DIY PC Blog

Just as in the case of printers you can also share the internet connection between the computers in your network. But there are a couple of ways you can do this.

First, you can connect the modem to the first computer via the router. The other computers will have to be connected to the main computer using a network switch.Choose the computer with the internet connection as your main computer and setup the internet connection for this computer. You must then enable internet sharing on this computer so that the other computers in your home network are able to share the internet connection.

You can now turn on the internet connection sharing option (on windows xp, vista) on the rest of the network computers and all the computers will be able to access the internet. This method relies on the fact that your main computer is made the internet gateway. This allows all the network traffic to flow via this main internet gateway computer and then through the router.

The second method is to connect the internet to the router and connect all your the computers to the router. This approach does not require the internet connection to be made to a main computer or gateway computer. In this case it is the router itself that behaves as the internet gateway. You can now setup the internet connections individually on each of your computers just as you do normally. By setting up  the internet connection using the userid and password  each of your computers are connected independently through the router to the internet.

The first method reqires the use of a main computer to connect to the internet and this computer has to be kept “ON” permanently. The second method needs only the router and the modem to remain “ON” and the computers on the network can easily connect to the internet. Many a times the router and modem are combined together into a single unit and in this case you only need the router to be “ON” at all times.

Find out more on  how to build your Computer at Easyasmypc. Connect them together to form a home network  to  enable you to share your files, printers, hard disks, internet etc and make your life more pleasant.

This month it would be networking special on Diypcblog. So please stay tunned in. If you want to know more about home networks, that’s what the focus is going to be.

A home network is a peer to peer network and it is easy to set up and there is no doubt that its benefits are immense. Refer: How to build a computer .

The videos outlined below explain the whole method of setting up the peer to peer networking.

However, certain clarifications on crucial points are in order. First, after creation of the workgroup you will see that you can now sit at any of the computers and connect to the workgroup. For example, you can start your work from any computer you wish by accessing that particular computer from the tabs, and logon as a user by entering your password. You must note that this is possible because now you are logging on to the workgroup and not the local computer. You are now connected to the network. Hence, this kind of seamless working on the network is possible. It is also possible to logon to your local computer, but in this case you will have not be able to access the network computers and not be able to share the network files or the peripherals.

Another point that may be little non comprehensible is that of network sharing. One question over which your mind may be hovering is that of sharing the printers, internet, hard drives etc, when the local computer to which these peripherals are attached, is turned off. For example, if the computer to which the printer is attached is not on, and you are working on the network and want to print to that printer, you might be wondering as to how this is going to take place?

The best answer that can be provided is to maintain one computer as the main computer and attach all the peripherals, internet etc to this main computer. You’ll have to make this particular computer a little more robust than the rest! It could act somewhat like the server in the client server network configuration. But, you must always remember that your network is a peer to peer network and none of the computers is a server or client, but act as both. This is, therefore, just an arrangement to tide over the difficulties.

Hence, the administrator can turn on the main computer in the morning alongwith the internet connection, printers and so on and switch them off in the night. This would then enable anyone to login from any machine and share the peripherals at any time.

Here are the 7 videos which expain peer to peer networking in a lucid manner. These step by step videos from youtube that take you straight to the point. Go through these videos patiently and you will surely find it easy to setup your own home computer network. Cut and paste these addresses into the address bar of your browser.
Step 1.

www.youtube.com/v/0LesEz4G6Fs?fs=1&hl=en_US

Step 2.

www.youtube.com/v/JtaqI-_qps8?fs=1&hl=en_US

Step 3.

www.youtube.com/v/5WKUgzw9yMo?fs=1&hl=en_US

Step 4.

www.youtube.com/v/AwROtefnixg?fs=1&hl=en_US

Step 5.

www.youtube.com/v/A3w7CCNRU1Y?fs=1&hl=en_US

Step 6.

www.youtube.com/v/KM7Lav54gl4?fs=1&hl=en_US

Step 7.

www.youtube.com/v/1PWbcOiIXTE?fs=1&hl=en_US

These videos are courtesy www.impartlabs.blogspot.com