Actually, it's not all that difficult. However, aside from the fact that I had an extra computer available, I had seen the Microsoft Launch for Windows Millennium. During the launch program, they setup a network of two computers using Millennium's new "Home Networking Wizard" and that gave me some additional incentive. In this overview, I'll be relating my experience,

No muss, no fuss during the launch and they were using the same operating systems I am using, Windows Millennium and Windows 98SE. I had been considering this for a while and had already purchased a home networking kit, Netgear Network Starter Kit, Model SB 104 for two computers.

The Netgear kit can usually be found for around $79.95, it comes with two NICs, network interface cards, two 25-foot cables and a network hub. Installation of the two cards was fairly straightforward; just insert the cards in an available PCI slot. For some reason, they didn't include the screws so if your systems don't have available screws of their own, you'll need to buy a couple. You can usually pick them up from any computer shop.

There are two screws with the kit but they are for mounting the network hub on a wall if you so desire. Don't use those screws for mounting the cards in your systems. I make this digression because in my haste to get started, I used one of those screws on one of my machines. Once you do that, the hole for the screw will forever be too big for the normal screws found in this type of computer.

Worse, if you take the computer into the shop and for some reason they need to remove your internal cards, if they happen to use that screw on some other card, now you have two cards with holes too big for the normal screws used for that purpose. This means, the normal screws which ordinarily come with these add-on cards will always be a bit too small.

Don't ask me how to fix that, I don't know and that's part of what this column is all about. I get myself into these messes in order to better be able to convey real world experience to my readers. So, class, do as I say, not as I do! I guess, if the cards are a little lose in the future, I'll have to go over to Sears to pick up some matching screws.

The instructions that come with the Netgear kit are straightforward and easy to follow. If you are using Windows Millennium, what you see on the screen is slightly different from the Netgear descriptions but it's all fairly intuitive and there's not much more to do than to follow the onscreen prompts.

However, once you set up the hardware, you then must get "your guys" talking to each other and that's where the Millennium Home Network Wizard comes in. The Wizard was easy to follow and no glitches during setup. When you finish it has a means of copying the wizard to a floppy disk so you can use it on your other Windows machine.

I made the floppy, followed the onscreen instructions and when I was through, my Windows 98SE system had one computer in "Network Neighborhood" and Millennium had one computer in "My Network Places." Unfortunately, in order to have a network all the computers need to show up.

I re-ran the wizard…several times. I ran the Netgear diagnostic utility, I re-read the instructions, I disconnected the cords and reconnected them all to no avail. The fact is, while the Millennium Home Network Wizard does a fine job of setting up the respective individual systems it did absolutely nothing to get "my guys" talking to each other.

I don't know how they managed to accomplish the task so easily in the Millennium launch, must have been a lot of rehearsal. I do know, after speaking to several other people who have attempted to set up home networks, their experience with the "Wizard" was much the same as mine.

Had I not known someone who had already set up a home network, I would have been stuck. In other words, it's not as easy as it looks. It's also not all that difficult once you know what to do.

I had to go into Control Panel and adjust the settings manually. The settings might vary a bit based on the computers you have and what you are trying to do but essentially you need to remember, your settings and workgroup name for one computer on the network must be the same for all. Each computer must have a name and no two computers on the network can have the same name. It doesn't matter if the names are "Computer A and Computer B," etc. but they must have names.

On the Network applet, you must have some network protocols and you can use the protocols created by Millennium Home Networking Wizard. However, on the "Access Control" tab in the Network applet, the Wizard had set access to "User Level" and I was unable to get "my guys" talking to each other until I set it to "Share Level.

That seems to be the way it is with a network setup, you find one step or setting and suddenly the whole thing starts to come together. No guarantees the above will work for you. If you are going to attempt it, be sure you know someone who has gone through this before because, as you can see, the Wizard is far from perfect and most of the books will probably miss the one setting you need to get things going.

Now, you might be wondering, why do this. Ah Ha! There is some method to my madness. If you have two computers and you have two users, you probably have tried to share files. Without a network, you have to copy the files to a disk and then move the disk from one machine to the other. Using a network, you can drag and drop files in Windows Explorer to the other computer as easily as you can drag them to another folder on your own computer's hard drive.

Once you have your systems networked, you can share printers and even Internet connections. In my case, I do a lot of testing of various software applications and operating systems. Having my computers networked gives me a system I can use as a benchmark, allowing me to quickly see if an issue I'm having on my test bed is also happening on the benchmark setup.

The second system comes in handy as an additional backup. I don't recommend using a second system as your primary backup but if something goes wrong on your primary system, having a backup on a secondary system allows you to remain up and running with very little lost time. If your computer is part of a business or home business and is doing mission critical work, this can be very important.

The uses for a home computer network, much the same as a computer might not seem apparent at first. But, as is the case with a computer, the more you use it, the more uses you find for it.

Finally, there is another consideration, security. Network protocols are used for specific functions and those functions are paired with specific protocols by "bindings." If you are thinking of setting up a network or have already done so, you should check out Steve Gibson's web site, www.grc.com for information about how and what to bind and unbind from your various protocols in order to make your network more secure. This is especially important if you are using "Printer and File Sharing" since bound to the wrong protocol, it leaves your system wide open to hackers and potential trouble.

I've given a lot of general information here. You can get details in a number of places. Scout around the Internet, talk to friends or acquaintances who already have set up a network of their own and check out "Networking for Dummies" by Doug Lowe.