Etherent Card

All ethernet cards are pretty much the same. Some will have features that you don't need or use. You just need a basic card.

Dimension 8200
Pentium 4 - 3.06Ghz 533Mhz with/Hyperthreading Enabled
1024MB ( 1 Gig ) Samsung PC800 40NS RDRAM
120GB Western Digital Ultra ATA/100 7200RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Cache
160GB Western Digital Ultra ATA/100 7200RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Cache
128MB ATI Radeon 9800 PRO Graphic Card
Liteon 16X DVD-Rom Drive
Sony DRU-500AX Dual Format DVD-RW
RATOC Systems USB 2.0/Firewire PCI Card With Front Bay Adapter
Silencer 400 Watt ATX Power Supply
THX Certified Sound Blaster Audigy II ZS Sound Card
Creative Inspire 7.1 T7700 Surround Speakers
Dell P992 19" CRT Monitor
Win XP Home SP1
Logitech Elite Cordless Duo Keyboard
Logitech MX700 Cordless Optical Mouse
10/100 Pro Ethernet Card
Motorola SB5100 Surfboard Cable Modem

Just get a basic 10/100 ethernet RJ45 PCI slot. Costs you can get downwards around 10 bucks or so - Keep in mind once you go "broadband" you need to also consider how to secure your PC from the internet - to prevent it from being hyjacked, info stolen, people using your machine without your knowledge via the internet and so on using a firewall either software or hardware (router approach).

Thank you for your replies, i got and installed a Linksys 10/100 NIC, Version 5.1, i assume Norton Internet Security is sufficent for my firewall, the modem also comes with a firewall built in, will i be able to use both of them together or would i even need or want too? Isnt this computer stuff fun  

 

Dimm. 4500
2.0 ghz
512 memory
windows xp home
office xp pro 2002
norton internet security 2003

Isntthisfun

To test the effectiveness of your firewall go to the link I have posted below.  Under the Hot Spot header choose the Shields Up test. 

http://grc.com/default.htm