The whole point of networking is to share resources, and an Internet connection is another resource to be shared. There are two basic ways of doing this, using software or buying a router. Most modern computers have Internet sharing software built in.

Windows operating systems from 98 Second Edition come with Internet connection sharing as part of the package. There are also many third party software programs that will do it for you as well. The disadvantage with using software is that it relies on the server computer being on and connected.

Routers are another have the advantage of not relying on one computer being turned on and connected. They also have better security and reliability than Internet sharing programs. They are more expensive and a bit more difficult to setup.

Patricia was looking for a new computer and was wondering what she should be looking for in a new computer. Windows XP demands serious resources and we find systems that have too little disk space or memory tend to be fairly unreliable. We would suggest the following minimum specifications for a Windows XP computer.

CPU: should be a least 2GHz

Memory: At least 512Mb

Video: 32Mb

Hard Drive: 40Gb.

These are our minimum recommended specifications. Other features will vary according to your needs. Some users will want CD burners, others will want additional USB ports and others will need bigger hard drives. You do need to look at what you intend to do with your computer.

The first step to solving any problem with Word is to rename or delete the normal.dot file. Click on Start and choose Find or Search and search the hard drive for every example of normal.dot. You can rename them by right clicking the file and choosing rename. If you do this you will lose all your custom Word settings and macros.

Most email programs have a filter option where you can determine what should be automatically sorted or deleted. In Outlook Express, message rules can be set to automatically delete mail with certain content or from certain senders. You can find the message rules option in the Tools menu. Be careful about blocking certain words, you may find legitimate mail may get caught in your rules.