Sharing a Connection Through a Computer

It's sometimes very useful to share your computer's existing Internet connection with another computer, particularly when you are using ad hoc wireless networking.

For example, consider the following scenario: You and a colleague are working to put together a presentation for an important meeting. You have traveled to a strange city to see an important client. Your hotel room has an Ethernet wired connection to the Internet. But your mobile computer does not have a network interface card. Fortunately, your colleague's mobile computer doesand both of you are using Intel Centrino laptops.

Your colleague connects to the Internet and creates an ad hoc wireless network. He shares his connection to the Internet. You connect to his improvised ad hoc wireless network and use his shared connection to the Internet to gather the information you need to create a winning presentation.

It's easy to share an Internet connection from a mobile computer with Intel Centrino mobile technology.

Note

Sharing, as I tell my kids, is good. And sharing an Internet connection can be very useful. But it does pose some security concerns. So if you are not actively sharing your Internet connection, you should run with sharing turned off as a default.

Open the Control Panel from the Windows XP Start menu. In the Control Panel, double-click Network Connections.

With the Network Connections window open, highlight the connection to the Internet you want to share. With the connection highlighted, open the Properties dialog for the connection either by right-clicking the connection and selecting Properties from the context menu or by choosing the Change Settings of This Connection option under Network Tasks on the Network Connections window.

With the Properties dialog for the connection open, click the Advanced tab. The Advanced tab for the Properties dialog is shown in Figure 14.12.

Figure 14.12. The Advanced tab of the Properties dialog for the connection is used to enable or disable Internet connection sharing.

To enable Internet connection sharing, check the Allow Other Network Users to Connect Through This Computer's Internet Connection box.

Click OK. Your Internet connection is now shared.

To reverse the process, and disable Internet connection sharing, simply clear the Allow Other Network Users to Connect Through This Computer's Internet Connection check box.