actually you can communicate between both computers straight through the hub. windows 98 allows for it. Ive been doing it for 2 years now. RR with the extra ip and using the hub as the Lan you just have to setup the networking settings on both computers identical especially with the workgroup. windows 2000 will actually search for you as long as the other machine is set up to allow for net working. Also see sharing under the hard drives properties list.