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If you have many PCs but only one Internet
connection, you can use a standard Ethernet network to join
them together so that WinGate can provide access to the
Internet for all the computers on the network.
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technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and
commentaries, continuously available online since
1983
Many PCs can share one Internet connection with
WinGate
June 14, 1998
By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 1998, The Syracuse
Newspapers
See if this is a typical scenario at your
office or home: You have two or more PCs networked
together, but only one of them has an Internet connection.
You'd love to be able to share that connection with the
other PCs, but that seems impossible.
Well, it's not impossible. In fact,
it's absurdly easy. If all the non-connected PCs are
running Windows (version 3.11 or later) and the PC with the
connection is running Windows 95 Windows 98 or Windows NT,
you can set them up so that they can all get onto the
Internet through that single connection in a couple of
minutes.
The software that does this is WinGate.
If you have just two PCs connected to each other -- a
typical situation in many homes -- the WinGate software is
free. You have to pay a relatively small fee for more
connections -- $110 for six PCs (the one with the
connection and five others), on up to $320 for an unlimited
number of connections.
You can download WinGate from many sites,
but you probably should check out the WinGate home page at
http://wingate.net/ for more information first. The site is
well organized and has explanations of all the features of
this amazing program.
WinGate does not have to be installed on
all the PCs on the network. Running it on the PC with the
Internet connection is all that's needed. On the other
PCs, you change some settings in the Control Panel.
That's all you do.
Because I usually get blank stares when I
talk to PC users about WinGate, I'd better explain what
it does in plain English. Read this part carefully.
First, WinGate requires three things:
At least one connection to the Internet
of any kind. This can be a normal dialup connection, a
direct line, a cable modem connection, and so on.
A network connecting PCs. Network cards
(one for each PC) don't have to cost more than $10 to
$20 if you shop around, and network cabling is cheap.
(The PCs can be separated by hundreds of feet if you buy
enough cable.)
Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows NT.
The PC running WinGate must use those three operating
systems. The PCs that are connected can use one of those
three or Windows for WorkGroups. (This is also called
Windows 3.11. Go to http://wingate.net/wg-w311.htm
for help configuring Windows 3.11 with WinGate.). I use
WinGate under Windows 98, so don't bug the WinGate
folks with questions about whether it works under Windows
98; it does.
Second, WinGate multiple connections
at the same time. This is the biggest source of
confusion when I tell others about WinGate. If my PC has
an Internet connection, I can be logged onto my mail
server and onto the Web while your PC is logged onto
its mail server and browsing its own Web sites,
through my connection.
Third, if you're using a dialup
connection, the PC that has the modem and phone line does
not have to be connected to the Internet first. If
I have the dialup connection on my PC and you tell your
PC software to get your mail, WinGate automatically dials
out from my PC to take care of the connection.
Fourth, WinGate handles all standard
Internet activity -- mail, Web browsing, ftp transfers,
RealAudio and RealVideo feeds, IRC chat, and so on. Any
Internet program that has a setting for a proxy server --
which is what WinGate actually is -- can work with
WinGate. (Most programs do, although I've seen some
freeware programs that don't.)
Fifth, WinGate can easily be set up to
block access to certain sites or to keep particular PCs
on the network from doing various things. One PC could be
limited to mail only while another could be denied access
to sites with the word "babes" in the address,
for example.
Do you lose performance when multiple
PCs are accessing the Internet through one connection? If
you have, say, five users browsing the Web at the same
time, you'll notice a slowdown, but in a typical
setup, in which a single "slave" PC is
connected to the WinGate-equipped computer, you probably
won't see much difference. WinGate stores everything
that is accessed in its own cache (disk buffer), separate
from any browser cache you're using, and this helps a
great deal.
If you have a high-speed connection --
a direct line or a cable-modem hookup -- the limiting
factor will be the speed of your PC network and the
overhead at the WinGate PC. Use the fastest PC on your
network for the connection, or, if you have dozens of PCs
connected to one WinGate PC, use a PC for the WinGate
connection that isn't doing anything else most of the
time.
A final point: If you search,
you'll find other programs that are designed to do
the same thing. I've tried many of them, and
they're either much more expensive or less flexible
in how they can be set up. WinGate is the best of the
bunch by far.
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