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RobinHood1964Flag for United States of America

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XP home network security

I have 2 pcs both running XP, both have an 10/100 card installed. I want to network them together and share and internet (dsl) connection using an external modem.I have a 5 port ethernet hub also and would like to know the most secure way to hook these all together.
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Pete Long
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The most efficient way to hook these together is to connect them both to the five port hub and then connect the external DSL modem to it. I feel this is the best performance method as you are not running it through a machine performing ICS.

One of the disadvantages of ICS is that it will be utilitizing some processing power/memory to handle the transcation of the other machine as well as needing to always be of for the other to gain internet access. The upside is that you only have one machine exposed to the internet instead of two (from the equal access method I already mentioned via the hub).

However, this security risk has been significantly lowered in XP as you can enable XPs built in firewall (Internet Connection Firewall). Its basic but it does the job. Right click on My Network Places and choose Properties. Right click on your network connection and choose Properties. Click Advanced and select Internet Connection Firewall. This will work out well if you have them both hooked through the hub.

If you have additional money to spend I would recommend getting a cable/dsl router with a built in firewall and hub. Anymore they only cosr abotu $60.
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ewtaylor

If you plug into the hub then plug the hub into the modem you will need to get a second public ip address. With most ISP's the cost of a router will offset this cost and you will then have a secure firewall in place (hardware firewall vs software firewall).
Yes, like I said....most firewall/routers can be purchased at you local computer retailer for around $60.

A lot of ISPs offer 1, 2 or 4 public IPs, a lot at no additonal cost to you so the hub method could work also but you will need to determine your ISPs plan first.

The firewall will only require 1 IP which we know you already have and is the most secure. And as inexpensive as they are these days ($60 - prolly cheaper online) it really pays to have one.