Yes, it looks as if that will be the cheapest way to go while freeing up the GF's PC.

I was thinking along the lines of a mini-itx system, as it would only need to run Windows, the DirecWay Navigator software, and some kind of anti-virus/firewall, and should be low-powered enough to leave on 24/7. Would a mini-itx system be fast enough to do this?

If the sat modems were connected to the mini-itx system via USB, and a WAP was connected via ethernet, would windows XP's internet connection sharing feature work through the WAP?

Sorry if these questions seem stupid, but the limit of my networking knowledge is plugging in my empeg via ethernet to my PC

Thanks!