laptop & desktop network

[kenn jolemore]

My folks have recently bought a laptop and want to wirelessly connect it to there PC. Both computers are running XP home and I believe sp2 as they are both new computers (less than a year old) They are on a dial-up service and want to share a printer also. The PC has a wireless card allready and the laptop has nothing at this point. What is the most simple way to accomplish this task while keeping them safe on-line at the same time. They want to be able to access there account while traveling with the laptop btw.
Many thanks for any assistance.
KennJ

[ecross]

Hello KennJ,

This is possible but you'll need to have a wireless card installed in each machine. When you install a wireless card into the laptop, then you'll need to use the built-in wireless settings in XP or use a third party software to configure the network cards in Ad-hoc mode (without a router).

File and printer sharing is the same with any wireless or wired device. If you are familar with setting up this.

[kenn jolemore]

Thanks ecross. Should the cards match each other or is that of little relevance as there is allready a wireless card in the desktop computer.
I can walk them through file and printer sharing with no trouble but am just not sure if they might want to buy a router for safety purposes (physical firewall) or just stick with the software firewall in XP and basic spyware and virus programs for security.
KennJ

[ecross]

The network cards don't have to be the same brand. Any wireless card will work with each other. I do suggest that you go for 802.11g. You can use the Windows XP Firewall or third party.

Most routers don't support dialup connections. They support broadband connections. There are dialup compatible routers but I have never used them on dialup connections.

These are dialup compatible routers:

SMC SMC7004ABR (wired):
http://www.smc.com/index.cfm?event=v...EN_USA&pid=858

USR USR8000A (wired):
http://www.usr.com/products/networki...p?sku=USR8000A

Netgear FWG114P (wireless):
http://www.netgear.com/products/details/FWG114P.php

[kenn jolemore]

Many thanks for the information. I guess it is most sensable to get the two computers talking to each other directly for now and use microsofts firewall. If they decide in the future to go with broadband they can always get a router and reconfigure at that time. Again, thank you.
KennJ

[ecross]

You're welcome.