If you are connecting via a braodband connection you should get a router. This provides a bit of security by hiding your PCs behind a dummy address. It also guves you a hub to connect up to 4 machines together. The warning is once you start networking things together it gets addictive. I have them all (8-10 machines at times) going now with a stand alone print server, router, a hub and a switch. It does make it easy to move files around. I can plug my car MP3 players into the network and manage them too.
