It will look like this.

[cable modem]----[router]----[computer]

The router I recommend is the WRT54GL with Tomato firmware, but pretty much any router will do. Wireless routers are actually cheaper than wired routers on Newegg because no consumers want a plain wired router anymore. Wireless router offer both wired and wireless functionality so if you only want wired features you can just turn off the wireless functionality.

Recommended: WRT54GL

Cheapest: TEW-432BRP


Imo, spend the extra $30.

On most routers you can disable the wireless part if you want some future proofing of your home network.

Ok guys. thanks. Ordering the WRT54GL now. Is using the Comcast provided modem ok or is it worth getting a different one. Is there a benefit to a better modem?

secunia isn't working for me ... it says please wait while network connectivitiy is verified and then it just stays there and no progress ever happens

Are there other free programs besides winzip-the only files I ever unzip are the table ninja updates-seems like a waste of money to buy it just for this?

7zip is free open source.
www.7-zip.org

Could you look at post 55 funkyworms? (sorry for being a pain)

Also are there any recommended secure settings for my router? My router doesn't support the Tomato firmware because its the WRT54G2 V1

KIS should be fine.

Sorry I missed it. Agree with LirvA.

1) change the default router login and password.
2) Use WPA2 wireless encryption.

Hey funkyworms. OK I got my WRT54GL router today from newegg. I have it running now. I'm a little nervous about installing tomato just because it looks like you have to manually set a lot of things with tomato where the linksys set up made it easy. Is tomato the same way or will I have to set everything? I'm not that good with this stuff. Also in the linksys set up in the security section there is a box that say something like filter with nat. it is not checked now, do I want it checked?

here is the box I'm talking about in the set up screen." Filter Internet NAT Redirection". Here is what it says this does. "This feature uses Port Forwarding to prevent access to local servers from your local networked computers." I thought you said you don't want this but I'm not sure now.

In either firmware, you don't need to mess with any settings other than wireless security (WPA2/AES-PSK/choose a strong passphrase) and router username/password.

Awesome vids.

A few questions:

I sometimes play poker using my Sprint mobile broadband internet card. Is there anything I should do to make it more secure that you didn't mention in the vids?

I saw you changed the size of the paging file. What exactly is the paging file and why did you change it?

Looking at my task manager > performance tab right now, it says PF usage is 990mb. It also says I have 76 processes running, even though the only apps open are firefox and the Sprint mobile broadband thing. This is after I used Windows Defender to clean up all the startup programs I didn't need. Before that it was 122. Halp

There are mobile broadband routers that you can plug your Sprint card in to. This will give you the NAT that I talk about in the videos at the cost of portability.

I explain this in the other thread.

You can start a thread if you'd like some help trimming down processes. 76 processes isn't that terrible in Vista if you're running Postgres and an Anti-virus

thx, one more: you said that software firewalls can cause disconnects. Is there a way to tell if a random disconnect was caused by a firewall? I'm using Zone Alarm right now.