I have a storage machine that is running vista...and im trying to network my office computers to it...right now the storage computer is running through a linksys router and then into a 3com hub.....this makes the computers access the storage computer slow....if i put the network cable straight into the router its fast...works great.....so do i need to get a router with more ports....or do i need a faster hub.....or can i just get a hub that will work without using the router....the old computers running windows 98 ran straight out of the storage computer into the hub and then to the computers...and it worked great....so any help would be a great help....

I'd have to say that the fact that you're using a hub, rather than a switch, (even though "it used to work great") is the issue.A hub can't manage traffic going in & out of it - all traffic is broadcast to all ports. This inevitably leads to data collisions.A switch, on the other hand, knows what is where, and only sends packets to their intended destination.As for why it doesn't work as well now: I'd have to say that Vista's networking stack (which is a big change from XP's, which itself was a big change from Win98's) just isn't playing nice with the hub.

so can a switch handle mutiple computers at one time.....with the switch do you still need the router or can you just use the switch.... thanks for the help

Yes, you'll still need the router.Remember: that's a router plus a four-port switch, usually.Routers do a lot more than just connect your computers together. They:- provide a translation layer (NAT) between your PCs, and your ISP, allowing you to run multiple local machines on a single public IP address.- provide a hardware firewall for your network.- allocate IP addresses to your local machines (this goes hand-in-hand with NAT.)Along with several other things; these are the most important.Put another way: if I were to have a simple switch (or, in my case, two) only on my LAN (no router, switches connected directly to the modem,) I would need in the neighborhood of 24 IP addresses from my ISP, and would be sharing a lot of files directly on the internet. With a router connected to the modem, and two switches hung off of that, I only need one public IP address, and all of my data (as well as the computers themselves) are protected from the Wild Wild Web.Network hubs suck. There's a reason that nobody makes them anymore.....