Welcome to this step by step page on setting up a small home or office network.

1). I set this page up as more and more people are now wanting to use more computers on the internet or share files or use one printer with a number of computers. This will be a step by step guide I will cover the equipment you need and will be using the very popular Networking Program called Network Magic click here to down load it. If you are a beginner at Networking then it will be best to allow network magic to do all the configurations for you as this is a simpler way for a beginner to have it set up right.

Sharing Files in Vista Why You Might Want to Try Network Magic. Network magic works with the following Operating systems: Microsoft® Windows® Vista™ product line, XP Home Service Pack 1 or 2, XP Pro Service Pack 1 or 2, XP Tablet PC, XP Media Center 2005, XP X64 edition, 2000 Pro SP3 or later, Millennium Edition (ME), Windows 98SE, MAC® OSX

2). I used Network Magic as it has some excellent security and a lot more to help you make the most of your home or office network as more and more people are wanting to connect to the net in the case of Animal rights organisations or charities they need to keep costs down and may need to connect more than one computer to the internet.

3). The first thing you will need is a Router it is best to buy a router with ADSL built in to the router its self and have a LAN out put connecter this is some times given to you by your Internet Service Provider or ISP for short. If you do not have a Router see photos below for what they look like you will be able to buy one new or get one second hand very cheap from sites like Ebay  click here.  Please note routes come in all different models.

Please note I will be using a 10/100 Mbps PCI Fast Ethernet Card Realtek 8139 with this Network Magic Program if you find your computer will not work with the inbuilt LAN card then you can buy a PCI Fast Ethernet Card Realtek 8139 click here.

4). All so note when you buy a ADSL or Cable modem they have a Ethernet port on them this is what you will need to connect from your ADSL modem to your Router port.

Back view of a Router below.

                                       

Now in the photo above we have two arrows one Green one Blue the Green next to the Antenna is for the Ethernet cable from your ADSL modem the Blue 4 ports are for your computers to connect to

5). Now in the photo above you can see it has five ports one is for the internet of your ADSL cable the next for your Ethernet cable this router will allow 4 computers to run from it this part of the site is just to show you have to connect computers so more than one computer can use the same connection at the same time.

6). Now that you have your ADSL modem with a Ethernet port this just means socket it will be marked Ethernet you will need some Ethernet cable the size depends on how much cable you need to go from your Router to your computers. You can buy Ethernet cable Cat 5e cable with built on plugs cheap from Cable Star. Please note you will have to tell them the size you will need.

7). Now that you have your ADSL modem and Router and now Cable connect a Ethernet cable from your Router to the back of your Computer marked Ethernet port. You may be interested in knowing the world LAN means your Local Area Network this is your home or office network.

In the case of your WAN port this means this is your Wide Area Network this is the network of the internet its self.

8). Now in the photo below you can see my Net router with 3 cables plugged in the back the dark blue cable is my internet connection from my ADSL modem the two blue cables are for connecting to the computers on my network. 

9). Now when you come to connect your Ethernet cable from your Router look on the back of your computer for a LAN port or Ethernet port see photo below.

10). Now you can see my Ethernet cable to my computer below don't worry if you do not have a Ethernet port on your computer you can buy one on e-bay click here 

11). Now you can see from the photo below my Ethernet cable is plugged in to the Back of my computer

12). If you are not happy opening the case of your computer or you have very little know how then you can buy a Ethernet to USB adapter this will work fine see photo below this will let you connect to your router using the Ethernet cable and a free USB port on the back of your computer buy one from e-bay if you need one click here.

13). This simple set up was just two show how you can connect two or more computers to the internet at the same time using a Ethernet cable with the help of a router.

14). Now on the next page we will set up our zone alarm firewall so we can connect to the internet and share files and a printer click here.