Connection of two computers.

You should have a wireless router. It is better this than to connect the computer directly to your second computer. It has more features than using 3 lan cards in this network. Maybe in the future, you will buy another computer then your router or switch is ready to connect your network. If you are just using internet, then I go for wireless usb network card because it is hassle free and easy to connect. No more wiring in your home.

Yes you can connect both of these computers with network card. All you need are 2 network cards and one CAT 5 cable. Set up the IP address for these two systems once hardware part is done . Make sure both of these machines belong to the same IP network. At the end use "PING" command to check the connectivity. If you get a successful reply that means now both of them are networked correctly. Take care.

You just need to go to the Control Panel and use the 'Network set up wizard'. Run it from each computer while both computers are connected. This wizard will configure all the settings automatically.