Here is my problem, and let me bring in a little background information.

I have a friend (former boss) who just purchased a new machine that is running Lindows (I have never used), and he wants to download a bunch of software for the internet. He wants to borrow my internet connection to do it, because all he has is a dial-up, and it would take forever.

I connect to the internet via Earthlink Cable (using Time Warner's cable infrastructure). The problem with this, is that Time Warner, only allows one MAC address to connect to the internet, and mine is the one registered, so I can't just plug in his, and connect.

So I was thinking of doing the following, running a proxy server out of my computer, attaching a second NIC card to my computer, then connecting it to a hub that will connect to his computer.

My question is, can Lindows use proxy connections to connect to the internet.

Can I use MS proxy, or some other software would be much more efficient.

I don't want to be calling to change MAC addresses, since it's a resell service, it takes forever for them to do anything.

Any suggestions would be highly appreciated.

Thanks

what you suggest would probably work. If you're running a later version of Windows, Windows Internet Connection Sharing will work well for what you want to do.

If you're only going to be connecting 1 other computer, I'd probably forget the hub, and just use an ethernet crossover cable from your (new) 2nd NIC to his computer.

(Probably easier to buy a pre-made crossover cable, but if you're the type of person who likes to roll their own, pinout is
1-3
2-6
3-1
6-2

(regular ethernet cable is 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 6-6))

Do my own cables , only on life or death situations. I am terrible at it, I can start with a 20-foot cable and end up with a 6-foot patch cord, and dozens of wasted connectors.

I already have a small four port hub that I have.

I just have not used Lindows, so wasn't sure what it could do.

Thanks

Buy a cheap router, or a router with a wireless access point if you want wireless. The router will include a built in firewall.

Plug stuff into the router. The router has one MAC address and gets one IP address from your ISP. All the stuff attached to the router is hidden from view of your cable company and they only know the one MAC address of the router.

You NEVER want to connect to a cable modem without a router with built in firewall anyway, it is easy for people to hack into your system if you don't have this.

Assuming that you have a PCI ethernet card, you could stick your card in your boss's machine. Then you wouldn't have the MAC address problem.

It's built into my laptop, otherwise I would definitely do that.

I would, but the wife won't sign the PO

A cheap router costs $30 or less at Fry's. It's not just for convenience. It's required security for your PC, to prevent hackers and spammers from hammering your PC.

Tell your wife that it's like buying a door for your house. Without the router your PC's door is wide open for strangers to walk into your PC bedroom.

Hate to break it to you, but a router isn't going to do anything about spam. Well, I suppose that if you're running your own mail server, then the router would prevent spammers from hitting it, but it would also prevent it from being useful, which kinda defeats the whole purpose of the server.

The best defense for your computer is to keep it updated with patches for all the software you can find, don't install software you don't trust, run ad aware and spybot regularly, and have a good anti-virus program (McAfee, Norton, or Sophos)

I should have been more specific. My router prevents those annoying windows messaging pop up SPAM. When I connected my PC directly to my cable modem to trouble shoot the cable modem once, I was shocked when a few windows messaging SPAM messages popped up. The router had effectively prevented those messages from popping up on my PC's inside my LAN.

YIPEE!!!!!!

The wife approved the PO, and I just bought a wireless router, it was only $29.99 at Circuit City.

And it's up and working

Great. You *need* one of these. Congrats that it actually works. You can now hook up any number of devices to the web without your nosy cable company being involved