I want to network up my computer and my sisters computer so that we can share an internet connection, a printer and some documents.
The two computers are about 15-20m away from each other. I’ve been pontzing around in the roof this weekend trying to find a place to drop down a cable between the wall but there doesn’t seem to be any. And I don’t want to run a cable down the hallway.
Advice: be sure to change all default passwords and settings. A month or so back, I read an article in PC Magazine (I think) that described a reporter wandering around the business district with a YAGI antenna and finding over a hundred wireless business nets, many of which hadn’t bothered to change the default settings. You won’t want one of your neighbors tapping into your net to rack up porn downloads or plan another September 11.
Wireless networking protocols are very easy to intercept. Encrypt your network traffic, disable as many default accounts as possible, rename the Admin account, and change all default passwords, if you go wireless.
Also: Enforce password lifecycle, including minimum length and track previous versions (to prevent pasword reuse).
If you have phone jacks that are close to your PCs, I recommend using a home phoneline network. My roommate & I share my cable-modem connection via our phoneline and so far it’s worked great. They’re cheaper than wireless, and not too tough to set up, either. We’re using the Linksys HPN200 cards, but I believe most companies that specialize in that stuff offer the same type of product. Linksys had pretty decent tech support (I’m not an expert at networks and needed a little help setting it up).
Also, you could check out epinions.com to get feedback on these, or the wireless options to help you decide.