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Re: Networking
You will not require a switch if you get a router. Indeed a switch is unlikely to work. Think of a switch simply as a junction box. Messages come in from one computer and will go to every other one connected to it.
A router can provide the functions of a switch (most have four wired ports - [sockets]), and also direct messages to and from the modem. Routers can also add functions of allocating IP addresses (the means by which computers can identify themselves on a network), and be a firewall (a defence against nasty intrusions on to your network from the internet).
A cable modem or Set Top Box, can only communicate with one computer at a time. By placing a router between the modem/STB the router is the device seen by the modem/STB and which receives the communications to and from the internet. The individual PCs and possibly games consoles communicate with the router for anything they want from the internet. The router thus channels information to the right destination. A switch, which allows everything to go everywhere, cannot separate the signals and just confuses the STB/modem.
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