of our other articles

There are a number of WIFI / Laptop scams around, all aimed at your wallet make sure it does'nt happen to you.. wireless networking communication

Windows Security
Windows AntiSpyware
Computer Security Test

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Troubleshooting

If you find that you cannot get any Wireless Networking Communication, try disabling security and see if you can connect,

if so it just means somewhere along the line, the WEP address has been written down or entered wrongly " remember to enable security "

When using Ad Hoc If you have a network connection, but cannot access the Internet from the slave pc you may have shared the wrong connection

Again when using Ad Hoc, Please be aware some Firewall software makes it a real pain using ICS, if you can't connect and have tried the above, try disabling the firewall to check this.

If it works ok once disabled, you'll need to add a rule to your firewall, I'd go through this but there are just too many firewalls around.

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At some stage I'll look for the most ICS friendly ones about though.

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