Several questions about setting up a wireless network, parameters are:

ISP: Oceanic/Time Warner RoadRunner service, cable modem
1st system: Custom built, MOBO is Gigabyte GA-M59SLI-SM LAN enabled (desktop) Vista Home Premium
2nd system: Dell Dimension C521 (desktop) XP Home
3rd system: Sony Vaio VGN-FE890 LAN enabled (notebook) Vista Business
Printer 1 : HP Officejet 5610 (USB connected to system 1)
Printer 2: HP PSC 1510 (USB connected to system 2)

1) I would like to wirelessly connect the Dell & Sony to the internet , the custom system will be hardwired directly from the modem

2) Have the capability of having the Sony notebook print to either printer, neither of which are connected wirelessly


I am presently using a Netgear wireless router WGT 624 V3 attached to the modem and a netgear USB adapter on the Dell. I am have nothing but problems with system 2 connecting to the router, at times internet connection is fine, most often than not, it's lost. Transmit distance is about 50 feet within a house. Netgear support sucks big time, I am never going to buy from them again, I have tried everything except for standing on my head to resolve this issue. Recommending a netgear product is out of the question....

Is it advisable to install an expansion card onto the Dell for LAN connection, or just stick with a USP port?

Online security is an issue here, can anyone reccommend a setup for a reasonable price?

As usual, Thanks in advance

Aloha
You might want to consider using a PCI wireless card on the Dell system. In my experience the USB wireless adapters tend to be susceptible to outside interference from other electronics in the area cordless phones, microwaves televisions etc. The PCI card will give you a more reliable connection wirelessly. These can usually be found for about $50 to $75 (at least in Canada). Make sure that you get a card that ia compatible with the wireless router. Most likely it is using 802.11g so you should use a 802.11g wireless card.

Hope this helps.

Yes, it does help, very much so, Thanks Baloo. Can you offer any insight so as to hooking up the printers?

You have a couple of options for printers. First and probably the easiest to implement is to attach the printer to the desktop that is hard wired and then share it across your network. To do this just right click on the printer and go to Sharing. This method means that you don't have to install the printer software on the other computers on the network but in order for the sharing to work, the computer that the printer is connected to must be left on.
THe second method is a little more advanced.
You can connect the printer to your router directly using a regular network cable, if the printer is network capable, if it is not there is an external print server that you can buy to allow you to connect the printer directly. If you go this route then the printer has to be added to each machine on your network as a local printer using a standard TCP/IP port (there is a wizard in windows that can make this easier) and you will have to add the software for the printer to each machine on the network. One of the advantages to this method is that the printer only has to be left on in orde rto print to it from any machine on the network.
The choice is yours.

Let me know if you have any other problems.

Once again, Thanks very much for the usefull info. I will probalbly go with option 1, it's not a problem to turn either system on to print from my notebook.
So far as the wireless card is concerned, the Dell is a mini ATX setup, will have to see if NewEgg has any. I am almost certain that the local CompUSA does not stock it.

Mahalo! (Thanks in Hawaiian)