Here’s a quick and dirty way to share the Internet with 2 computers. This comes in handy where you don’t have the ability to install a second Ethernet card or have a router to carry around with you. You could also use Direct Cable Connection + ICS with a parallel or serial cable, but that’s 1) really slow and 2) extremely distance limited. USB 1.1 is limited to 12Mbps (USB 2.0 is 480Mbps) and Ethernet can go all the way to 100 meters. That’s perfect in my book for a quick and easy setup:

1. Buy a cheap USB-Ethernet adapter.
2. Buy (1) Cat5 crossover cable.
3. Plug in the USB side of the USB-Ethernet adapter into the computer with the working Internet connection. I’ll call this Machine 1. You should now have (2) Local Area Connections in the “Control Panel” under the “Network Connections” icon.
4. Connect the crossover cable to the RJ45 side of the USB-Ethernet adapter.
5. Connect the other end of the crossover cable to the computer you want to get on the net. I’ll call this machine 2.
6. Turn on DHCP on machine 2. This is normally default.
7. On machine 1, right click “Local Area Connection” (this is in your “Control Panel”) and select “Properties”.
8. Click “Advanced” and check the box labeled “Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection”.
9. Click “OK”
10. You’re done.