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How should I set this up?

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  • 17-11-2009 4:39am
    #1
    SeanW
    Registered Users Posts: 8,782 ✭✭✭


    Noob alert: I know next to nothing about networks, hence my request for help.

    I need to set up a small network at home, potentially including a wireless/server option. I basically need to connect a number of devices together.

    Here's what I have at the moment:
    A very old PC, about 5 years or so, used here as a secondary machine for web browsing and whatnot. When necessary, it uses dial up :eek: access to the Internet, even though we have broadband.
    My laptop. Used infrequently. Has both RJ45 and Wireless, but it's also quite old and I don't know whether it supports the latest WPA or anything like that.
    My main PC, a relatively modern machine, it is currently connected via two separate RJ45 connections to:
    - An ADSL router.
    - A LaCie network hard drive.
    Which is a rather crude setup.

    I'd like to be able to share the last two devices (providing internet access and storage) across all 3 machines. I'd like to set it up with 2 basic security levels, trusted, for access to the Internet and full control of the network drive, and open, which would allow read only access to the network drive.
    The old PC is in another room, so wireless networking might be useful there, as with the laptop.
    I only have one free electrical socket left, though I could bring in an extension from elsewhere if that were absolutely unavoidable.

    In the beginning I was looking around Komplett and they seemed to have some decent looking separate components, modem, wired switches and wireless access points, but recently I've seen some ZyXEL thingies that seem to offer a 3-in-1 package, ADSL(2/2+) router, 4P switch/hub and wireless access, including one in a local shop that has something called a wireless card, whatever that is.
    I later checked their website, and this is one of the puppies that caught my eye:
    http://www.zyxel.com/web/product_family_detail.php?PC1indexflag=20040812093058&display=6241&CategoryGroupNo=9CDA332F-BFBE-456F-8478-1DD158D73C45

    Would this be a good idea?

    And, for as and when I get the equipment that would be needed, can anyone point me to a n00bs guide to setting the network up?
    One more problem: I've forgotten not only my Windows XP admin password, but any 'network' details I gave Windows during its last reinstallation.


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