|
The good news is that it's not that hard to set
up, as long as you do it properly. How
Internet Connection Sharing Works
When you set up Internet Connection Sharing,
you set up one of your computers as a 'gateway' to the Internet, and then use
this gateway to access the Internet with your other computers. Essentially,
requests for data from the Internet are being sent out through the gateway, and
the responses are being sent back across the network ('routed') back to your
computer. The gateway computer is still the only one that's directly connected
to the Internet.
If you have trouble visualising what's
happening, imagine for a second that the computers are people. Let's call the
computer-people Bob, Fred and Alice. They're all in a bar together, but Bob is
the only one with money for drinks (we could say he has a 'connection' to the
bar). Fred and Alice can ask Bob to buy them a drink, and Bob can bring over the
drinks, for them to have as they usually would. At no point, however, can Fred
or Alice go and order a drink at the bar.
Setting It Up: The Gateway
Note: this guide assumes that you have already
set up your wireless network, but you have not connected it to the Internet yet.
The computer with the modem connected to it is
the one you need to set up first -- as the gateway, it's going to be providing
Internet access to all your other computers. On this computer, go to the Control
Panel, then click Network Connections. From here, you can run the Network Setup
Wizard by clicking 'Set up a home or small office network'.
Click next through the wizard until you get to
a screen called 'Select a connection method'. On this screen you need to select
'This computer connects directly to the Internet. The other computers on my
network connect to the Internet through this computer'. From here on, you should
be able to click next again until you get to the finish. Say 'yes' to turn on
file and printer sharing when you're prompted.
Your computer is now ready to be a gateway to
the Internet.
The Network
The next step is setting up the other computers
on your network to make use of the gateway you just created. Run the Network
Setup Wizard on each of these computers, but this time through choose 'This
computer connects to the Internet through another computer on my network or
through a residential gateway'.
If the computer that will now be using a shared
Internet connection was using a dial-up connection before, then there are a few
things left to do -- you need to change some settings in the web browser Open
Internet Explorer, then go to the Options screen (in the Tools menu). Click the
Connections tab. You should click 'never dial a connection', and un-tick three
boxes: 'automatically detect settings', 'use automatic configuration script' and
'use a proxy server'.
The Trouble With Internet Connection Sharing
To go back to our bar for a moment, imagine Bob
leaves. Oh dear. Looks like Fred and Alice can't get any more drinks, doesn't
it? The same thing applies to the computers on your network -- if the gateway
computer is switched off, they will lose all their access to the Internet.
That's not the only problem, though. While
Internet Connection Sharing works fine for the web and email, it can be more
problematic when it comes to doing other things. Downloading files from file
sharing networks, for example, or using videoconferencing, requires you to mess
around with the gateway computer's settings. After a while, it can get quite
frustrating. If you're in this position, you should really try a wireless router
-- see our article 'Create Always-On Networks with a Wireless Router'.
|
