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Originally Posted by patrickp
You may need to allow each PC in the other's firewall settings, and set up file sharing if you want access between the two machines - this is one of the great assets of networking, quite apart from being able to access the internet through more than one machine.
For accessing the internet on both machines, you will need to run the ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) wizard, on both machines, I think (look for it in Help). I've always connected PCs with a router, so I can't tell you more than that.
The PC that's connected directly to the internet will, of course, have to be on for the other to access the internet.
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This is the basics of what you want to do. If you're having trouble getting to grips with it, I really would suggest getting a router - setting up a shared connection on most wired routers literally just involves powering everything down, connecting the router to your modem and the PCs to your router, and rebooting. Boot in the order: modem - wait for the lights to settle; router - wait for it to self-test and find the active connections and then the PCs.
A router also means you can have on whichever machine you want; it's easy to add more up to the limit of the router's ports and last but not least, a 'hardware' NAT firewall - generally better incoming protection than any software firewall.
That's if you're using a stand-alone cable modem (SACM); if you're using a settop box (STB), you'll need to either register the new MAC address the STB sees (you should be taken to ntl's registration page automatically when you try to connect to the internet; you'll need the information you used to register your account in the first place) or clone your PC's MAC address to the router - many routers come with setup software that will do this for you.