I would just second what DA has said about the safety of the connections. It really isn't whether you are using dial-up, cable, DSL, or 3G that determines your online safety, it is being sure that banking sites, sites where you make purchases, etc. use the "https" as the beginning of the URL. If you use a wireless router, then you must secure your network as DA pointed out.

Lynn, I now see more clearly what you're trying to do. It's much like setting up a network at home. When you're sharing internet with 2 or 3 computers, you'd be setting up a router (such as a Linksys) with wireless capability. First you'd need to setup the router with an encryption. The manual for Linksys has good instruction on how to set it up. This will only allows computers that share the same encryption number to be within the network and will keep the others away. The nearby computers will see the Linksys ID but will not be able to get into the network without the encryption number. Since you're the owner, you have the choice of who to give that encryption number to once you had it set up. This number can be changed at anytime you feel a threaten nearby. I normally use the Linksys auto encryption number because it uses a lengthy combination of letters (case sensitive) and numbers which makes it difficult to hack into. What Jane explained only works if you're not setting up a network. When you set up a network, regardless of whether you're using wireless or a cable, all 3 computers can still be seen if allowed to. Each individual computer within the same network can be set up so not to allow other computers to see it. The only thing they could see is a list of computer's name within the network. Windows have a network security feature in the Control Panel that allows you to set up what you want to share and what not. For example, all 3 of you may want to share the same printer and nothing else. As far as hacking, by setting up an uncrypted router (hardware firewall), you should be pretty safe. Plus, each individual computer should also have a firewall software installed. This is the 2nd protection. A professional hackar (or whatever you call him/her) would probably not interest in your type of business to go through the trouble of hacking into your network. Think of it as your home have an alarm system but your neighbor doesn't. Guess, which home the burglar would rather break into? As for within the network, if all 3 of you trust each others enough to share the cost of internet service, I don't see a reason for worrying with one of you hacking the other one's computer. Do you? If you do however, then, it's best not to share the internet service. You may want to set up a rule to let each others know right away when one of the computer is stolen. If that ever happens, change the encryption code right away to prevent the stolen computer entering into your network. Keep in mind that the your friend's computer won't be able neither until you provide them with the new code. Someone already mentioned, it's best to always set up a password and 'lock up' (not log off) the system whenever you're walking away from it for a few minutes. I know you probably already know some of these things. I just add the info in for other readers that may need it.

FYI, A 1394 Net Adaptor Connection is basically Win2k/XP's way of telling you that you have a Firewire interface installed in your system. IEEE 1394 is more commonly known as Firewire and is mostly used to connect to peripherals such as digital cameras, camcorders and some external hard drives. It can also be used to network two Firewire-equipped systems together, achieving 12.5 to 50MBps transfer speeds. Firewire networking use is limited because of its 15ft cable length limitation.

Some ideas I found from various sources: "I had alot of tech support calls similar to this where it turned out to be an improperly grounded halogen street light outside the home cause the noise margin to narrow to around 5-6db." -------------------------------------- Not really sure what all this means... "I do think that is has to do with your DSL provider. These days and even previously I am sure that they .. meaning Telco's.. are oversubscribing the their CO DSL equipment. That is the most logical reason for the slowdown / dropped connections. I would ask your DSL provider to switch your cable pairs to a less used piece of equipment in the CO. You may go down for part of a day while they process the order / make the change. I would also ask them what the CIR - Committed Information Rate, BC - Burst Committed, and BE - Excess Burst is on your DSL line. The plan that you are paying for for your DSL speed should = the CIR - This is the bandwidth that their switch has been programmed to always give you. It could be that your DSL line has been configured wrong.. ie the CIR rate. During non peak times.. you are getting your CIR + BE (the excess burst) ... which is giving you the max bandwidth. Then during peak times.. since more people are using their CIR... it cuts away from the Excess Burst from you. Remember that the advertised speeds that you were sold are not "guarnteed"... but their should be a minimum in your agreement." ------------------------------------------- "I once spent 2 weeks trying to figure out the same problem you are explaining. I tried replacing the router, Inside wire, phone jack, out side phone cable. I simply couldn't figure it out. Finally I figured it out. There was a timer switch plugged into an electrical outlet across the room. Every evening the timer would kick on and turn on a light on an end table. I don't know how or why, but, that darn timer messed up the dsl router plugged into a different outlet across the room. It only happened at night and in the morning the timer switched off and Dsl would work. It is an extreme long shot, but do you have anything like that at your place." -------------------------------- I'll have to do some thinking tomorrow and see if I can figure out what the problem is.