thank you very much for your reply. I have a few questions about your suggestion:

I have a router - does this impact the way I would go about utilizing static IP's?

I am utilizing a dial-up for internet access. one of the things I like about it dial up is that the ISP provides a new IP address each time I log into it, which is good for security. Will utilizing static IP's on my network impact this?

Since your e-mail, I have read that I can set up one LMhosts file and have all computers access this one file by utilizing the #include command. This may be a stupid question, but if I do have it on only one computer, does this computer have to be on while the other computers are being logged onto the network? is it better to utilize the same lmhosts file on each computer? I located the lmhosts file on the ME computer in the "c:windows" directory. Is this where this file should be for this computer?

Thank you very much for your help.

Paul