Borrowing internet connection
 

Hopefully a doddle for you guys - I need to be able to connect to a friend's broadband. Wired router, my laptop XP PRO SP3. Having never done this before, is it a straightforward 'create a new connection' or does that fabulous M$ GUI have lovely pitfalls waiting for me that I will need an internet connection to solve?

Should just plug'n go, since you have Pro

If it's wired, then you should be able to simply plug in with a cable. Assuming it's serving DHCP addresses and isn't MAC locked, then it'll give you an IP address fine. You might like to turn off your wireless card if there's any possibility of being in range of your usual network. If the router won't let you in, you'll get an IP address beginning 169. (running ipconfig from a command prompt will show you this).

XP is a pain in that it'll lose any custom existing connections you have set. It's no problem with DHCP, however if you usually have custimised network settings (such as fixed IP), then XP will forget these if you make another network connection.

Thanks all - I assumed I would need username/passwords, but fingers crossed! 'Plug and go' - if I had sixpence for........................ :)

MAC address filtering to connect to the network only applies to wireless routers.

However, many home routers can apply outbound Access Restrictions per IP address / MAC address to deny specific websites or TCP/UDP services.

Not necessarily - XP lets you create an alternate fixed IP configuration that you can use when your system can't find a DHCP server. This alternate configuration lets you specify an IP address, subnet, gateway, and DNS servers. Works nicely if you have a work laptop on a home network - DHCP at work, fixed IP at home.

I can't remember if Vista / 7 has the same feature.

SD