Windows XP Internet Connection Sharing
Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) enables a Windows computer to share its Internet connection with computers on local area networks. It's been around since Windows 98 SE, and with the launch of Windows XP, it's only gotten better.


Windows XP ICS has some notable advantages over the versions of ICS in Windows 98 Second Edition and Windows Me:


It's easier to set up. There's no software to install, and it doesn't add any network components or protocols.

It's much more reliable and much less likely to cause network problems.

You can create a Network Bridge connecting two or more local area networks and share the Internet connection with the computers on all of them. This is especially useful if your XP computer is connected to both a wired and wireless network.

ICS client computers can use XP's Internet Gateway to monitor and control the server computer's Internet connection. If you have a dial-up connection, you can connect and disconnect when deciding whether to enable ICS.

However, XP ICS is missing some features of those earlier versions. You can't disable the DHCP server, change the server computer's IP address, or change the range of addresses allocated by the DHCP server.

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp_ics/