Skip this section if you already have network cards installed in your computers and go onto the next page.

To install a network PCI card the first step is to turn off the computer. (Seems obvious...? Good, we're covered then.) For information on how to physically install the network cards, see the PCstats article 'Building your own PC'.

Once the cards are physically installed, turn on the computer. Depending on the type of network card you have, and the version of Windows you are using, the system may install the drivers automatically for you. Otherwise a 'new hardware found' dialog box will pop up once windows has loaded.

Insert the driver disk provided with your network card and supply the location of your disk. You may also have to select the directory inside the disk which matches your version of Windows. Again, depending on the version of Windows you are using, you may be required to insert your windows CD also. Once the drivers have been installed, restart the computer if prompted to do so, and proceed to the next section.

This section of the guide will be for setting up a basic network using a hub, switch or router. With one of these devices at hand, let's begin.

Using straight-through cables, connect both computers to ports on the hub/switch/router - you can leave the computers on while you do this. Provided all has gone well, you should see lights on both occupied ports of the hub/switch/router come alive green or orange. Rest for a few seconds. That was tough wasn't it?

To verify that the computers will be able to communicate with each other, we need to make sure all computers are using the default network settings . To do this, we will examine the settings of the network card on each computer.