Trying to establish a home network with a switch

I have two computers running windows xp. I want to use one as an internet browsing computer and one thats dedicated to other tasks. I want to be able to share files between these computers,, yet I want one to be sheltered from the world of the internet.. I don't really give so much a crap about the internet computer though, I'm going to actually see how much malware and viruses I can get on it.. because that's funny to me... anyways. They are connected into a switch which is also connected to a cable modem. As of right now I can't get both of them to recognize each other or anything after trying just about every configuration in the windows xp network setup wizard,, What do I have to do to achieve my goals? Thanks

 

You need a router. A switch alone cannot make two or more computers share an internet connection.

 

We had two computers sharing an internet connection for a year on this same switch. But.. that's neither here nor there. I'm not trying to get these two computers to share a connection. I'm trying to get one to connect to the internet.. and one to share files with the other one and not connect to the internet.

 

Link to: Basic Options for Internet Connection Sharing.

Link to: Hubs, routers, switches, DSL, LANs, WANs...?

Link to: What do I need for wireless Networking?

The whole thing should look like this: http://www.ezlan.net/network/router.jpg