Windows XP Home Edition: The Missing Manual

How to Get Online

Most people connect to the Internet using a modem, a piece of circuitry that connects your PC to a phone line. Almost every modern computer comes with a built-in, preinstalled modem.

Cable Modems and DSL

On the other hand, a growing minority of computer fans connects to the Internet with much faster gear called cable modems and DSL. These contraptions offer several gigantic advantages over dial-up modems. For example:

• Speed. These modems operate at 5 to 50 times the speed of a traditional dial-up modem. For example, you might wait five minutes to download a 2 MB file with a standard modem—a job that would take about 10 seconds with a cable modem. And complex Web pages that take almost a minute to appear in your browser with a standard modem will pop up almost immediately with a cable modem or DSL.

  POWER USERS’ CLINIC Installing a Modem

  If you’re among the six people whose PC didn’t come with a built-in modem, you can install one yourself.

  You can choose between an internal modem (a small circuit board that you push into a slot inside the PC, saving some desktop clutter, a power socket, and a few dollars) or an external one (which is easier to transfer from machine to machine). An external modem connects to the back of the PC via a cable, or takes the form of a PC card that slips into your laptop.

  After completing the physical installation of your modem, you must install the modem’s software—its drivers. The instructions that accompany the modem should guide you through ...