Guide to Wireless Networking

[Another St Ivian]

Does anyone know of a decent step by step guide to wireless networking (802.11g) in Windows XP? During the coming week I am installing a second PC in the house and plan on networking the two on an ad hoc/peer to peer basis. I'm after a guide to setting it all up and securing it, and setting up ICS so I can access the dial up connection on the current PC from the new one. The current PC runs XP Pro, the new one XP home.

Cheers,
ASI

[Evo]

Setup should be very easy - I don't know of a guide, but I wouldn't think you would need one. Just turn all security off while you set it up - little problems like misconfigured WEP preventing a connection is by far the most common problem I come across.

Once it's working, turn security features on one-by-one, so if it breaks, turn the feature back off again. A good guide for security is Essential Home Wireless Security Practices (http://arstechnica.com/paedia/w/wireless-security-howto/home-802.11b-1.html). However, all you really need for home use is WEP and disable SSID broadcast. As I've posted before, MAC-address ACLs are largely a waste of time, and the better-than-WEP security stuff (if supported) seems more hassle that it's really worth.

As for ICS, I think there's a Wizard to do that?

HTH

[Another St Ivian]

Sceptical as I was, Evo, you turned out to be right! After a little messing about with installing the required services and such like it started working like a dream.
After I got it initially setup I set about sorting out WEP encryption and generally securing it.
It was a bit of a pain with the WinXP built in stuff so I took to using the external wireless LAN utility that came with the card, it's all working as it should now.

Cheers,
ASI