Connect two or more computers for home or small network using Windows XP

If you want to network multiple computers and allowing them to access internet then here is the procedure.

Requirements:

• DSL Broadband internet connection.
• A broadband router or a modem. (Recent routers has one INTERNET port and four LAN ports)
• A switch (8 ports or 16 ports) or hub (8 ports or 16 ports).
• CAT5 cables (Category 5 cabling standards used for high speed networking) with RJ-45 connectors on both side.
• Two or more desktop computers for networking.
• All the computers should have network card (also called as ethernet card).

Procedure:

• Connect the broadband cable to the router or modem. Connect to INTERNET port if router is used.
• Considering you are connecting six computers on network using eight port switch, take six individual CAT5 cables measuring the distance between each computer and the switch and one CAT5 cable measuring the distance between switch and the router.
• If the router has one INTERNET port and four LAN ports and you are connecting only four computers to network, then there is no need of switch or hub. Connect individual CAT5 cable between each computer and to each port of the router.
• Plug one end of the CAT5 cable to any port of the switch and the other end to the INTERNET port of the router. Connect individual CAT5 cable between each computer and to each port of the switch. For example, connect one CAT5 cable to router 's INTERNET port and 1st port of the switch then connect 2nd port of the switch to 1st computer, 3rd port of the switch to 2nd computer and so on till 7th port of the switch to 6th computer.
• If you are using eight ports hub for networking the six computers, connect one end of the CAT5 cable to INTERNET port of the router and to the UPLINK port of the hub. Connect individual CAT5 cable between each computer and to each port of the hub. For example, connect one CAT5 cable to router 's INTERNET port and UPLINK port of the hub then connect 1st port of the hub to 1st computer, 2nd port of the hub to 2nd computer and so on till 6th port of the hub to 6th computer.
• After connecting all computers to network the major part is configuring the network. Get the IP address of your router or modem, DNS server address from your internet service provider.
• To configure network settings, go to "START" and click on "RUN" or hold "WINDOW" key and press "R" and type "ncpa.cpl" and press ENTER key to open NETWORK CONNECTIONS window. You should be able to see LOCAL AREA CONNECTIONS icon in the window. If not the ethernet card drivers will either be corrupt or not installed. Right-click on LOCAL AREA CONNECTIONS and click on PROPERTIES. Select "INTERNET PROTOCOL (TCP/IP)" from the list and click on PROPERTIES button. If you are assigned IP address dynamically then don't make any changes to the default settings. If assigned static IP address then Click on "Use the Following IP address" and type the IP address of the router or modem in box next to "Default Gateway". Assign IP address manually. Usually the first three boxes in the IP Address will be same as that of Default Gateway. You have to change only the last box number to other than assigned to Default Gateway. Never assign Default Gateway address to IP address. Below that select "Use the following DNS server address" and type the DNS servers address as provided by your internet service provider and click on OK and close all the opened windows.
• Go "START" and click on "RUN" or hold "WINDOWS" key and press "R" and type "cmd" and press ENTER key to open command prompt window. Type “ping <ip address of the router>”  without quotes to check the connectivity between the computer and router. You should get reply from router. If not then there should be problem with either your network settings or with the CAT5 cable. Type “ping www.google.com” without quotes to check the internet connectivity. You should get reply from router. If not then there should be problem with either your internet service provider or network settings or with the CAT5 cable.

Two most useful collection of free software utilities CD's everyone must have

Most of the windows users encounter some or the other problems related to their computer. It may be hardware or software related problems. Always it is better if you could manage to troubleshoot the basic problems on their own. Here are two free software tools collection CD's recommended to have which helps you to troubleshoot problems related to hardware and software.

Hiren's BootCD : This CD has good collection of very useful tools and utilities related to backup, filesystem, antivirus, hard disk, network, tweakers, memory testing, system information, security and encryption, registry, remote accessing, data recovery, password, partition and many others. Click here to read more.

Ultimate Boot CD: This CD consists of tools related to hardware such as BIOS, hard disk, data recovery, partitioning , boot management and other hardware peripherals and other hardware related. Click here to read more.

