Like everything a forum is only as good as the people who use it.

Always remember people give their time on a forum free of charge and can only answer your questions within the knowledge range of their own experience.

I have found on many forums that an answer I have given although factually correct has been treated with disdain and 'flamed' by others because it does not agree with the 'accepted' view of the forum members. This leads to a reluctance of members to answer questions in open view.

Also it is usually unwise to ask a number of questions together.

There is a very good site here http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html that explains how questions should be phrased when asking on a forum. This is not meant as a criticism of your posting  but rather a suggestion for other users of the forum on how to get their questions answered quickly and accurately.

With regards to your specific post, as nothing had appeared on the forum I (and maybe others) assumed you had received a reply by personal mail. If you still need answers to your questions then by all means re-post and we will try and provide the answers.

Regards, Colin.

Not a problem and thanks for your understanding.

If you are still looking for advice for your questions there is a short but down-loadable tutorial here http://www.ntlworld.co.uk/helpsupport/

that will fill in some of your blanks.

I would think the lack of replies also comes from your ISP being NTL which is not the easiest provider to connect to. This is only because it uses a cable modem and not an ADSL Modem/router to make the connection.

You have to find an 'NTL friendly' router to connect to your cable box. Linksys do the WKPC54G wireless notebook kit with a 4 port router and built in WiFi, also included in the kit is a wireless PC Card for a notebook if yours does not already have wireless built in.

Something along the above lines would fit just about everything you asked and would allow up to 4 hard wired PC's and a laptop to connect.

Setting up the network is usually quite quick and is often simply a case of putting in the CD and following the instructions. You can also use the network setup wizard in XP.

Should you have anti-virus and firewalls on all the connected computers. I would vote a resounding yes. I use either AVG or Avast as the virus scanners (both are free for home use) and Zone-alarm as the firewall (again free for home use).

I would recommend you install the virus scanners first, then set up your network and get the computers talking to the Internet, then install your firewalls (so they can detect the already running network).

You may have to disable the Windows XP firewall to get your network working as this blocks incoming connections and can cause problems until you have everything up and running.

If you need any more help I pop in most days and have a look in the forums.

Regards, Colin.