Connecting through another system

I have 2 PCs, both running XP, that are linked by an ethernet cable. One is connected to the net with a usb adsl modem. I want to be able to access the internet with the other computer through the one with access. Someone who has quite a senior job in a companies IT department tells me that what I am doing is effectively trying to use the PC with the web access as a router and this is extremely hard, fiddly, unreliable and would force me to open some big holes in my defences to get it working. Does he know what he is talking about, something doesn't seem right somehow?

 

I have to say no. It is not a dificult thing to set up and the functionality is built right into XP. It's ICS (Internet Connection Sharing). You will not need to purchase any addition gear for you are using a USB connection to get internet access. You can go to Windows help and type in ics and find everything you need to know on the setup. A wizard will also walk you through step by step, the proceedures that are needed to enable the functions of the computer that will share the internet. I have seen LOTS of links to pages that help in the settup here on this site. Maybe someone else could chime in?

 

Yes - the ICS machine must also be the DHCP host; all other machines obtaining their IP from this machine.

Basically you just need to run the Network Wizard on all machines, and follow the questions according to your setup.

It's really easy peasy and it should work in a coupla minutes. If you have any problems, post back.