Crossover Cable – Crossover cables aren’t too common for most networks, but these special cables allow direct connections between one computer and another.

Is there some kind of software hack or auto-detect in the ethernet hardware that compensates for the normal cable? Would using a crossover cable make it faster?

AIf the old machine has an Ethernet port, connect the two machines with a crossover Ethernet cable. Set up both to join the same work group (use the Network control panel in Win 98, System in Win ...