98 SE Internet Connection Sharing

[Brent]

I can not see how to disconnect from the internet from the sharing computer. There is not even the little green modem in use icon in the system tray of the sharing computer. What am I doing wrong before I rack up hours of use forgetting to disconnect ?

[Frank]

Not sure of how you are set up.
But my gateway computer uses AOL (sigh), and my computer (sharing comp) uses the IE5 browser.
Whenever I use the internet on my computer, I simply clik on Internet Explorer icon. When I finish with the net I simply close the IE5 browser. Thats it.
The gateway comp remains connected to the net and my computer is disconnected from the net but still connected to the home network.
If you are concerned about clocking unused hours, then you must disconnect the gateway comp from the net as well. In which case you might as well connect directly to the net through your own computer and disconnect from the net the way you would normally do so.
Can you expand on your setup and problem please.
Frank.

[Brent]

Thanks Frank,
I am using just straight IE 5 and the sharing computer is connected to the gateway computer with just an ethernet patch cable. Everything is working otherwise as per your system. My problem is that the sharing computer is used by someone with very little computer knowledge. My gateway computer is switched on all the time so when the other person uses the sharing computer, they connect to the internet but must remember when finished to walk through to the gateway computer and right click the green modem icon to disconnect the gateway computer or else I will rack up extra hours. I could set up for auto disconnect after say 15 minutes but sometimes this disconnects you if you have been reading something for a while and then go away to make a cup of coffee!

[Brent]

BTW,
Is it my imagination or is the browser/ modem performance MUCH better with ICS? Does not make sense but ever since ICS, my web pages load much faster. Its as if I have bought a faster modem or connected to a better IPS.

[Frank]

For some reason I must agree. I have also 'felt' that browsing on my sharing computer 'seems' to load pages quicker than if I had connected directly to the net.
Well, as far as I can understand , I could only say what I experience on my setup. And that is, if I am the person with little computer knowledge (yes I am half the time) then all I must remember to do when I am finished on the net is to close the browser on my sharing computer and this will disconnect my (sharing computer) from the net.
The gateway computer will still be connected to the net by the person who signed onto that computer and then signed online. The person who logged the gateway computer online must then disconnect it from the net if hourly charges are being logged online.
I am sorry but I feel I have not been able to answer your question (sigh).
Both our computers are hooked up peer to peer and are 6 feet away from each other and, although AOL gives unlimited hours online, I still disconnect the gateway computer once I have finished online with my sharing computer.(ie) I must close the proprietory AOL (IE5 lookalike) browser on the gateway computer manually.
Frank.

[Brent]

Thanks for the input Frank. Let me know if you discover a fix for me.
Cheers
Brent

[Frank]

Brent, unless you are asking how to disconnect the internal network (ie. gateway computer plus sharing computer(s)), from the world wide web at the keyboard of sharing computer, then that's a big negative. Thats not possible.
ICS depends on the gateway computer to be connected to the internet before any sharing computers can access the internet.
Conversely, no sharing computers may access the internet without the gateway computer connected to the internet. !?!
OOOOOORRR.....you cannot control the gateway computer's login activity to the internet from a sharing computer. That has to be done at the keyboard of the gateway computer.
Well....how was that?
In other words, I am afraid your not so computer literate operator will have to jolly well walk over and manually disconnect the gateway computer from the internet.
Frank.

BTW I have a modem installed in my sharing computer. So when the gateway computer is not connected, I connect directly.

[Brent]

Well that about sums it up. As a matter of interest, I only have a modem on the gateway computer and as long as the gateway is in standby or switched on, the sharing computer can log on to the net just by clicking on the ie5 icon in the taskbar. For no particular reason, sometimes you do have to also click on "detect network settings" as well though.

[DentyCracker]

I have resorted to the following kludge.
pcAnywhere

[Frank]

____________________________________________
I only have a modem on the gateway computer and as long as the gateway is in standby or switched on, the sharing computer can log on to the net just by clicking on the ie5 icon in the taskbar
____________________________________________

Brent, I, heh, just realized that aol is different from the average ISP in that any ISP logon simply means opening the browser. Well I forgot that with aol you first have to log on to them specifically and then open your browser to the www.
And yes I can see that in your case you will simply open the browser in the sharing computer without adjusting the gateway comp. My mistake.....Sorry about that.

[Brent]

Thanks Frank,
I am busy looking further into networking, something I do not know much of, and seem to have read that ICS also only supports the TCP thingy. Seems that if you wanted more advanced networking you would have to use third party software or get another modem???
I feel really humble asking this, but could you or anyone tell me in plain english how I can set up my home network so that I can for example install MS Word on my computer and have my fiancee use it on hers. At this stage I can see MS Word on my computer from her computer but trying to open a Word file on my computer from hers, brings up warning messages on hers and eventually settles down into Wordpad opening the file on hers. I thought networking was all about sharing stuff or do I have to go with NT. I want to install everything on my computer and have her use all my apps as if they were on hers, not just share printers etc. Boy do I feel like I am missing the point big time somewhere.

[pcman]

Hi,

What about LanBridge software? It work like NAT and Winroute. Any comment?

SJ

[Zypher]

Old computer w/modem + linux + 1 hour with a local geek = 24/7 router that masquerades ips. If you get cable or dsl, you'd defintely want to go that route.

Anyway, its likely that ics has cache built into it, which is why it seems faster. And/or ie caches different when it thinks its on a lan. Try a site you've never been to. Nothing is going to speed up the modem itself, except maybe a flash, and most of us have 56 already.

BTW, "rack up time"? If you aren't in the US I understand, but inside the states local is flat (~$20/mo) and so are any decent isps. (also ~$20/mo)

[Brent]

Thanks for the interest. I will swot up on the links given.
I have heard that the net is really cheap in the US. Elsewhere it seems common to extract large sums of money per hour of usage. It really is a major worry that I might remain connected by accident overnight as this mistake could cost me $30 or $40.
Cheers
Brent

[dave m]

As far as I have worked out, there is no way to disconnect your host's modem from the remote computer, fortunately my ISP disconnects me after 15 minutes of none use, so it's not a problem, but it is irritating. Wingate (and probably the others) will allow you to disconnect your host's modem from your remote computer. I'm planning to remove ICS and bury it at the bottom of the garden. Since installing it, I can only boot up the ICS host if every computer on the LAN is switched on first(????)(including a W95 machine that has nothing to do with ICS), otherwise my host locks up as it tries to install the ICS's .vxd.

Dave