Since "upgrading" from IE7 to IE8 on my laptop, I've had to run "repair connection" after every startup (I use XP Pro) because Windows has assigned an ISP address starting with 169.xxx instead of the address used by the Netgear router on my network.

This is more a nuisance than a problem, but I have been wondering what would happen if I stop using the automatic feature and manually assign an IP address and a DNS server address (using the default TCP/IP settings for the Netgear router).

It's probably a stupid question, and on any other computer I would just try it, but this is my problem-prone Lenovo T61 that will seize any opportunity to avoid a normal startup, so I'm not feeling experimental.