From your one internet connection to your home you can have as many computers connected to it as you like.
Treat it the same way as you do a wall power outlet.
You can plug whatever you like into it and all you pay for is what you use up to a limit set by your ISP.
If you want to use wires to connect your laptop it's a simple matter of getting a network cable and plugging it into your home router and the other end of the cable into your laptop's ethernet socket.
Call up Internet Explorer and let it find the appropriate settings which it will do automatically and then you're on the web and good to go.
If you want to go wireless then assuming you have a wireless router and your laptop is wireless cpable it's a simple matter of selecting your wireless network in the laptop's control panel, let it get the settings automatically and then you're good to go again.
It really can be that simple but I'd need to know your exact set up with regard to your modem, router and the capabilities of the laptop before I could give you a definite way to do it.
Don't hassle your ISP for advide as they'll want you to pay for it.
Just ask here and we'll do our best to get you up and running.
As for transferring files between computers with a USB cable...
Yes, it can be done but honestly it's a pain in the arse.
You'd be much better off using one of the USB memory sticks.
Something like this one :
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?NOV-MS24GB
That's under $50 and you'll probably get it a bit cheaper in the USA from a local retailer.
They are one of the most handy things ever invented.
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