DOS network commands

Hold the "WINDOW" key and press "R" to open RUN window. Type "cmd" and press ENTER key to open DOS command window.

ipconfig = Displays the present active network connections settings assigned by the network such as IP address, Subnet mask and Default gateway. If nothing is assigned or is not connected to network you get the message media disconnected.
Type ipconfig /? and press ENTER key at the DOS prompt to find all the parameters that can be assigned with "ipconfig" command.

net = Used to start, stop, session, statistics and view the network services.
Type net /? and press ENTER key at the DOS prompt to find all the parameters that can be assigned with "net" command.

netstat = Displays all the active connections and its listening ports and the state of the network connections whether the connection is established or not.
Type netstat /? and press ENTER key at the DOS prompt to find all the parameters that can be assigned with "netstat" command.

nbtstat = Displays all current network connections and its protocol statistics using network session layer to perform mapping of computer name to IP address.
Type nbtstat /? and press ENTER key at the DOS prompt to find all the parameters that can be assigned with "nbtstat" command.

ping = Displays the statistics of packet movement between your computer and the remote host computer. The statistics contains details of time taken by a packet of data to reach host computer from your computer and vice-versa. If the connection to the remote host computer is not accessible then you get a message  "Request Timed Out".
Type ping /? and press ENTER key at the DOS prompt to find all the parameters that can be assigned with "ping" command.

tracert = Displays the path for the packet of data that has taken to reach the remote host computer or destination. By default statistics is displayed for maximum of 30 hops meaning the number of routers that a packet has passed through to reach the destination.
Type tracert /? and press ENTER key at the DOS prompt to find all the parameters that can be assigned with "tracert" command.

route = Manually a route can be added , deleted or changed in the existing route table for your active connections. You can view all the network interface list and active routing table when you use the route command as "route print".
Type route /? and press ENTER key at the DOS prompt to find all the parameters that can be assigned with "route" command.

arp = Used to add, delete, modify and display the IP address to physical address of the network adapter in the address translation table.
Type arp/? and press ENTER key at the DOS prompt to find all the parameters that can be assigned with "arp" command.

Easy way to search the web using Mozilla Firefox web browser

Generally we search the web by opening web browser and clicking on address bar and typing the web search engine URL and pressing ENTER key. Instead, there is a easy way to search the web only with keyboard using Mozilla Firefox web browser. Firefox web browser comes with integrated web search box for Google, Yahoo, Bing, Amazon.com, eBay and Wikipedia search engines where you can search the web using any of these favorite search engine. By default the web search is done using Google search engine.

Hold the "CTRL" key and press "K" to move the cursor to the web search box and type the content to search and press ENTER key to search using Google search engine.

To search the web using other search engines, hold the "CTRL" key and press "UP" or "DOWN" arrow key to toggle between Google, Yahoo, Bing, Amazon.com, eBay and Wikipedia search engines.

Example : If you want to search a word using Google search engine, hold "CTRL" and press "K" and type the word to search and press ENTER key. Again if you want to search the same or different word using Yahoo search engine, hold "CTRL" and press "K" and use the "UP" or "DOWN" arrow key holding "CTRL" key till you see Yahoo icon on the left corner of the search box and press ENTER key.

Windows built-in keyboard shortcuts

• Windows key or Ctrl + Esc =  To open windows start menu.
• F1 = To open help.
• F3 = To open search window when the cursor in on desktop.
• Windows key + F = To open search window.
• Ctrl + Shift + Esc = To open Windows Task Manager.
• Windows key + D = To minimize or maximize all opened windows to or from taskbar.
• Alt + Tab = Toggle between opened windows.
• Alt + F4 or Alt + Space Bar + C = To close the opened window.
• Alt + Space Bar + N = To minimize opened window.
• Alt + Space Bar + X = To maximize the application window.
• Alt + Space Bar + R = To restore the opened window.
• Alt + Space Bar + M = To move the opened window on the desktop.
• Shift + F10 = To open right-click menu options.
• Windows key + R and type "explore" and press Enter key = To open Windows Explorer.
• Windows key + R and type "Notepad" and press Enter key = To open Notepad.
• Windows key + R and type "Write" and press Enter key = To open Wordpad.
• Windows key + R and type "explore" and press Enter key = To open Windows Explorer.
• Windows key + R and type "iexplore" and press Enter key = To open Internet Explorer.
• Windows key + R and type "Winword" and press Enter key = To open Microsoft Word.
• Windows key + R and type "Excel" and press Enter key = To open Microsoft Excel.
• Windows key + R and type "Powerpnt" and press Enter key = To open Microsoft Powerpoint.
• Windows key + R and type "mspaint" and press Enter key = To open Microsoft Paint.
• Windows key + R and type "dfrg.msc" and press Enter key = To open Disk Defrag Tool.
• Windows key + R and type "calc" and press Enter key = To open Calculator.
• Windows key + R and type "cmd" and press Enter key = To open command prompt.
• Windows key + R and type "mplayer2" and press Enter key = To open Windows Media Player.
• Windows Key + Break = To open System properties.
• Windows Key + L = To lock the desktop.
• Windows Key + U = To open Utility Manager.