Smart Computing Article - Share The Bandwidth

The ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) wizard warns you if you have any disconnected Internet connections. You can also choose to ignore the disconnected connections by clicking the Ignore Disconnected Hardware checkbox. Another aspect of ICS is that it lets you share an Internet connection without needing a router to perform the various networking functions that connect your computers and printers to the network. If all your computers have NICs (network interface cards), you can connect them to each other using ICS. It’s a way to enable networking without incurring the headaches that may come with setting up a network using a router. ICS uses a service called DHCP (Dynamic Host Control Protocol) Allocator that performs the functions of a DHCP server that is usually part of most routers: it assigns IP (Internet Protocol) addresses to computers on the network and designates the network gateway (in this case, the host computer running ICS). ICS also features a DNS (Domain Name Server) Proxy (for translating network IP addresses into network names), (Network Address Translation, for converting private network IP addresses into public addresses), and an auto-dialer for automatically dialing connections. Essentially, ICS converts the host computer into a networking gateway by retrofitting it with the services needed to perform that function. To set up a network using ICS, you must first install ICS on the computer in your network that is directly connected to the Internet via your cable or DSL modem; this computer will serve as the host/gateway. For ICS to work, this gateway computer must be running Win98SE or later. This restriction doesn’t apply to the