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"Wireless internet/networking on several PCs"

I have a friend (!) who currently has a PC in her office (Windows XP Home) connected to broadband via the crappy modem supplied by BT and a PC in her bedroom (Windows 95/98, I think) with no internet connection. She is about to buy her daughter a laptop (Windows XP home) which has a wireless network card in it and wants to be able to:

a) allow the laptop to connect to the internet wirelessly;
b) allow the bedroom PC to connect to the internet wirelessly;
c) access files stored on any computer from any other one;
d) play the piano

So, I'm assuming she needs to buy:

i) a wireless router/modem of some kind;
ii) wireless network cards for her desktops;
iii) a piano

Can you advise me on a suitable router/modem and/or network cards to buy, please?

Also, is it going to be tremendously difficult for me to set it all up? I have past experience of setting up wired networks and know all about sharing folders etc., but have zero experience of wireless ... in the PC world at least!

Oh, and I lied about the piano bit.

Pandaemonium wrote:
> Tim, good luck with the setup. It can go one of two ways.
>
> 1) Simple plug and play, instantly accessable.
> 2) A four hour long nightmare of firewall problems, WEP digital encyption settings, "limigted
> or no connectivity" and lots of shouting and system restaring.

Cheers, mate. I'm quite a patient guy so there shouldn't bee too much shouting - not from me at least!

The family I'm doing it for already think I'm some kind of computing god, so if I pull this one off they'll probably be offering me their daughter for marriage or something.

ßulle†† wrote:
> Pandaemonium wrote:
> What's the problem with it? Mine's been fine.
>
> For a single PC, it's fine. But it's useless when you have 2
> computers, 1 laptop and 2 consoles all wanting access to the internet
> :D

Aha! I see! A power user. :D
I've only the one, and the girlfriends laptop that accesses it via wireless.

> I tried that, did everything exactly the same on all machines (even
> tried it with the option to create a Network Setup disk for use on
> other machines). No luck. I could only get each machine to see a
> 'Shared Documents' folder, hosted by the primary PC.

Hmmm, curious. That should work pewrfectly. Still, networking can sometimes be a swine to set up. I hate it and comms equally.

Pandaemonium wrote:
> What's the problem with it? Mine's been fine.

For a single PC, it's fine. But it's useless when you have 2 computers, 1 laptop and 2 consoles all wanting access to the internet :D

> Use the network wizard and assign both machines to the same workgroup
> for example "Home". Both machines should be visible via the
> network, and you can fileshare quite easily.

I tried that, did everything exactly the same on all machines (even tried it with the option to create a Network Setup disk for use on other machines). No luck. I could only get each machine to see a 'Shared Documents' folder, hosted by the primary PC.

ßulle†† wrote:
> That's basically it. Everything will access the net and you can do
> away with the God-awful BT Modem.

What's the problem with it? Mine's been fine.

> I'm afraid I can't help with the accessing files on one-another's PCs
> though, I still don't know how to do that successfully :(

Use the network wizard and assign both machines to the same workgroup for example "Home". Both machines should be visible via the network, and you can fileshare quite easily.

Tim, good luck with the setup. It can go one of two ways.

1) Simple plug and play, instantly accessable.
2) A four hour long nightmare of firewall problems, WEP digital encyption settings, "limigted or no connectivity" and lots of shouting and system restaring.

Guess which one I had after SP2 installation..........

Right, you can probably get cheaper, but I'd recommend these:

[URL]http://www.broadbandstuff.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=155&osCsid=6a83f9d09772953d388df01ba274d61b[/URL] for the Wireless modem/router and a wireless PC Card for the Lappy.

[URL]http://www.broadbandstuff.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=26_33_88&products_id=71[/URL] for a Wireless adapter for the Desktop. You can get a USB version too, [URL]http://www.broadbandstuff.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=26_33_90&products_id=224[/URL] , depends on preference though.

That's basically it. Everything will access the net and you can do away with the God-awful BT Modem.

I'm afraid I can't help with the accessing files on one-another's PCs though, I still don't know how to do that successfully :(

Anyone ... ?

:,^(

To be fair, mine didn't much either.

V funny.

Seriously though, my PC *never* crashes.

That's what sniffing glue will do to you.

Although I'm not him, I can't even remember the last time my PC crashed :' }.