I have a Pentium III with plenty of RAM and WinXP and another Pentium MMX with little RAM running Win2000 (WinXP won't run because of the small amount of RAM). Both computers have network cards, and are connected through HomePlug adapters. I connect to the net through a Motorola SurfBoard cable modem, connected to a second network card on the PenIII.

Now to my problem - I wish to connect both to the internet without buying any new equipment, while having a secure home network. The weaker computer is incapable of running a firewall/antivirus in the background. What type of configuration do you recommend - specifically what protocol for the home network - the client for microsoft networks doesn't seem to work for some reason - maybe a configuration error. Should I use NetBEUI or IPX? How do I configure them? How do I let the weaker computer distinguish between internet traffic and local traffic when they are both coming in through the same connection?

And as a closing comment I'll just say the windows KB and help files are quite useless - I've read enormous amounts of useless information leading me in circles...

You have to set up internet connection sharing on the computer with 2 network cards. Plenty of tutorials on that.

Plenty of tutorials on getting Microsoft Networking operational out there too. I suggest you check/redo the TCP/IP configuration on both computers (ICS wizard will do it for you). You have to put both computers on the same workgroup to let them "see" each other.

And don't even think about using anything but TCP/IP.

Your computer will distinguish local and internet traffic just fine because of a cool feature called IP addresses. The machine sharing your connection leaves the IP address intact on the packets it forwards.

And don't read KB articles unless as a last resort.

Done that.

For some reason the wizard won't work on 2000. The computers are in the same workgroup. What are the guidelines for the TCP/IP configuration?

I understand I should delete/disable the "Client for Microsoft networks" and "File and Printer sharing for Microsoft Networks" and the NetBEUI and IPX drivers too? I still would like to share files and my printer between the two computers if possible - can I do that using only TCP/IP

Right. Don't worry about me ever doing that again. :grinthumb
Thanks for your help!

Once you have run the sharing wizard on the XP machine look at the IP address you have on the local network card (the one that goes to your other machine). Set the slave computer IP address so that the first 3 numbers are the same and the last one different (increase it by one for example). The netmask must be the same for both computers. On the slave, set gateway to the sharing computer's IP. Set DNS server to the master computer or the DNS addresses of your ISP or all of them.

Nono, keep the Microsoft Networking and file sharing, you can use them over TCP/IP just fine. On both computers make sure you have checked the "Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP" setting in TCP/IP settings.

You have to disable or reconfigure the firewall you have on the PIII machine.

Thanks for your help - I realise now that running the Network ID wizard resets your workgroup name. This is the reason I turned to this forum in the first place! Guess I was doing everything right anyway.
So thanks again for your help, and see you around I guess! :grinthumb