As you collect computers in your house, sooner or later you need to consider a router, either wireless or wired. It’s the best way to connect all your computers, giving them shared Internet access, access to files and printers, etc. The central point of that home network is a router, like this Linksys model, that can connect up to four different computers.

I had a router like this for years, and it worked flawlessly. Linksys is a good name in the industry, and has been making routers for a long time. They’re generally easy to set up, too: connect an Ethernet cable to your computer’s network interface card (NIC), plug the other end of the cable into the router, and the router should handle all the setup.

If you go wireless, you’ll need a wireless NIC in every computer. Instructions on how to set up the wireless network are included with the router, but it’s generally not too complicated. Another advantage of routers is that they are also firewalls; basically that means they help keep the bad guys out of your network.

Consider a router like this if you have more than a few computers in your house; you’ll be glad you did.