Imagine this scenario, a fellow PCV comes to visit because he/she has some downtime at their site due to it being the summer. The PCV brought their computer with so they can do some work at your site. But alas, you only have one internet connection and you need it to do your own work. If only there was a way to share your internet wirelessly. There is.

Mac: Click the “Apple” menu then choose “System Preferences”. Select “Internet Sharing”. Choose a network service to share (most likely Ethernet) in “Share your connection from”. In the “To computers using” box, choose “AirPort”. Input a network name and password. Your friend should be able to connect to your network using the supplied network name and password.

Windows Vista & Windows 7: Open the Start Menu and type “Network and Sharing” then press enter. Choose “Set up a new connection or Network”. Choose “Set up a wireless ad hoc network” and click “Next”. Next choose a network name and password for your wireless network, click “Next”. Once it is created, click “Turn on Internet Connection Sharing”. Once it is completed your friend should be able to connect to your wireless network using the network name and password you provided.

Windows XP: Click “Start”, click “Control Panel”, click “Network and Internet Connections”, and then click “Network Connections”. Right-click the Ethernet network connection that is used to access the Internet, and then click “Properties”. On the “Advanced” tab, select the “Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection” check box and clear the “Allow other network users to control or disable this shared Internet connection” check box. Click “OK” to save changes to your connection. Back in “Network Connections” right-click the wireless network connection, and then click “Properties”. Click the “Wireless Networks” tab. In the wireless network adapter properties dialog box, click “Add” under “Preferred networks”. On the “Association” tab, type the name of your ad hoc wireless network in “Network name (SSID)”. Select the “This is a computer-to-computer (ad hoc) network” check box and clear the “The key is provided for me automatically” check box. In “Network Authentication”, select “Open”. In “Data encryption”, select “WEP”. In “Network key”, type the WEP key. The WEP key should be a random sequence of hexadecimal digits or numbers, letters, and punctuation. In “Confirm network key”, retype the WEP key. Click “OK” to save changes to the wireless network. Click “OK” to save changes to the wireless network adapter. After all these steps, your friend should be able to connect to your wireless network using the supplied network name and password.

Hopefully, now you and your fellow PCV can work hard on your own projects at the same time.