help with networking and encryption.

[tyler]

Hello list,
I have a few questions.
First, I want to let everyone know, I am running debian.
Anyway, I want to set up a secure network.
I won't always have this thing working, so the first thing I want to ask, is 
is there a way that I can set windows up to check to see if the linux system 
is running? If so, how would I set up the linux system to be the server? 
Like where the person has to log in, with user name and password and etc, 
and then they are into the internet, and etc. Then, I can just set up ACL 
rights based upon the user and etc.
Thanks,
Tyler Littlefield.
Check out our website:
http://tysplace.the-leetest.net
check out my blog:
livejournal.com/~tylerrl
[my programs don't have bugs, just randomly added features]
[failure is not an option, it comes bundled with windows!]