Sharing Internet Access You can share access to your dial-up (analog 56 kilobits per second) modem or your cable or DSL modem connection, if you have one The simplest way is to use the Network Setup Wizard If you are using a router, you can see more about sharing Internet access through your router in Chapter 9 However, if you just want to share a connection, and your Windows XP computer is directly connected to the Internet, just follow these steps Open My Network Places (Start, My Network Places) Under Network Tasks (on the top-left side of the My Network Places menu) click "View network connections" (Figure 8.10) Figure 8.10 Click "View network connections" so that you can see your wireless network connection Right-click the wireless connection you want to share and choose Properties (Figure 8.11) Figure 8.11 Select Properties to change the settings of your wireless network connection Click the Advanced tab (Figure 8.12) Figure 8.12 Click the Advanced tab to bring it forward Select "Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection." (Figure 8.13) Figure 8.13 Set XP to share your computer's Internet connection Select the connection you want to share under "Home networking connection." Click OK Your computer is now set to act as the router for your network Remember to leave this computer on or the other computers on your wireless LAN won't be able to access the Internet Chapter 9 Routers and Internet Connection Sharing In this chapter Choosing a Wireless or Wired Router Adding a Router to Your Network Setting Up Windows ICS on the Host Computer Setting Up Client Computers Now that you know how to set up a small network, let's look a bit more at connecting your network to the Internet Specifically, we will explore how a router, sometimes called a gateway, might make your network both safer and easier to use than if you go without one In addition to connecting your network to the Internet, a router provides two main benefits to your network: A router helps protect your network from other people connected to the Internet through network address translation (NAT), which shows just one IP address on the Internet and allows you to use that one IP address to access the Internet from all the computers on your network A router with DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) handles the assigning of IP addresses to your computers so that you don't have to These private addresses aren't visible to the Internet at large Most, but not all, routers provide both NAT and DHCP Look for routers that provide these two helpful capabilities Could you benefit from a router? Probably Let's consider who is a likely candidate for purchasing either a router built in to a wireless access point or a standalone wired router ... computer's Internet connection." (Figure 8.13) Figure 8.13 Set XP to share your computer's Internet connection Select the connection you want to share under "Home networking connection." Click OK Your computer is now set to act as the router for your network...Right-click the wireless connection you want to share and choose Properties (Figure 8.11) Figure 8.11 Select Properties to change the settings of your wireless network connection... Remember to leave this computer on or the other computers on your wireless LAN won't be able to access the Internet Chapter 9 Routers and Internet Connection Sharing In this chapter Choosing a Wireless or Wired Router Adding a Router to Your Network