KOS wrote:
There doesn't need to be any software to install for an ordinary 10/100
PCI NIC to work with Windows XP.
Long ago, the typical 10/100 PCI NIC became nearly a comodoty. There's
only a couple of chipsets out there, and nothing very special about the
boards. Get the least expensive one that's new enough to have XP listed
on the box, and you should be fine.
Yes. There are so many things that could go wrong running network
communications over the same USB bus that's also running a printer, a
mouse, a keyboard, a scanner, a digital camera, a webcam, etc., etc. Not
only do you have a bus that needs to adapt to all those different uses,
if those uses are happening at the same time, you're sharing the bus.
You can think of it as like comparing a hard-wired phone to a cordless
phone. Most of the time (today) the cordless phone works just fine for a
conversation, but it's still not as reliable, and never will be as
reliable, as a wired phone.
You may not see a marked improvement (although you could), but it's
still better, and more reliable.
Don't forget to power-cycle your cable modem when switching. If you have
an RCA cable modem, the USB and Ethernet ports can't both be used at the
same time, and the modem may need to be power-cycled numerous times.
Motorolas can use both ports at the same time, but your cable provider
has probably only provisioned your modem for one connection.
Power-cycling should take care of that.
Another advantage of going to Ethernet is that you can now put a NAT
router in the mix. The features of NAT will give you a rudimentary
firewall to protect your computer. Consider getting a router even if you
only have one computer.
--
Warren H.
==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
Your Guide to the Care and Feeding of a Suburban Lawn:
http://www.holzemville.com/community...are/index.html
